Hard Boiled Eggs in An Instant Pot: The Do’s and Don’ts for Perfect Eggs

Hard boiled eggs in an Instant Pot, you say? Is it possible? YES!

Not only is it possible, is quite possibly the easiest way to ensure flawless and perfect eggs. Plus, I am going to share my special trick to also ensure they slide off the shell without having to “dig into the whites” to get the shell off. Do you want to learn how to make hard boiled eggs in an Instant Pot?

It is hard boiled egg season. So you may be like me and on a quest to find the BEST, EASIEST, FLAWLESS and PAINLESS way to hard boil eggs. In fact, the Instant Pot can hard boil them in only 5 minutes after it has reached the right pressure. 

A few years ago,  I shared how I hard boiled eggs in the oven. It is a pretty slick process and I have done this for years. But since I have an Instant Pot, I learned how to make hard boiled eggs in an Instant Pot. It is even more flawless, not because the process is necessarily easier… it’s just as easy before and during. 

But the after process seems to be a bit easier. Although hard boiled eggs in the oven are decently easy to peel, there is a trick I do with my Instant Pot hard boiled eggs to make peeling the most flawless process to date. 

You see, one of my least favorite parts of hard boiled eggs is the peeling process. I have followed the stove top method for years and it was like a hit or miss with the flawless peeling. The oven method was decent, but still not flawless. 

However, peeling hard boiled eggs from the Instant Pot method I am going to show you makes the peeling process not only flawless, but fun! It is so satisfying to have the peels perfectly separate and slide right off. It’s one of those tasks that is both satisfying to do and to watch. 

I have hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot quite a few times. I know the “things to not do” as well. I will share those in this post too. Since Easter is around the corner, I figured I better hurry and write a post about my Instant Pot hard boiled eggs. We actually eat hard boiled eggs all year as my kids prefer eating them this way and it so super easy. Eggs are a cheap and easy source of protein. 

I am showing with the classic, white, store-bought eggs, but this works for farm fresh too. We have a neighbor that raises her own chickens and we buy fresh eggs from her for an incredibly amazing price. Plus, I know where the eggs come from and se them being raised. 

Anyway, I know that some methods can change in results depending on how fresh the eggs are or what type and size of eggs. But this method seems to work best for all variations of possibilities. I really struggled with the stove top method and my results varied and changed every time. But this method has produced the most consistent result. 

If you have an Instant Pot, give this method a try! 

How to make Hard Boiled Eggs in an Instant Pot

Step #1 – Insert the basket in the pot. 

You will need to have a basket. The basket will elevate the eggs from the surface of the pot.

If you place the eggs directly in the pot, it will work, but it will burn the shell. It doesn’t affect the taste too much, but you will get brown spots on the egg shells and on the eggs themselves.  Same goes for any part of the egg touching the sides.

If you use the basket and an egg is leaning up against the side, you will get some slight browning on the shell, but not as badly as if you just placed the egg straight into the pot. Straight into the pot will produce the brown burned spots on the shell that will also transfer to the hard boiled egg. If it is leaning against the side, you will get slight browning on the side, but it hasn’t transferred to the egg. 

Does that make sense? I hope it does. That is the one main issue with the oven eggs – brown spots from the shell getting burned. Like I said, it doesn’t really affect taste, but it’s not a beautiful egg anymore. 

The point is, if you have the basket rack, this is going to produce the best results! 

Step #2 – Place eggs on the basket rack. 

Generally, when I hard boil eggs in an Instant Pot, I hard boil 6-7, which is enough for us for one breakfast. This is because they will all fit on the rack without touching the sides. They are perfectly elevated off the surface of the Instant Pot all around. 

For this post, I stuck 13 eggs in there to show that you can pack it full. The few eggs touching the sides did have a brown spot on the shell where they were leaning, but otherwise, the actual cooking was perfect for all of them still. 

Step #3 – Add 1/2 tsp of baking soda to 4 cups of water. 

This is my extra tip for flawless Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs. Simply add some baking soda to the water BEFORE you pour it in. You see, the addition of the baking soda helps to separate the shell from the egg so that the shell will slide off the cooked egg. However, you will want to read below to find out what not to do. 

Step #4 – Pour the water over the eggs.

Simply pour the 4 cups of water with baking soda over the eggs. The water should go slightly above the bottom of the rack basket, so the eggs will barely be in a bit of water. They will not be submerged. The main point of this method is pressure steam cooking. You are not “boiling” them in the classic sense. 

Step #5 – Set the Instant Pot for 5 minutes.

The next step is to put the lid on the Instant Pot. For the settings: simply chose manual, high pressure for 5 minutes. 

Step #6 – Wait. 

Now you just can sit back, grab a cup of tea, or do what I do…. beat the Instant Pot and get my kitchen cleaned. This is part of my morning routine…put the eggs in the Instant Pot and clean the whole kitchen in 15-20 minutes. It’s a motivating goal! 

But why 15-20 minutes if it is set for 5 minutes? Well, it will actually pressure cook for 5 minutes, but it takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes for the Instant Pot to get to the right pressure. So it is about a 20 minute process.  After the Instant Pot has finished, manually release the pressure.

By the time the Instant Pot is done hard boiling eggs, my kitchen is cleaned. 

Step #7 – Prepare an ice bath.

Simply add ice and then fill the bowl with cold water. 

Step #8 – Add the eggs to the ice bath.

Scoop them out of the Instant Pot and into the ice bath!

I wait until most of the ice has melted to peel. This means they have reached a cool temp. 

During this 5 or so minute block of time – this is when I finish making breakfast…. which is generally toast/toaster waffles, yogurt and fruit. 

Step #9 – Easily peel! 

Then comes the fun, satisfying, flawless way to peel them. Pound them on a hard surface and just let the peel slide away! 

Step #10 – Enjoy. 

In a short amount of time, I have created an fast and easy breakfast that has both carbs and protein to sustain my kids, along with a clean kitchen. 🙂 

The things that can go wrong with Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs:

1. Browning on shells, eggs. I have talked about this already and this can also happen with the oven method, as well as the boiling method. If the surface of the egg is against any super hot surface, it’s a risk. But I hopefully showed you how to stop this in an Instant Pot. 
2. Cracking open if you sprinkle baking soda on eggs directly. You don’t want to add it after because there will only be a small part of the egg touching the baking soda water, so any exposed egg will crack if you sprinkle baking soda on top of the exposed, dry egg. 

Both of these are actually not that big of a deal. The couple of times I sprinkled the baking soda over the eggs was because I forgot to add it to the water. They would crack, but the still cooked pretty flawlessly. It held together enough that they fully cooked. Unlike when you boil them and they crack and then you have these white stringy cooked egg parts all over the water. So just be aware that they will crack with baking soda not mixed into the water. 

There you have it! The easy Instant Pot solution to hard boiled eggs!

By the way, if you don’t have an Instant Pot yet, this is the one I have: 

 

Be sure to visit our page that has many ideas surrounding the topic of eggs: 

Here are more ideas for eggs: 

 

How to freeze eggs for baking and for scrambled eggs/omelets

How to freeze individual eggs for any purpose

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