How to Make Perfect Farm-Fresh Hard Boiled Eggs

If you are cooking with farm-fresh eggs, you know how much of a challenge it is to peel them when they have been hard boiled.  The shells stick to the egg whites. We've tried many tricks to see what works, and found that steaming them didn't work, nor did putting baking soda in the water.  Finally, the perfect solution came along: using a pressure cooker, AKA the Instant Pot.

After trying different amounts of time cooking hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot, we've settled on the 5-5-5 method for perfect hard boiled eggs every time.  This method uses 5 minutes under pressure, 5 minutes in natural release, and 5 minutes in ice water.

Add 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot, place the round rack inside, add the eggs in a single layer (don't crowd too much to avoid breakage), and then put the lid into place with the vent closed.  Press the Manual button and set it for 5 minutes.  Once the 5 minutes have counted down, let the pot release naturally for 5 minutes, and then at that point vent out the rest of the steam.  Once all the steam has been vented out, remove the top, use hot pads to move the inner pot to your sink and add cold water and ice.  Let the eggs sit in the ice water for 5 minutes, and then remove the eggs a covered bowl for keeping in the refrigerator.

One last tip: this method works best when the eggs are room temperature.  If the eggs are too cold, their shells may crack while they are cooking in the Instant Pot. But don't worry -- the broken egg still holds together, it just comes out looking a little misshapen when done.