Instant Pot - Hard "Steamed" Egg Perfection

The common egg. The perfect natural protein.

There are unquantifiable ways to prepare them... more ways than Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue can prepare shrimp! But the simplest and most paleolithic way to prepare an egg (aside from its unsavory and unsafe raw form) is to hard boil this golden treasure in its natural, hard shelled chest. Convenient and compact, it's one of the foods we always have in our refrigerator.

Consistency is king when it comes to cooking. What's the best method to get consistent hard boiled eggs? Not by boiling... but to pressure cook them with steam using the mighty Instant Pot of course!

I'm sure most foodies have heard of the Instant Pot by now, and if you don't own one, then shame on you. It's a versatile and inexpensive piece of cooking kit that cooks rice, sautés, stews, slow cooks, pressure cooks, and steams. You can easily get rid of several kitchen appliances by replacing them with this one piece of kitchen sorcery.

Now I'm going to give you the exact rundown on how to cook the perfect hard "steamed" egg...

Instant Pot - Hard "Steamed" Egg Perfection:

1. Plug in your Instant Pot.
2. Fill the pot with 1 cup of cold water. An Instant Pot always needs at least 1 cup of water for the pressure functions to work properly.
3. Place a steamer basket of your choice in the pot, ensuring that the 1 cup of water is not above the lower surface of the basket. We want to steam the eggs, not boil them.
4. Place 6-12 eggs in the basket... yep, straight from the refrigerator, cold. We typically cook 6 in a batch so they aren't stacked in the basket.
5. Place the lid on the Instant Pot, lock it, and set the pressure handle on the top to "Sealing" (this pressurizes the pot and locks in the steam during the cooking process).
6. Hit the "Manual" button. Set the pressure level to "Low Pressure." Set the timer to 14 minutes.
7. Wait about 5 seconds and the cycle will begin with a beep. It will take several minutes for the valve on top to close from pressure buildup, then the 14 minute cycle will begin.
8. When the steam cycle is done, the Instant Pot will beep several times and go into warming mode. Immediately turn off the Warm function and open the pressure handle on top to "Venting." Be careful of the steam.
9. Once pressure is relieved, the lid will unlock and you can open the Instant Pot. Immediately remove the eggs and put them in an ice bath (I find this quicker and more efficient than running cold water over them for a length of time).
10. Once cold, dry them off and place in the refrigerator.

That's it!

The list seems overly long to make "hard boiled" eggs, but the difference between trying to nail down the variances of the boiling method and what you get from steaming them in the Instant Pot is like night and day.

Your "hard steamed" eggs will have soft tender whites, creamy yolks, and no unappetizing green tint from over overcooking... in addition to being super easy to peel.

Enjoy your protein perfection!