This foolproof method for perfectly-cooked eggs is also perfect for kids! We add just an inch of water to a saucepan, bring it to a boil, add our eggs in a steamer basket, cover, and cook. When the eggs are ready, there’s no dangerous pot of boiling water to pour out. The hot steam trapped in the pot cooks the eggs gently and evenly and also helps make the eggs easier to pull. While their eggs are cooking, explain to kids that eggs cook from the outside, in (the egg white, which is closer to the shell, heats up before the yolk, which is in the center of the egg). To see this in action, kids can use a slotted spoon to remove one egg at at 6½ minutes, another at 8 minutes, and the remaining eggs at 13 minutes. Once they chill, peel, and cut into each egg, they can observe how the yolk goes from runny to jammy to fully-cooked, but the whites (on the outside) are always fully set!

Instructions

Fill medium saucepan 1 inch deep with water. Bring to rolling boil (lots of big bubbles break surface of water) over high heat.

Place 1 to 6 eggs in steamer basket and use oven mitts to carefully lower basket into saucepan (ask an adult for help). Eggs can be above or partly under water.

Cover saucepan, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook eggs for exactly 13 minutes.

While eggs are cooking, combine ice cubes and 2 cups cold water in medium bowl.

Use oven mitts to remove lid. Use slotted spoon to transfer cooked eggs to ice bath (ask an adult for help) and let eggs cool for 15 minutes.

Remove eggs from ice bath and refrigerate until ready to eat. Crack eggs against hard surface (like the counter) and peel away shell with your hands. Serve.