Can I eat these boiled eggs?!

March 1, 2016 4:02 PM

I boiled some eggs last night and left the pot on the stove...augh! Please tell me I can eat these.

Boiled the eggs from cold start around 10pm last night, put the lid on and let them sit for...about 18 hours. Oooops. The water was very very salty (helps the shells come off) and the water bath is at about 74 F. The lid stayed on until just now.

I cracked one open to see whether it smells awful and it doesn't. Edible?

posted by zinful to Food & Drink (23 answers total)

They are perfectly fine. You killed everything that was growing in the eggs, and there's no way for anything more to get in.
posted by kindall at 4:06 PM on March 1, 2016 [5 favorites]

Toss them.
posted by instamatic at 4:12 PM on March 1, 2016 [11 favorites]

Eggs are notorious for making people sick even when they taste fine. I would not eat them.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 4:17 PM on March 1, 2016 [3 favorites]

Did you turn the heat off and left them on the stove for 18 Hrs?

In any case; as long as they were in the shell and immersed in the water; you should be OK. The problem comes if they are removed from their shells; or cut open or something where you expose the edible part of the egg.

To be safe; you may want to chop them up and nuke 'em till hot; just to be safe! :)
posted by indianbadger1 at 4:18 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yo, eggs are inexpensive. Your health is not. Get the heck rid of them. Even if they're not dangerous (they probably are), their quality has suffered to an extreme extent.
posted by General Malaise at 4:19 PM on March 1, 2016 [4 favorites]

I would eat raw eggs left out, no problem. Boiling is going to crack the shells and rupture whatever linings would otherwise seal off the egg from bacteria.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:22 PM on March 1, 2016

We boil eggs and leave them sitting out for days, we keep them in a bowl next to the fruit....like my mama did and her mama before her. Boiled eggs are fine for a rather long time. Eat them...
posted by pearlybob at 4:26 PM on March 1, 2016 [19 favorites]

Wow. When we live in India (and less frequently in Australia) we boil a dozen egg, store them at room temp as we bugger about shopping, bush walking, playing, beaching, parking etc and eat them over the period of a day or so. Always including a tiny packet of salt. Have been doing it with the kids for years. I'd eat them. In fact, if you weren't in Drumpfland, I'd pop over and put them in a curried egg sanger. Eat them!
posted by taff at 4:29 PM on March 1, 2016 [15 favorites]

My roommate used to boil eggs and leave them sitting out for days at a time before eating them. It never killed her that I noticed.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:37 PM on March 1, 2016 [5 favorites]

I know people who've eaten boiled (& painted) Easter eggs 1-3 days out. No one's gotten sick, afaik. Imagine science & careful people will say no, but I think you could probably eat them and be ok.
posted by cotton dress sock at 4:42 PM on March 1, 2016 [3 favorites]

I worked at a coffee shop that kept a basket of boiled eggs on the counter and refrigerated them... never. No food poisoning (that we ever heard of, anyway), and the health inspector never said anything.
posted by MadamM at 5:37 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'd eat them even if they'd been sitting on the counter for a day after being boiled. If the pot lid stayed on they should still pretty much be sterile.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:41 PM on March 1, 2016

Boiled for 10+ minutes with the lid on, lid stayed on, shells stayed intact? No problem whatsoever. Eat them.
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:59 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

I would eat raw eggs left out, no problem. Boiling is going to crack the shells and rupture whatever linings would otherwise seal off the egg from bacteria.

As I understand it, if they're pasteurized eggs, some of those protective membranes have already been damaged when they're still raw; so that if kept at room temperature unpasteurized eggs last longer on average than pasteurized ones. (Though even pasteurized eggs last much longer than many other raw foods.)
posted by XMLicious at 6:01 PM on March 1, 2016

We do that all the time. My wife just boiled up some eggs tonight. They will still be in the pot tomorrow morning. Ain't hurt us yet.
posted by fimbulvetr at 7:09 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

They are going to be unpalatable. Letting them sit in hot water and cool slowly is going to prolong the cooking process. Your yolks are going to be grey/green and perhaps have a sulphury smell.

It's quite possible that the eggs will be safe to eat. On the other hand, a week of salmonella doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs. I'd toss them.
posted by 26.2 at 8:04 PM on March 1, 2016

Sure, I do this all the time.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:35 PM on March 1, 2016

Back in 2007 the majority consensus was that it's fine.
posted by O9scar at 8:57 PM on March 1, 2016

Eggs don't cost that much, and food poisoning is a miserable experience. Why take the chance?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:02 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: > I worked at a coffee shop that kept a basket of boiled eggs on the counter and refrigerated them... never. No food poisoning (that we ever heard of, anyway), and the health inspector never said anything.

Seconded, I see hardboiled eggs in a basket on the counter at small coffeeshops/convenience stores all the time. It's a commonplace thing to put in your sack lunch/lunchbox without refrigerating, too. Should be fine. Eggs are more stable than people give them credit for.
posted by desuetude at 10:07 PM on March 1, 2016 [6 favorites]

The eggs were in boiling water for a few minutes, with the lid left on afterwards?

I would happily eat them, although UK eggs are not stripped of their outer protective coatings like US eggs are so may be safer in general?
posted by pharm at 1:04 AM on March 2, 2016

18 hours is nothing. I'd even eat it after a few days but then I also eat cooked rice long after you're supposed to. I'm fine. I only discard things that look or smell off. This has always stood me in good stead.
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 6:25 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I don't know why people are mentioning salmonella- these eggs were boiled. Unless salmonella has been (re)-introduced into the water or egg there would be no (hypothetical) salmonella left alive. It doesn't magically appear because you forgot to put the boiled eggs in the fridge.

I think the eggs would be too overcooked to be edible.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:03 PM on March 3, 2016 [2 favorites]