Instant Pot hard “boiled” eggs for everything

Oh EGGS. Where would we be without you? Today: hard boiled eggs. These little fellas are a staple, and my fridge feels more complete when there’s a bowl of them waiting to be eaten. We eat them straight, as a snack; they get halved and nestled into big kid’s lunchbox for some lunchtime staying power; I slice them and lay them over my Big Lunch Salads; and at least once a week, I figure out some way to make them a part of dinner (last night it was  – very successfully – in Middle Eastern sweet potato wraps for some protein).  I can’t think of another snack that is both so satisfying and so virtuous. Protein, a little fat, all tucked into the most manageable little bundle you can imagine.

Oh, eggs. *Joyous sigh.* Incidentally, is there anything better than a perfectly poached egg perched atop a perfectly toasted piece of sourdough bread, the yolk oozing and warm? No. There is not. Add in a little smashed avocado, a smear of Vegemite, and a dollop of sambal oelek and you have my favorite breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner. But that is a post for another day. Back to the joys of hard boiled.

The only real problem with hard boiled eggs? Peeling them. It is especially aggrieving that there is an inverse relationship between the freshness of an egg, and how quickly you can get the hard boiled shell off an gobble the interior. We get eggs delivered weekly from our local Milkman (the best), and when we’re really lucky, we collect a dozen beautifully colored eggs from a friend who has fully embraced urban chicken farming. It is maddening to try and peel a perfect, delicately blue-shell egg, with the yellowest yolk you’ve ever seen, but lose half the white to the shell.

There are so many methods. Pin prick the bottom before boiling. Add vinegar to the water. Add baking soda to the water. Only hard boil eggs that have been sitting around two weeks. Start with the eggs cold. Start with the eggs room temperature. If these work for you, huzzah. I’ve never found any of them to be the least effective, and curse the source of whichever tip I am testing as I painstakingly pick off quarter-centimeter pieces while my three year old wails about how hungry he is.

Well, friends, if that furious egg peeler is also you, I’ve got news. The solution, in fact. It sound ludicrous – do you really need to use an appliance to help you boil water – but if it gives you perfectly peelable eggs every time? No matter if you literally just shoved a chicken aside to grab her latest delivery? You do. You do need it.

I did not invent this method, and technically, it’s not really making hard “boiled” eggs. I don’t know what it is actually making – hard steamed eggs? Hard pressure-cooker eggs? But who cares. The effect is identical, the entire effort is very hands off, and it results in perfectly peelable eggs every time. It’s the Instant Pot 6-6-6 method. I don’t know who came up with it or where I first saw it. I like to say it makes Deviled Eggs (ha! get it? 6-6-6), but that is confusing, so I don’t actually ever say it aloud. But it’s easier to remember and works like a charm. 6 minutes at pressure, 6 minutes to pressure release, 6 minute dunk in cold water. Peel – while smiling. Eat.

What’s your favorite use of hard boiled eggs?