Oh, how I loved soft boiled eggs. Seriously. Love. Them.

The problem I have with soft boiling eggs is the same problem I have with hard boiling eggs – sometimes the shells don’t peel away nicely. And I hate ruining my perfectly cooked eggs!

I have read a lot of ideas on how to prevent the egg from breaking – use older eggs (or let them sit out on the counter), roll it around before peeling it, slide a teaspoon under the shell – or, the craziest of all, blow the shell off!

I have tried multiple things to help with the peeling of my eggs, but only ONE has worked consistently… POKE THE EGG before you put it in the water. That’s it. Purchase a nifty egg piercer and poke your eggs before putting them in the water. Works every time. Every time. And, bonus – it works for hard boiled eggs as well (good for all those deviled eggs for summer picnics!). You can use a corn holder, but you may ruin a few eggs that way.

Here’s how I do my PERFECT soft boiled eggs (you may need to add time if you live higher than 4500 ft elevation or subtract time for lower than 4500 ft).

Put salted water on to boil. Poke your eggs. Put them into the boiling water. Cook for 7 minutes. Put eggs immediately into cold water to stop the cooking process.

Peel and eat!

If you want to be really fancy, you can eat them from an egg cup – but you don’t need to snip the top off and eat them that way when you can so easily peel them.