How to peel boiled quail eggs without breaking

How to peel boiled quail eggs without breaking - Man in Black and White Camouflage Uniform Holding Rifle

I can peel chicken eggs fine, but boiled quail eggs are much smaller & easier to break. I tend to use my finger nails to help with peeling but it's easy to cut it too much due to the thin egg whites. Sometimes, even just pulling a half-off shell piece is enough to break the egg in half.

I've tried thermal-shocking the shell with cool water right after boiling & lightly cracking the shell before peeling, but the shells tend to come off as small pieces rather than whole big ones, making each egg take >10 seconds to peel, which adds up really quickly. Even peeling them underwater doesn't seem to help much, as it doesn't separate the shell from the white.

What's a good way to more quickly peel such small & delicate quail eggs without breaking?



Best Answer

Start with eggs near their sell-by date, not ones you only just bought. The shell gets less attached to the egg with age & air builds a gap.

Boil as desired [hard-boiled is easier, of course].

Use the pan lid to drain off the water, then hold it tight & shake the pan to smash the shells into smaller [still mainly attached] pieces. Hard enough to break the shells, not hard enough to mince the contents.

Fill the pan with cold water. This will rapidly cool the eggs & as the water seeps in between, will aid separation of egg from shell.

Once cold, pull one at a time, roll gently on a hard surface - your aim is lots of tiny pieces, no large areas remaining - & pick an easy start-point. The shells should come off in one go.

I found backup to this, from a quail egg supplier…
How to easily peel quail eggs




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Quick Answer about "How to peel boiled quail eggs without breaking"

  • Put down a paper towel to catch any eggshell pieces that fall as you peel the eggs.
  • Take each egg out of the bowl of water where they've cooled.
  • Tap each egg on something hard to crack the shell.
  • Gently roll each egg to crack the rest of its shell.


  • How do you boil quail eggs so they peel easily?

  • Use eggs that are not super fresh. While it may sound counterintuitive, slightly older eggs are much easier to peel. ...
  • Start with boiling water. ...
  • Shock in cold water and gently shake. ...
  • Peel underwater. ...
  • Use a spoon. ...
  • For large batches, place the eggs in a plastic container with some water and gently shake.




  • How To Make Perfect Easy Peel Hard Boiled Quail Eggs.




    More answers regarding how to peel boiled quail eggs without breaking

    Answer 2

    I haven't actually tested this myself, but I saw a tip recently for dealing with hard boiled chicken eggs that you can see if it helps with quail eggs.

    They put the eggs into a hard sided plastic container, filled it part way with water, attached the lid, and then shook it firmly (and if it didn't do the job, close it back up and shake a little harder). I assume you would get the benefits from both the 'shake it in a container to break the shell' and the 'peel under water' advice.

    (it might've been from Nadiya's Time to Eat, but it also could've been from any cooking show on PBS / Create TV or even an internet video).

    Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

    Images: cottonbro, Klaus Nielsen, Ron Lach, Ivan Samkov