Everyone has a method, none of them agree, and the difference between jammy and chalky is about ninety seconds. Here is the trail a careful cook walks — the next seven searches, in order, each with the two-sentence answer and the query to run.
One pot, one temperature, and a different egg every ninety seconds.
Six minutes for a runny yolk, eight for jammy, ten to twelve for fully hard. Lower them into water already at a boil, then drop it to a bare simmer so they do not knock about and crack.
Spin one on the counter: a hard-boiled egg spins fast and steady, a raw or soft one wobbles because the liquid inside is still moving. It is the only test that does not cost you the egg.
Ten minutes gives a set yolk that is still bright yellow; twelve is fully firm and the practical limit. Past that the yolk greys at the edge — harmless, but it is sulphur telling you the egg is overcooked.
The part that ruins the batch after you got the timing right.
Use older eggs — a fresh egg clings to its membrane, and a week or two in the fridge is enough to loosen it. Starting in boiling water rather than cold helps too, because the sudden heat sets the white away from the shell.
Medium-low heat, butter, then flip once the white is set but the yolk still moves — about two minutes, then thirty seconds on the second side. Over easy is a runny yolk; over medium is jammy; over hard is set through.
How long the batch you just made is actually good for.
One week in the shell, about two days once peeled — the shell is a real barrier, not just packaging. Store them unpeeled and peel as you go.
Two hours at room temperature, and one if it is above 90°F. Boiling strips the shell of its natural protective coating, so a cooked egg spoils faster on the counter than a raw one does.
Timings are for large eggs going into already-boiling water, then held at a bare simmer. Fridge-cold eggs, small eggs, and high altitude all shift the numbers — treat the first batch as calibration.
You just walked 7 searches for “how long to boil eggs”. The extension maps the trail right on your results page — for anything you search, not just the journeys we’ve written.