Don't Skip This Important Step When Pressure Cooking Eggs

When it comes to favorite kitchen appliances, those who favor quick and easy meals may find that a pressure cooker is an unbeatable tool for making hearty recipes without the long cook times. In fact, Fine Cooking reported that pressure cookers are quicker than other cooking techniques by 30%. And although we typically think a pressure cooker is best at making full-on lunch and dinner recipes like chicken and potatoes and prime rib, these multi-faceted kitchen tools are also perfect for preparing basic snacks and meal add-ons.

Boiled eggs may be one of the best examples of how a pressure cooker can further simplify an already easy-as-pie recipe. According to the Kitchn, pressure cooking your eggs isn't only faster than boiling them on the stove, it also makes them effortless to peel. But while using a pressure cooker to get your eggs ready for a tuna salad may save you from dealing with peeling away at stubborn eggshells, you need to be wary of how you go about using the machine. If you don't follow one crucial step when popping your eggs into the pressure cooker, what was supposed to be a cooking shortcut may just become a food catastrophe.

While a pressure cooker seemingly couldn't be easier to operate, there is one iron-clad rule you must follow when preparing eggs in one. The Kitchn explained that because pressure cookers use steam to cook your food, that liquid is an absolute must. If there is no liquid in the machine when you turn it on, then your eggs will not cook and you may see the "burn" signal switch on — which means that the interior of your pressure cooker is starting to overheat (per AllRecipes). In order to make absolutely sure your eggs will be cooked, the Kitchn recommends pouring around a cup of water into the pressure cooker before you even take your eggs out of the carton.

Simply Recipes also advises dropping in a similar amount of water, stating anywhere from 1 to 2 cups is a good quantity for your pressure cooker to make steam with. However, the website also advised that chefs check to make sure their water nearly reaches the bottom of their steamer basket and base how much more or less liquid they need from there. Although this is a must if you want to make the best pressure cooked eggs, according to Home Depot, while some dishes like pasta might require more water than others, you will always need to add water to ensure the success of any pressure cooked meal.