How long do boiled eggs last?
One week in the shell in the fridge, two days peeled. Storage rules for hard boiled eggs, plus how to tell when one has gone.
One week in the fridge if the shell is intact. Two days if you have peeled them. Two hours at room temperature, and that is a limit rather than a target.
Boiling removes the shell's natural protective coating, which is why a boiled egg keeps for a week while a raw one keeps for a month.
Storing them properly
| Where | Unpeeled | Peeled |
|---|---|---|
| Fridge, sealed container | 7 days | 2 days, submerged in water |
| Fridge, loose on a shelf | 5 days | not recommended |
| Room temperature | 2 hours | 2 hours |
| Freezer | do not freeze whole | yolks only, 3 months |
Keep unpeeled eggs in a sealed box rather than loose in the door. Shells are porous and boiled eggs pick up fridge smells quickly, which is how you end up with an egg that tastes faintly of onion.
Peeled eggs dry out and go rubbery in hours. Cover them with cold water in a sealed container and change the water daily.
Telling if one has gone off
Smell is the reliable test and it is not subtle. A bad egg smells of sulphur strongly enough that you will know before you have finished cracking it.
Slime or a chalky texture on the shell means bacteria. Bin it.
The float test works on raw eggs, not boiled ones, so it is no help here. Once an egg is cooked the internal air pocket has already changed.
Meal prep
Boil them on a Sunday, leave the shells on, keep them in a sealed box, and peel each one as you eat it. That gets you the full week.
Peeling the whole batch in advance feels efficient and costs you five days of shelf life.
Other boiling times
Egg guides
Common questions
Can I leave boiled eggs out overnight?
No. Once cooked and cooled they are in the same category as any other cooked food, and two hours at room temperature is the safe limit. An egg left out overnight should be thrown away even if it smells fine.
Do boiled eggs need to be refrigerated?
Yes, if you are keeping them for more than a couple of hours. This holds even in countries where raw eggs are stored at room temperature, because boiling strips the protective bloom from the shell.
Why does my boiled egg smell of sulphur when it is fresh?
A faint sulphur smell straight after cooking is normal and comes off with the steam. It fades within a few minutes. A strong smell on a cold egg is different and means it has spoiled.
Egg times come from the thermal-diffusion equation for a spherical egg published by Charles D. H. Williams (University of Exeter), calibrated so a large fridge-cold egg at sea level matches the times cooks actually use. Size, starting temperature and altitude then follow from the physics. Treat the result as a very good starting point, not a guarantee, because pans, hobs and eggs all vary.