Egg Timer Calculator
Pick the doneness, the starting temperature and your altitude. The calculator returns exact minutes in boiling water, the ice bath that follows, and the fridge-safe window after.
Boiled-egg advice is a wall of single numbers that ignore everything real: a fridge-cold egg at sea level and a room-temp egg in Denver need different clocks. The method here is boil-start only, the ice bath is half the cook time, and the altitude correction is a real minute per 3000 feet.
How to use
- Choose the yolk: soft and jammy at 6, medium at 8 and a half, fully hard at 12.
- Honest starting temp - fridge eggs run about half a minute longer.
- Altitude over 3000 feet adds a minute per 3000. Everything updates live.
Frequently asked questions
How long do you boil eggs for soft, medium and hard?
Into already-boiling water: 6 minutes for jammy soft yolks, 8 and a half for set-but-tender medium, 12 for fully hard - each fridge-cold large egg at sea level. Add half a minute for room-temp starts and a minute per 3000 feet of altitude; the calculator does all three corrections at once.
Why do hard-boiled eggs get a green ring?
The grey-green film is iron from the yolk meeting sulfur from the white after long, hot cooking - harmless but chalky. It does not happen with a precise timer and an ice bath that stops the carryover heat. The calculator times the bath at half the cook.
How do I make boiled eggs easier to peel?
Slightly older eggs peel better than day-fresh ones, and the ice bath is the real trick: the chill shrinks the contents away from the shell. Crack under a little running water and the shell comes off in sheets.
How long do hard-boiled eggs keep?
One week in the shell in the fridge - peeled ones should be eaten within a couple of days. Dye the Easter batch the same day it boils and refrigerate it after the hunt; the two-hour room-temperature rule applies to decorated eggs like any other food.