It may surprise you to know that uncooked eggs can be kept longer both in and out of the refrigerator than boiled eggs.
This is because the protective coating that is put on eggs before they are shipped to consumers is destroyed in the cooking process. (Manufacturers put on this protective coating because the washing and sanitizing process eggs undergo before packaging removes the natural protective coating eggs have when they come of of a hen.)
To keep hard-boiled eggs fresh, follow these food safety tips:
- Do not keep boiled eggs unrefrigerated for more than two hours.
- Do not keep eggs for more than a week. Boiled eggs only last one week in the refrigerator; raw eggs, on the other hand, can stay fresh in the refrigerator for as much as three to five weeks, depending on the expiration date on the carton.
- If you detect an unpleasant odor from an egg, whether it's raw or cooked, throw it out.
- Do not worry about the greenish tinge between the cooked yolk and egg white; that's an indication that the egg was overcooked and the sulfur and iron in the yolk reacted to the egg white.
- If you are using hard-boiled eggs for decorating Easter eggs and are planning to eat them, be sure to use food-safe coloring and refrigerate the eggs within two hours after boiling. If you are using boiled eggs for Easter games such as an egg hunt, be sure not to eat any eggs that have cracked shells.
- If you have any questions about egg safety, go to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Egg Safety Fact Sheet or Egg Safety Center.
