How To Make A Tub Of Egg Salad Without Ever Peeling A Shell

Some kitchen tasks, like mashing potatoes and spinning salad spinners, which can be used for so much more than drying greens, are genuinely delightful. Others, like peeling hard-boiled eggs, are decidedly disagreeable for most home chefs. We've all been there: you're peeling eggs for a big batch of egg salad, and you start strong, cautiously eking each egg from its shell, but three eggs and 45 minutes in, you can't take it anymore — you throw caution to the wind and rush through the rest of the eggs, taking half the whites along with the shells. 

Although there are plenty of tips for peeling hard-boiled eggs, the inevitable truth is that it's hard. Luckily, it's possible to make egg salad without peeling a single shell. Yes, you read that right. This isn't magic — just a little kitchen genius. The trick to making a peel-free egg salad is beautifully simple: Instead of boiling your eggs, crack them into a pan and bake them in the oven.

To prepare oven-baked eggs for egg salad, you'll need a small or medium loaf pan or baking dish, a larger baking dish, oil or cooking spray, and your eggs. This works well with four to eight eggs, depending on the pan size. 

First, crack the eggs into the smaller oil-greased pan. Make sure they are spread in a uniform layer to ensure even cooking, and try to keep the yolks from breaking. Next, create a water bath by setting the egg-filled pan in the larger pan, and then filling the larger pan with water up to the level of the eggs. This helps control the temperature of the pan and prevents the eggs from drying out. Finally, bake the eggs at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes.

After baking the eggs for roughly half an hour, or until the whites and yolks are firm and set, remove them from the oven. Let the pan cool off for at least ten minutes — this is important, because warm eggs and mayonnaise don't mix well, and the cooled eggs are much easier to cut up — and that's it! All that's left to do is chop up your eggs and mix them into your favorite upgraded egg salad recipe. 

Although this no-peel egg salad technique admittedly takes a little longer than traditional boiling, it's much more hands-off and saves you from the tedious task of peeling eggshells for what feels like hours. It's well worth a crack, especially if you're making a giant batch of egg salad for a potluck or meal prep. 

With this method, you can enjoy egg salad at breakfast, lunch, and dinner without peeling a single shell. If you're looking for other ways to avoid dread-inducing kitchen tasks when making egg salad, consider using Ree Drummond's genius diced egg shortcut and using a cooling rack to cut up the eggs.