I Tried Air Fryer Hard-Boiled Eggs — And the Results Were NOT What I Expected

By now I’ve made hard-boiled eggs just about every way imaginable. I’ve used the stovetop method, the oven, the slow cooker, and the Instant Pot. And while I have a go-to method (the 5-5-5 method), I’m always game to try something different — especially if it’s faster or easier, results in tastier eggs, or leaves me with eggs that are super easy to peel. So when I saw air fryer hard-boiled eggs popping up around the web, I knew I had to try them.

The air fryer is the secret to the crispiest tater tots, ultra-gooey grilled cheeses, quick and tender asparagus, and even chocolate chip cookies. Plus, Tools Editor Riddley recently voted the air fryer her favorite gadget for making hard-boiled eggs, and specifically loved that it didn’t require any water. I had a feeling this could become my new favorite method. Here’s what happened when I gave it a go.

Before actually trying this method myself, I scrolled through a ton of recipes. I noticed that while cook times and temperatures varied slightly between recipes, one thing remained consistent: Most recipes were developed with a basket air fryer in mind.

When I starting testing, I quickly learned that because of that, the cook time indicated in most recipes isn’t nearly long enough for a toaster oven-air fryer hybrid (the model I own), leaving me with very undercooked eggs. I think it’s both an issue of wattage variation between air fryer models, but also the total area inside the toaster oven hybrid is much greater than a traditional basket air fryer.

After a lot of trial and error, I finally nailed the timing for both the basket air fryer and the toaster oven air fryer.

Start by heating the air fryer to 275°F. Place one to 12 cold large eggs in the air fry basket or tray in a single layer.

Meanwhile, make an ice water bath by filling a large bowl with water and ice cubes. Use tongs to transfer the eggs to the ice bath. Let cool for 5 minutes. Remove from the ice bath. If you plan to eat the eggs right away, peel the eggs immediately. For longer-term storage, refrigerate unpeeled in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Unless I need to cook, say, two-dozen hard-boiled eggs at once, I won’t be using this method again. For the time it takes, the results simply don’t deliver. The texture of the eggs is similar to eggs that are “hard-boiled” in the oven, which is to say, they’re slightly chewy and rubbery rather than tender and creamy. The eggs are easy to peel, although not necessarily more so than when cooked on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot.

I can think of three instances when it could makes sense to make air fryer hard-boiled eggs.

Have you ever made hard-boiled eggs in the air fryer? Let us know in the comments!