Eggs have been the subject of one of the most contentious controversies in the culinary industry. Whether they’re genuinely non-vegetarian, vegetarian, or “eggetarian” is not the purview of this article. In terms of health advantages, this protein powerhouse is a stronghold. Boiled eggs are possibly the easiest way to consume eggs. One eats them as a breakfast option or as part of a soup, salad, or curry; it never gets out of fashion. Boiled eggs have immense health benefits. Children, adults, and the health-conscious everyone love boiled eggs.
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Eggs are one of the most versatile foods. Experimenting with them results in something delightful every time. And with that taste comes a lot of health benefits to keep your body strong as you thank your taste buds. We’ve already written about eggs, their protein value, and their benefits in another informative article. You can read that here.
Boiled eggs are the healthiest egg to eat since they have no added salt or oil. In addition, boiling eggs is incredibly simple.
- Take a few eggs
- Fill a circular metal bowl ¾ with water.
- Add the bowl on medium-high heat until the water starts developing bubbles
- Add your eggs
- Boil anywhere from 6-10 minutes, based on how you like your eggs.
- 6 min: the yolk will be liquid and runny
- 7 min: Nearly set and sticky yolk
- 8 min: soft boiled, not hard but not sticky
- 9-10 min: hard-boiled egg, not chalky or dry, but easy to eat.
In less than 6 minutes, you can have a healthy daily snack ready. Healthy, hearty, and heavenly.
Eggs: Boiled or Fried?
A hard-cooked boiled egg benefits and provides excellent nourishment. It’s far healthier than fried eggs. When egg proteins heat up during cooking, some linkages break, causing the protein strands to split. Therefore, the digestibility and absorption of egg proteins improve.
Although the way you prepare eggs does not affect the nutritional composition of the eggs, what you mix with them during preparation can. Eggs have roughly the same nutritional value whether boiled, poached, or scrambled without other additives. However, keep in mind that adding things to eggs during preparation or frying them in fat may change the nutritional profile of the finished meal.
Nutritional Value of Boiled Eggs
One egg contains:
- Calories: 72
- Protein: 6 grams
- Carbs: 0.6 grams
- Fat: 5 grams
- Saturated Fat: 1.6 grams
- Vitamin A: 10% of RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance)
- Riboflavin: 16% of RDA
- Vitamin B12: 21% of RDA
- Folate: 9% of RDA
- Iron: 5% of RDA
- Selenium: 28% of RDA
However, a lot changes when you boil an egg. The nutritional value of one fully hard-boiled egg is:
- Calories: 77
- Carbs: 0.6 grams
- Total fat: 5.3 grams
- Cholesterol: 212 mg
- Protein: 6.3 grams
- Vitamin A: 6% of Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)
- Vitamin B2: 15% of RDA
- Vitamin B12: 9% of RDA
- Vitamin B5: 7% of RDA
- Phosphorus: 86 mg or 9% of RDA
- Selenium: 15.4 mcg, 22% of RDA
Similarly, values change for different types of eggs. Even if you soft-boil or half-boil an egg, the values change. The safest and most complete form of eggs is considered the hard-boiled egg.
Benefits of Boiled Eggs
Eating boiled eggs brings a multitude of health benefits into your life.
1. High-Quality Protein
Boiled Eggs are high-protein foods. Since proteins are the building blocks of our bodies, they play a critical role in maintaining muscle and tissue strength and repair. One boiled egg contains roughly 6.3 g of protein. Studies show the protein in boiled eggs has a significant benefit since it includes all nine essential amino acids. These acids aid in the growth of muscle, recovery, and maintenance.
Of course, other meals can have a higher quantity of protein. But the excellent quality of protein in eggs is unrivalled. In addition, protein from boiled eggs can speed up weight loss, muscle mass gain, blood pressure control, and bone health.
2. Contains Good Cholesterol
Boiled eggs contain a lot of cholesterol. A single egg has 212 mg, which is far more than half of the daily recommended intake of 300 mg. However, dietary cholesterol doesn’t equate to higher blood cholesterol. High-density lipoprotein (HDL), or good cholesterol, increases after eating boiled eggs. However, there is insufficient evidence to prove their effect on the risk of heart disease.
Research shows that the liver creates a significant quantity of cholesterol. However, the liver produces low cholesterol when you eat eggs. Therefore, this balances everything out.
