--- title: Here's How to Peel a Hard-Boiled Egg Quickly description: Shake a hard-boiled in a glass of water, and the shell comes off almost immediately. canonical: https://time.com/3694374/peeling-hard-boiled-eggs-water-glass/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-03T21:20:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:05.727Z og:title: Here's How to Peel a Hard-Boiled Egg in Seconds og:description: Shake a hard-boiled in a glass of water, and the shell comes off almost immediately. og:url: https://time.com/3694374/peeling-hard-boiled-eggs-water-glass/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How to Peel a Hard-Boiled Egg in Seconds twitter:description: Shake a hard-boiled in a glass of water, and the shell comes off almost immediately. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's How to Peel a Hard-Boiled Egg in Seconds  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 3, 2015 9:20 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 3, 2015 9:20 PM UTC [Hard-boiled egg](http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/popular-ingredients/hard-boiled-egg-recipes) lovers, rejoice! Here’s a great tip for anyone who has ever struggled with the horrors of trying to chip away at the shell of a hard-boiled egg. Instead, place the egg inside a small glass filled with a few inches of water, cover the top with your hand and shake quickly. The shell will come off almost immediately. In this video from [MicahMedia](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgRogoLBbPMeQMn%5FFo13FHA) on YouTube, you can see just how well the trick actually works. It looks almost as satisfying as those rare times you manage to peel an orange in one pull. ### 7 Foods That Taste Better Now Than They Will All Year  Kale: The cold-weather king, bitter kale is made mellower by the bitter cold. It can thrive in temperatures as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, Casanova says. Getty Images  Brussels sprouts: If you still think you hate Brussels sprouts, try them now. They're sweeter than summer sprouts, she says. (Failing that, of course, try frying them with bacon.) Getty Images  Kohlrabi: "Cabbage turnip" in German, this knotty, weird-looking root vegetable is a survivor. "Kohlrabi does not like hot summer temperatures at all, but thrives in cool weather," Casanova says. "Transplants can be put out six weeks before frost with an expected harvest in only a few short weeks." Getty Images  Mustard greens: The peppery plant kicks its way through the winter, and always tastes sweeter when it's nipped by frost. Getty Images  Parsnips: Yes, even foods that aren't green can withstand the cold. The pale parsnip, which looks like a yellow-white carrot, is best harvested after a hard frost, Casanova says. Getty Images  Cabbage: It may look like a delicate flower, but some types of cabbage can survive temperatures as low as 26 degrees, Casanova says, making it ideal for a winter harvest. Getty Images  Collards: "They grow best in full sun, tolerate partial shade, are rich in vitamins and sweetened by frost," she says. Getty Images \[[h/t Lifehacker](http://lifehacker.com/quickly-peel-a-hard-boiled-egg-by-shaking-it-in-a-glass-1683335985)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3694374/peeling-hard-boiled-eggs-water-glass/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3694374/peeling-hard-boiled-eggs-water-glass/"},"headline":"Here's How to Peel a Hard-Boiled Egg in Seconds","datePublished":"2015-02-03T21:20:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:05.727Z","description":"All you need is water and a small glass","url":"https://time.com/3694374/peeling-hard-boiled-eggs-water-glass/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3694374/peeling-hard-boiled-eggs-water-glass/","name":"Here's How to Peel a Hard-Boiled Egg in Seconds"}}]}] ```