Can Tape Really Help Peel An Egg?

There seems to be a great debate over the best method to peel hard-boiled eggs. There are endless tips and tricks that claim to be the easiest method. Every cook has their favorites from simply shocking eggs in an ice bath to using a spoon to shaking the eggs in a container, as recommended by Today.

However, peeling eggs is no easy task, no matter what the method. Seamlessly peeling shells from the egg is almost impossible, and you're always likely to end up with a few imperfections. The reason this task is so difficult is that you need to break the bond between the membrane and the egg. Fresh eggs have higher pH levels and this creates a strong bond that is not easily separated. Factors such as the age of the egg can help reduce the strength of the bond, but if you can't wait a week for your eggs to age, you likely need to pick the best method for peeling the shells.

One of the most unique and handy methods only needs one tool: tape.

The tape peeling method is just as simple as any other trick to de-shell an egg. According to the Kitchn, after boiling and chilling your eggs as usual, you can pull out some packing tape when you're ready to peel. To do this, wrap the circumference of each egg in packing tape. Once covered, roll the eggs either on a countertop or in the palm of your hand. Make sure to do this gently so as to not damage the whites underneath the shell. It should be just enough pressure to slightly crack the shell. Once sufficiently fragmented, you can slowly peel off the tape, and ideally, should all come off in one go. The top and bottom shell pieces will still remain, but they easily slide off.

Cookist demonstrated this method on Youtube with packing tape, and it seems to work well enough. While it looks easy, the Kitchn doesn't seem to prefer this method, noting that it didn't work as seamlessly in their testing as it did in the video. Although it may not always work perfectly, this trick may be worth trying out for yourself.