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If you eat eggs often, this air fryer hard boiled eggs method is definitely one to try. There’s no need to wait for the water to boil and it’s completely hands-off. Just set the eggs in the air fryer basket, set the timer and wait until they’re cooked to your desired doneness. The air fried boiled eggs come out perfectly cooked and easy to peel!
Once you try air fryer hard boiled eggs, you’ll realize it may just be the easiest method to “boiling” eggs. And it doesn’t require any water for cooking. You can eat the eggs alone or use them in recipes liked my Healthy Egg Salad, Avocado Egg Salad or Cauliflower Potato Salad.
Eggs are a great source of protein and are rich in vitamin D, A and antioxidants. Air frying them is a great method for cooking eggs as you are not adding any additional fat to them.
How to make air fryer hard boiled eggs
Making hard boiled eggs in the air fryer couldn’t be easier!
Preheat the air fryer to 250°F. But you can also skip this step and just tack on an extra couple minutes of cooking time. I always like to start by preheating though. Set the timer between 13 and 17 minutes, depending on your desired doneness; and that’s it!
The outer shell of the egg may have raised spots on them after they’re cooked. But that’s just from the hot air circulating rapidly and creating pressure on the egg shells. It’s completely normal if that happens, and the peeled eggs aren’t affected.
As soon as they’re cooked, place the hard boiled eggs in an ice water bath, made with cold water and ice cubes. This helps to immediately stop the cooking and makes it easy to peel the eggs. You can alternatively just run them under cold running water for a minute.
Then, just peel normally and enjoy. I found that the air fryer hard boiled eggs peel super easily and quickly every time!
Tips for making air fryer hard boiled eggs
- Play around with the time for your ideal doneness. Since all air fryers makes and models vary in strength and watts, I recommend trying out the different times to find what’s perfect for you. And then you can keep using those settings. The air fryer I used is 1700 watts.
- Use an ice water bath to stop the eggs from overcooking. While it’s not necessary to cool the eggs, I always run them under cold water or an ice bath (preferred) because it immediately shocks the eggs’ temperature, and stops them from cooking.
- Use a grill rack or mesh rack if your air fryer doesn’t have a basket. That works perfectly fine to allow the air to circulate fast around the eggs even if you don’t have a basket.
- Cook up to 12 eggs at once. Air fryer hard boiled eggs are great for meal prepping since the eggs last up to one week in the fridge. Once you’ve tested the perfect time in your air fryer, you can cook them in bulk.
Frequently asked questions
There are so many great air fryers on the market. I have tested a few of them and my favorite one that I’ve been using for the past three years is this Instant Vortex air fryer.
Hard boiled eggs can be refrigerated for up to one week, whether they’re peeled or unpeeled.
For unpeeled hard boiled eggs, store them in any container, sealed or unsealed.
For peeled hard-boiled eggs, store them in a bowl of cold water to cover. Make sure to change the water daily. Or you can store them in a sealed container without water. Instead, cover the eggs with damp paper towels.
The answer is yes, but only for the yolks. I’ve never tried it myself, but I’ve read that the whites become tough and rubbery, or even leak and change color. However, if you remove the cooked egg yolks, and place them in a freezer safe container or heavy-duty freezer bag, they will stay good in the freezer for up to 3 months.
I have not tested this at the higher temperature, but I recommend trying 10-12 minutes.
For more air fryer recipes:
- Pickle Brined Chicken Tenders
- Air Fryer Chicken
- Fried Chicken Wings Recipe
- Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
- Air Fryer Potatoes
- Air Fryer Salmon
More egg recipes:
For everyone who recently got an air fryer and looking for more ways to incorporate meals into it, try Air Fryer Hard Boiled Eggs. They cook quickly and easily without any water, there’s no clean up involved, and they come out consistently perfect every time!
If you’ve tried this healthy Air Fryer Hard Boiled Eggs recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
Air Fryer Hard Boiled Eggs
Video
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer to 250°F.
