How to perfectly boil egg: 7 chefs share their secrets

MANILA, Philippines — That perfectly boiled egg. All yellow egg yolk with a slightly soft core. No greenish halo around the yolk. Smooth egg white. Easy to peel and hassle-free. Everyone wants to achieve that when they cook boiled egg.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect formula to achieve this. Still, chefs have their own ways of ending up with that perfectly boiled egg for their customers to enjoy.

Here, several chefs share their techniques:

Chef Myke ‘Tatung’ Sarthou

Pandan Asian Café / Chef Tatung’s Private Dining / Lore

Boil water before dropping the eggs in. Time it according to desired doneness, 8 to 9 minutes for hard-boiled. Personally, I cook my eggs for 6 to 7 minutes so the yolk would still be a little moist inside. Make sure the eggs are completely submerged in water, not just one side of the eggs.

Afterwards, put the eggs in ice bath and peel when completely cooled down.

Chef Jackie Ang Po

Fleur de Lys Patisserie

Simmer water. Add eggs. Count 7 minutes. Then submerge freshly boiled eggs in ice water.

Chef Edward Bugia

Mimi & Bros.

For eggs with perfectly jammy yolks, bring your water to a gentle boil (a bit above simmering). Gently add in eggs. Set timer for 6-1/2 minutes. Take eggs out of the water, and immediately plunge into ice bath. Peel and enjoy!

Chef Rose Marie Lim

Caro & Marie, Cebu City

Boil water and eggs together. When water boils, cover the pot and put off the heat. For soft-boiled eggs, keep eggs in the hot water for 3 minutes. For hardboiled eggs, keep them in the hot water for 8 minutes.

Chef Victor Barangan

Eastwood Richmonde Hotel

I do it with a cold, cold start. Eggs must be at room temperature when you put them in a pot of water. When water boils, turn down heat, cover for 8 minutes. Then put eggs in ice bath.

Chef Sharwin Tee

TV host, cookbook author

My technique in cooking that perfectly hard-boiled egg is to put eggs in room temperature water with a splash of vinegar. Bring that up to a boil and cook for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, remove eggs and place in ice water to stop the cooking process.

Chef Rafael ‘Tibong’ Jardeleza Jr.

Author, Flavors of Iloilo

Put eggs in a pot of cold water, and bring to a boil. Once the water is in a rolling boil, turn off heat, cover pot, and let the eggs sit in the hot water according to desired doneness—3 minutes for soft-boiled, 6 minutes for medium boiled, and 12 to 14 minutes for hard-boiled.

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