The form of cholesterol that puts your heart at risk is low-density lipoprotein (LDL), sometimes known as “bad” cholesterol. However, when it comes to increasing risk levels of LDL cholesterol, eggs aren’t the culprit. In addition, eggs consistently raise HDL (good cholesterol). Several studies prove that higher HDL levels lead to a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and other medical conditions.
3. Provides Choline
Choline is a nutrient that most people are unfamiliar with, although it is an essential component. It is critical for the synthesis of the cytoplasmic membrane. It also has a role in creating chemical signals in the brain.
Choline deficiency can have devastating symptoms, but it’s luckily uncommon. Choline is abundant in whole eggs. Each boiled egg contains more than 100 mg of choline. In addition, it is an essential micronutrient that most people don’t consume enough. Boiled Eggs are one of the finest dietary sources of choline.
4. Excellent Source Of Vitamin D
Egg yolks are one of the very few foods that contain vitamin D naturally. Two boiled eggs contain 82% of your necessary daily vitamin D consumption, making them a crucial resource of this vitamin.
Vitamin D absorbs calcium and phosphorus. Therefore, vitamin D is necessary to preserve strong bones and teeth. Vitamin D also supports the maintenance of muscular function and immunity.
5. Weight Management
Boiled Eggs are one of the finest meal alternatives for weight loss. They are relatively low in calories and high in quality protein. In addition, eggs’ high satiety levels contribute to increased feelings of fullness, reduced hunger, and a reduced urge to eat between meals. So you’ll be less tempted to grab a mid-afternoon snack.
Studies demonstrate that the consumption of boiled eggs leads to:
- Increase the number of hormones that make you feel full
- Keep your energy maintained
- Boost metabolism
Boiled eggs are abundant in high-quality protein. Therefore, it makes them an excellent addition to meals that help people lose weight. In addition, consuming boiled eggs can also assist in minimising glucose fluctuations. As a result, it corrects dietary intake patterns and helps one stay fit.
6. Omega-3
Although fish is one of the most well-known sources of omega-3s, boiled eggs are a particularly excellent source of healthful fats, especially for those who cannot consume seafood.
Omega-3 fatty acids are a variety of polyunsaturated fatty acids. These fats play a critical role in the function of cell membranes, from heart and brain health to eye protection. Since your body can only create a certain quantity of Omega-3s, it’s vital to take them through dietary sources. Boiled eggs are a fantastic and edible source of Omega-3 fatty acids. They provide 180mg of Omega-3 per serving (2 eggs).
7. Eye Health
Vitamin A, vitamin E, and selenium are all found in boiled eggs. These compounds operate as vital antioxidants in maintaining eye health and restoring retina function. In addition, selenium helps prevent degenerative eyesight at young and old ages alike.
The antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin are prominent in boiled eggs. They’re potent antioxidants that build up in the eye’s retina. Both of these compounds serve a preventative function. They help in the avoidance of eye ailments, such as cataracts.
According to studies, these antioxidants are also better absorbed by the body from boiled eggs than from other plant sources.
8. Healthy Ageing
Eggs are a simple way for older individuals to enhance their nutritional intake. Therefore, this helps minimise the risk of various deficits and illnesses. They also include a considerable quantity of leucine, an amino acid essential for long-term muscular support, and choline, a lesser-known vitamin crucial for brain function.
But sometimes, questions can arise. For example, if you’re to eat boiled eggs, which is better: Half boiled? Or Full boiled? In truth, both are healthy and neither cause problems nor side effects.
But for someone on a strict health-based diet, one is better.
Which is Better: Half or Full?
Everyone has their preference when it comes to eating cooked eggs. You can scramble, poach, fry, or boil the eggs. The egg white and yolk solidify when eggs are hard-boiled. The soft-boiled eggs recipe has the yolk raw and partially cooked.
Hard-Boiled Eggs
Vitamin D, zinc, iron, calcium, and vitamin B are abundant in hard-boiled eggs. In addition, they are high in protein, which helps to strengthen muscles and bones. Moreover, lutein and zeaxanthin’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities present in these eggs help maintain eye health.
Soft Boiled Eggs
Soft cooked eggs are tasty and filling. However, since they are semi-cooked, they may contain contaminants. Therefore, it makes them unsuitable for people with weakened immune systems. However, this cooking method preserves proteins in eggs. The egg whites are always cooked first, even in soft-boiled eggs.
To summarise, hard-boiled eggs are healthier and safer to eat than soft-boiled eggs. In the case of the soft cooking method, raw egg yolk might raise the risk of salmonella infection. But as per studies, it is not a high risk.
