Baking Soda for Shaping Hard Boiled Eggs

Baking soda is a basic ingredient for cleaning and baking. It makes life easier, but did you knew it's also helpful for making beautiful eggs?

If you want to surprise your kids when they open their lunch box. Or even for a potluck with only adults, I guarantee everyone will smile when they see the perfectly shaped hard boiled eggs. Because no matter our age, we all love beautiful food.

And the best part is that it's so easy that even for a regular day you can make it, and bring those extra smiles to your table.

Step 1: Ingredients and Materials

Ingredients:

Water
Eggs
And our star ingredient: 1/4 tsp baking soda

Materials

A pot
A small container with lid or egg mold.
If you are using a small container you'll also need cling wrap and aluminum foil.

Step 2: Add Water

It's better to start with room temperature eggs (to prevent they break while boiling). But if you don't have time, just let them sit 2 min in the pot with water before turning on the heat.

Make sure the eggs are completely covered with water.

Step 3: Key Ingredient

Add 1/2 tsp of baking soda to the pot.

Step 4: Boil

Now turn on the heat. Wait until the water is boiling to set your timer to 12 min. Turn off the heat.
If you are making more than one egg, turn off the heat but keep the eggs inside the pot and the pot over the burner.

Step 5: Peel Eggs

Use a spoon to take out one egg. It is very hot, do it carefully. If it's too hot for you to handle it, peel off the shell under warm running water, but don't let it cool off too much. First smash the egg to make a crack at the bottom and start peeling from there.

You'll notice the baking soda's magic makes the shell peel off easily, in big chunks, this is crucial to shape the eggs because the egg must be hot when we place it inside the mold.

Step 6: Put the Egg Inside the Container

So peel the egg as quick as you can, shovel it in the mold and close it.
If you don't have an egg mold (or not yet ;) ) just use a small container with lid. Then use cling wrap and foil to fill the extra space in the container so that the lid closes tightly.

Once the egg is in the mold, put it in the freezer for at least 3 minutes. If you are making several eggs in the same batch, with the same mold, 3 min should be enough, and the eggs in the pot will still be hot enough to be shaped.