- Add the eggs to the fryer basket and cook according to your preference, between 13 minutes for soft-boiled eggs and 17 minutes for hard boiled eggs. Please note, time may vary between air fryers.
- Remove the eggs from the air fryer basket, and plunge them into an ice bath. Peel when cool enough to handle and enjoy!
Notes
- For unpeeled hard boiled eggs, store them in any container, sealed or unsealed.
- For peeled hard-boiled eggs, store them in a bowl of cold water to cover. Make sure to change the water daily. Or you can store them in a sealed container without water. Instead, cover the eggs with damp paper towels.
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
I followed your instructions and my hard-boiled eggs came out perfectly. Thx, I have a Ninja XL 12-in-1 air fryer.
Thanks for sharing!
Here’s an faster alternate cooking method using the Instant Vortex. Assumes a cold water bath right after.
Set it to 285 degrees…
9 minutes = cooked w a mostly runny yolk
10 minutes = the perfect “jammy” egg!
11 minutes = traditional hard boiled (with a yolk that’s not 100% totally hard)
12 minutes = hardboiled egg w a hard yolk
Thanks for these details for that specific machine!
I just did 4 eggs preheated fryer for 15 minutes cooked for 17 minutes and they were very runny, tried another 3 minutes same thing. Covered with boiling water and never did get them hard. They did peel nice.
Hmm, what temperature did you cook them at?
Cooked them at 250. The wattage of my air fryer is 1440
I recommend trying 10-12 minutes at 300˚F. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the advice I tried 300 degrees 12 minutes runny tried another 3 still not cooked
This was an abysmal fail for me. I preheated the air fryer for several minutes. Do the eggs need to be room temperature first? Only about half the whites were cooked and the yolks were running.
So sorry this didn’t work out as expected. How long did you cook the eggs for after you preheated the air fryer? I usually start with fridge cold eggs.
I set oven for 18mins and put them in when it had 15 mins left so it preheated 3 mins. It’s a SurLaTable machine from Costco. Shows 1500 watts. I’m going to try again. 3500 reviews with nearly all 5 stars, I’m totally open minded to just needing to modify it on my end. Maybe 275 for 16 mins next time. I didn’t put a rating because I think there’s merit to this idea even if it didn’t work for me this time.
Totally understand, thanks for the information. I know all machines are different, so it takes some tinkering to get the eggs just right. I think your plan sounds good, perhaps just try one or two eggs while testing to nail the timing before making a big batch. Good luck!
Ok, round 1 yesterday was 14 eggs, 16 mins at 250. Today’s was 6 eggs, 18 mins at 275 (set for 21 mins so I got a 3 min preheat). I was able to successfully get 2 (mostly) eggs out of this and 2 that fell apart with whites not quite all the way cooked that I ate because I can’t throw them in with the pickling brine… I’m going back to boiling them the old school way.
I don’t mind that there are brown spots on the outside of the egg but I do mind that one of the eggs exploded. No thanks!
So sorry that happened! How long did you cook them in your air fryer? And how many watts is it?
Recipe fail. LOL experimenting is messy. Used Breville the Smart Oven® Air Fryer Pro. Liquid eggs after 15min. HELP!
NEVERMIND! New to this air fryer so made a technical error. Please remove the above comment if possible. So sorry.
This didn’t work. I tried them as directed, center wasn’t cooked. Put them in for 10 more minutes and the same result. Boo.
So sorry to hear that Tom, what type of air fryer do you have?
My AF doent go down to 250 Stops at 300 I preheated then cooked 6 eggs at 30 for 16 min. That was too long They are overcooked.
Suggestions???
I have not tested this at the higher temperature, but I recommend trying 10-12 minutes at 300˚F. Hope that helps!
This worked perfectly! I preheated the air fryer, left them in for 17 minutes- put them in an ice bath, and it was so easy. Thank you!
Yay, so glad to hear!