Boiled eggs are healthier if you source your eggs organically. But, of course, conventional eggs aren’t unhealthy either. But some practices involved in raising the chicks for commercial sale may affect a buyer’s conscience. However, both organic and conventional eggs have significant differences too!
Here’s how to choose:
Conventional v/s Organic
Eggs come in various shapes and sizes, and their nutritional value varies. It is determined by how the chickens are reared and nourished. The main three are:
- Ordinary eggs are the eggs you’d find at a grocery store or your local vendor. The chickens who lay these eggs are given grain with added vitamins and minerals.
- Chickens lay organic eggs when they are not given any genetically modified food. They also eat an organic diet. These eggs are produced by allowing chickens to walk freely while consuming plants and insects (their natural food) and some commercial feed.
- If you supplement chickens’ diet with an omega-3 source such as flax seeds, those eggs are Omega-3-enriched.
The issue is, the chickens in commercial egg-laying are often caged. They have limited movement. They’re force-fed hormones to lay eggs faster. However, this doesn’t affect the overall quality of the egg.
Organic eggs can be a bit more expensive. The price is a function of the expensive care and ingredients.
Certified organic eggs are probably the healthiest option available. They’re more nutritious because the chickens that hatched eggs had unrestricted access to a more natural diet. If certified organic eggs aren’t available, omega-3-enriched eggs are the next best thing. If you can’t locate pastured or omega-3 eggs, look for free-range, cage-free, or organic eggs instead. Even if that isn’t possible, regular eggs are still one of the healthiest meals available.
Recipes
Eating boiled eggs every day is more of a chore than a happy snacking. But that is no reason to avoid such a potentially beneficial food. However, you can eat boiled eggs by using them in several recipes.
Here are two of our favourite recipes with boiled eggs:
1. Eggs with Paprika Aioli
Ingredients (8 Servings):
- Large eggs: 4 (unrefrigerated)
- Jarred pepperoncini: 2 (brined)
- Parsley: 4 sprigs (1 sprig finely chopped)
- Mayonnaise: ¼ cup
- Smoked paprika: ½ tsp
- Kosher salt
Steps:
- Use a small saucepan and add water. Put on high heat and start boiling.
- Use a spoon to put four eggs into the water. Set a timer for 8 minutes.
- Find a large bowl and fill it with water.
- Drain two of your pepperoncini. Remove its stems.
- Finely chop it and transfer it to a small bowl.
- Do the same with your parsley sprigs. Then add to the bowl containing the peperoncini.
- In a separate small dish, combine 14 cups mayonnaise and 12 teaspoon paprika.
- When the timer goes off, use a spider or slotted spoon to take the eggs from the boiling water and place them in an ice bath. Allow for a 5-minute cooling period.
- Peel the eggs and cut them in half. Season the yolks with salt. Place the eggs on a platter.
- Top eggs with paprika mayo and pepperoncini salsa.
- Season with salt appropriately and enjoy.
2. Eggs in Soy
Ingredients (6 Servings):
- Large eggs: 6
- Garlic cloves: 5, peeled
- Red pepper flakes: 1 tsp, crushed
- Soy sauce: ¾ cup
- Mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine): 3 tbsp
- Rice vinegar: 2 tbsp, unseasoned
- Sesame seeds: 1 bunch, toasted
Steps:
- Gently place the eggs in a big pot of boiling water.
- Cook for 7 minutes when the water comes to a mild boil. Pour into a dish of cold water with a spoon. Set aside for 2 minutes to cool (eggs may still be a little warm). Remove the eggs from the cold water and peel them.
- In a medium saucepan, bring the garlic, chiles, soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, and 2 cups of water to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the eggs. Let it cool for an hour.
- Drain the eggs, quarter them, and sprinkle with sesame seeds if preferred.
- Season with salt to taste and enjoy.
Boiled Eggs: Things to Remember
The benefits provided by eggs might be limitless, but their recommended daily intake sure isn’t.
People have been told for decades to reduce their consumption of eggs, or, at the very least, egg yolks.
A single medium-sized egg has 186 mg of cholesterol, 62% of the daily recommended amount (RDI). The white is primarily protein and low in cholesterol. Therefore, a limit of 2–6 yolks each week is commonly recommended.
Studies demonstrate that the response to eating whole eggs depends on the individual. For example, eggs did not affect total or bad LDL cholesterol in 70% of the participants. These indicators do, however, rise somewhat in 30% of persons. Therefore, the recommended quantity is to eat no more than 3-4 boiled eggs daily. However, going overboard here or there shouldn’t cause too many problems.
