Some flat surfaces in your kitchen that you can use are a cutting board, a counter top, or even the bottom of the sink.

Press hard enough to stop the motion of the egg quickly. It should go from spinning to still in the span of a second or so.

If the egg stays still, it is a hard boiled egg. [6] X Expert Source Randall ChambersPersonal Chef Expert Interview. 1 March 2022. If the egg continues to slowly rotate or wobble it is uncooked. [7] X Expert Source Randall ChambersPersonal Chef Expert Interview. 1 March 2022. This is because the liquid white and yolk are still spinning inside the shell. The egg’s center of gravity shifts as the liquid contents move around, causing the egg to keep moving.

If the egg spins quickly and steadily like a top, the egg is hard boiled. [8] X Expert Source Randall ChambersPersonal Chef Expert Interview. 1 March 2022. Its center of gravity is stable. If it spins slowly, it has a major wobble, or it’s tough to spin at all, it’s raw. [9] X Expert Source Randall ChambersPersonal Chef Expert Interview. 1 March 2022. The liquid inside is shifting around as the egg spins and throwing it off balance. [10] X Research source

If the egg is hard boiled, it will feel solid like a rock. If the egg is liquid, you will be able to feel the liquid inside moving and shifting as you shake it.

If the egg is raw, you will see these bubbles. Egg shells are not completely solid — they are actually covered by thousands of tiny holes that sometimes can allow gases to pass through. Heating the egg makes the gas inside the shell to expand and pass through these holes, creating bubbles. If the egg is boiled, you probably won’t see these bubbles because the gas was already forced out during the boiling process.

If the egg lights up like a lantern, it is raw. The liquid inside allows the light through. If the egg is dark and opaque, it is hard-boiled. The solid white and yolk do not let the light through.

The more onion skins you use, the more noticeable the dying effect. If you can, use about 12 onions’ worth of skins to get eggs with a deeply-dyed appearance. Skins from red onions also tend to dye the eggs more darkly than skins from white or yellow onions.

If you’re boiling the eggs in a small pot, you can add a few drops of food coloring and a few teaspoons of vinegar directly to the water as you boil. Otherwise, boil the eggs first, then soak them in a mixture of 1/2 cup boiling water, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and a few drops of food coloring afterward.

Don’t worry — since you have to remove the shell to eat boiled eggs, this doesn’t make your eggs unsafe to eat, even if you use ink.