Hard-boiled eggs are a wonderful, pre-packaged, protein-packed snack! They also serve as great breakfast accompaniments to granola or cereal that alone just won’t keep you going until lunchtime. But after several recent unsuccessful batches of hard-boiled eggs resulting me destroying most of the egg trying to peel them (Did I use too much water? Boil them too long? Not soak them in the ice bath long enough?), I had just about given up.

Trust us–once you steam your eggs you will never go back! And now that MCM vendor Great Valley Poultry offers organic, cage-free, farm-fresh eggs for jut $4.50 a dozen every Thursday, you’d be silly to pass up the chance to try this simple trick!

What you’ll need:

A large pot
Eggs (as many as your pot can accommodate)
Water
A vegetable steamer (the metal basket type that sits in the bottom of a pot works best)

Instructions:

Fill the pot with about 1-2 inches of water. Place the steamer inside the pot and make sure the water just barely comes up through the steamer (you want to make sure the water doesn’t boil off before you cook your eggs. Turn your burner on high and wait for the water to boil. Once boiling, place as many eggs as you can fit in the steamer and quickly cover.  Turn the burner to medium heat and set a timer for 18 minutes. Find something else to do for 18 minutes (if you like a harder egg you can cook them for a full 20 minutes).

When your timer goes off, use a set of tongs to transfer the eggs directly back into the egg carton (don’t forget to label them if you didn’t steam the whole dozen!). Stick them into the fridge to cool. They are ready to eat immediately but they will be very hot at first so best to let them cool a bit.

That’s it! And the best part is yet to come–wait until you peel them! You won’t believe how easily the shell comes off (generally it comes off in two or three large chunks and the eggs remain perfectly unharmed in the peeling process), leaving a perfectly-cooked egg inside.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from What’s Cooking with Kids