Summary
Eggs are a nutrient-dense food in general. However, most cholesterol levels are not dramatically raised by eating eggs. Even when they do, they typically enhance HDL (good) cholesterol while altering the shape and size of LDL (bad) cholesterol, lowering disease risk.
Overall, eating eggs is relatively safe, even if you eat up to three whole eggs every day. In addition, quality eggs may be among the healthiest foods on the planet due to their high nutritional content and several health advantages.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q. What are the benefits of eating boiled eggs?
A. Hard-boiled eggs are a nutrient-dense, low-calorie meal. They’re a fantastic source of high-quality protein, as well as a good source of B vitamins, zinc, calcium, and a variety of essential minerals and antioxidants. As a result, they help you with healthy weight management, improve eye health, promote healthy ageing and improve heart and brain health.
Q. Is it Ok to eat boiled eggs every day?
A. Yes! Eating up to 3-4 boiled eggs in a day is OK. It does not cause any adverse effects. Instead, it helps you with several benefits like lowering cholesterol, improving eye health, managing weight etc. Although there are no significant adverse effects of overconsumption, you should eat them in moderation for maximum benefits.
Q. How many boiled eggs should you eat in a day?
A. An average adult should eat 1-3 whole eggs in a day if they are in good health. However, eating more than 3-4 eggs may lead to side effects, including increased cholesterol. Therefore, it is recommended to eat up to 3-4 eggs.
Q. Is boiled egg good for weight loss?
A. Yes. Boiled eggs are a rich source of protein. In addition, boiled eggs enhance high satiety levels, making you feel full for long. As a result, they control your urge to eat between meals and ensure low-calorie intake. In addition, consuming boiled eggs can also assist in minimising glucose fluctuations. As a result, boiled eggs are an excellent addition to your diet for healthy weight loss.
Q. Is eating eggs good for the skin?
A. Yes. Eggs include vitamins and minerals that aid in maintaining good skin and the prevention of tissue disintegration. In addition, eggs contain lutein and zeaxanthin, two significant antioxidants which help protect your skin against the damaging effects of UV rays like lines, brown spots and cancer.
Q. What are the side effects of eating boiled eggs?
A. Although there is no significant side effect of eating boiled eggs. But, when eggs aren’t cooked right, it can result in bloating, vomiting, and other stomach-related concerns. In addition, overeating eggs might negatively impact the kidneys. Therefore, it is recommended to eat them in moderation.
Q. Is boiled egg good for a man?
A. Absolutely! The benefits of boiled eggs don’t discriminate! However, it has several benefits for men. For example, eggs are a delicious way of adding proteins to your diet. Proteins are the building blocks of your cells and help proper functioning. In addition, the antioxidants in eggs help improve your skin and eye health.
Q. What happens if I eat boiled eggs every day?
A. Eating eggs every day is incredibly healthy and recommended by doctors and experts. It helps you in many ways. For example, eating eggs every day will ensure that you get the required proteins. In addition, it will provide all the necessary nutrients and minerals to your body. Additionally, it will assist you in maintaining a healthy weight and enhancing your overall health.
Q. What is the right time to eat a boiled egg?
A. Anytime is the right time! Eggs don’t harm your body regardless of when and where you consume them. However, if you eat them in the morning with your breakfast, eggs will give you enough energy to go through your day.
Q. Is boiled egg good for your diet?
A. Yes. Boiled eggs are an excellent addition to your diet. You will get high proteins without too many calories by adding eggs to your diet. In addition, they will help you stay energised, help your heart, eyes, and overall body function.
Q. How many boiled eggs should you eat in a day for protein?
A. 3-4 eggs per day. The dietary reference intake for proteins is 0.8 grams per kg of body weight. It amounts to 46 grams of protein per day for an average woman and 56 grams for a man. One boiled egg contains approximately six grams of protein. So, if you eat 3-4 eggs in a day with a balanced meal, you can easily fulfil about 40% of your daily protein requirement.
Q. Is boiled egg white good for weight loss?
A. Yes indeed! Egg whites contain 90% water and 10% protein. Therefore, many nutritional benefits from boiled eggs come from egg whites. For example, protein in egg whites can help you maintain your weight much better!
Q. How many calories and protein are in 2 boiled eggs without the yolk?
A. A boiled egg without the egg yolk contains roughly 18 calories and 4 grams of protein. So, the calories in two boiled eggs without the egg yolk would be around 36. Hence, it makes them a good choice for people who want to lose weight.
