How Long Do Hard Boiled Eggs Really Last? (2024)

FAQs

How Long Do Hard Boiled Eggs Really Last? ›

Hard cooked eggs can be stored in the refrigerator up to seven days, either left in their shells or peeled. Make sure eggs are refrigerated within two hours after cooking, and don't leave refrigerated cooked eggs out at room temperature for more than two hours.

How To Safely Store Hard-Boiled Eggs. According to the Food and Drug Administration, you can keep hard-cooked eggs in the refrigerator for up to seven days after they have been cooked.

Hard-boiled eggs, peeled or unpeeled, are safe to eat up to seven days or one full week after they were cooked. To make sure they stay fresh, allow the cooked eggs cool a bit, and then store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

If you're wondering if it's safe to eat those eggs that've been left out at room temperature, you should know that hard-boiled eggs outside of the refrigerator won't last for more than two hours, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Leave the eggs in the hot water for anywhere from 10-12 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs. The 10-minute eggs will have vibrant, creamy yolks, while the 12-minute yolks will be paler and opaque, with a chalkier texture. Finally, move them to an ice bath.

According to the FDA, refrigerated hard-boiled eggs, peeled or unpeeled, last for exactly one week. This means it's safe to cook a batch of hard-boiled eggs for your weekly meal prep—but cook no more than you and your family will consume in a week.

“If the egg is discolored or has a greenish ring around the yolk, it's likely gone bad.” A bad hard-boiled egg may also have a sulfuric smell, adds Marcus. The bottom line on hard-boiled eggs: “If the egg is slimy, mushy or smells bad, toss it,” says Steele.

On those egg cartons, if an expiration date appears, it can be no more than 30 days after the pack date. "As long as they're kept properly refrigerated at 40°F or lower, fresh eggs are safe to eat four to five weeks beyond the carton's Julian date," Maloberti says.

Hard-boiled eggs can be kept for 1 week in your refrigerator. If the egg develops an unmistakable odor or slimy or chalky texture, discard it, as eating spoiled eggs can make you sick.

The keeper of the 20-year-old egg, surnamed Fu, shared her precious fossil on social media platform Douban and it soon attracted the attention of curious online observers, with one nicknaming it “the pharaoh egg”. Translucent, it is of the size of a pistachio nut and feels like a hard plastic ball.

Is it better to store hard-boiled eggs peeled or unpeeled? ›

Keeping Hard-Boiled Eggs Fresh

For maximum freshness, leave them in their shells until you are ready to eat or prepare. The shell will help to protect the egg from bacteria, and can help prevent them from absorbing odors from other foods in your refrigerator.

Gently drop one egg into the glass, and observe where it settles. If the egg sinks to the bottom and lays on its side, it should be fresh and ready to eat. If it floats all the way to the top, the egg may be spoiled. Either avoid the risk and toss it in the garbage, or follow the following steps.

Hard cooked eggs can be stored in the refrigerator up to seven days, either left in their shells or peeled. Make sure eggs are refrigerated within two hours after cooking, and don't leave refrigerated cooked eggs out at room temperature for more than two hours.

A peeled hard-boiled egg, however, should be eaten the same day it's peeled. It seems counterintuitive that hard-boiled eggs, whether peeled or unpeeled, don't last as long as fresh eggs, which last for three to five weeks in the refrigerator, since they're cooked. There's a reason for that.

When shell eggs are hard cooked, the protective coating is washed away, leaving bare the pores in the shell for bacteria to enter and contaminate it. Hard-cooked eggs should be refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking and used within a week.

Hard-cooked eggs, which have been quickly cooled and placed in the refrigerator in their shells should be consumed within seven days. Peeled hard-cooked eggs stored in the refrigerator should be consumed within 48 hours due to the moist egg white surface being exposed and the potential of microorganism growth.

How Long Do Hard-Boiled Eggs Last? It depends on whether they're peeled or unpeeled. With their shells on, hard-boiled eggs will stay good in the fridge for up to a week. Once you peel them, though, their shelf-life decreases to about three days (at the most).

Overcooked hard-boiled eggs can have a rubbery texture and a greenish-gray color around the yolk. While they may not be harmful to eat, they may not be as enjoyable to consume.

Raw, shelled eggs typically last three weeks after their sell-by date when properly refrigerated and four to five weeks after their packing date when properly refrigerated. Boiling or cracking eggs shortens their shelf life, with boiled eggs lasting about a week.