3 Ways to Crack an Egg

There are a few methods for cracking eggs including; cracking on a flat surface, cracking on the edge of a bowl, or using one hand. None are right or wrong. Below I will cover the different methods, but do what works best for you and let me know which method you like best!

Believe it or not, chicken eggs are complex structures. If you want to learn more about eggs specifically, check out the Eggs Lesson in my Science of Baking Class!

Step 1: Methods

You will always want to crack the egg around the wide center where the shell is the weakest. The goal is to not allow any eggshell pieces to crack off and get into the egg!

Cracking on a Flat Surface

To crack an egg on a flat surface hold the egg firmly in one hand. Expose the widest (and weakest) part of the egg and hit it hard enough on the countertop to make a large crack. Press each of your thumbs into the dented crack and pull the two halves of egg shell apart. The egg inside will easily fall out...preferably into a bowl! I like to crack eggs near a garbage can so the shells can be easily and cleanly disposed of.

Cracking on the Edge of a Bowl

This method is done exactly as above, however, you hit the egg shell on the edge of a bowl instead of a flat surface. Unless you have a heavy bowl you will need to be holding the bowl securely with one hand while cracking with the other. Otherwise it will just tip over! This method produces a larger/wider crack that's easier to open.

Cracking with One Hand

This is by far the most difficult method but if you can learn to do it, it makes cracking eggs faster and leaves one hand completely mess free! Hold the egg in one hand and hit it on the side of a thin bowl. Hard enough to crack the egg shell almost half way through. With the thumb and pointer finger holding one half of the shell and the three remaining fingers holding the other half of the shell, pry the shell open and free the egg!

Comments

[NigelT1]

Well, OK but I think that just about every one knew that.

[AlanS14]

The thing is everyone doesn't know. People have to learn how to get the contents out of an egg so they can use it. You have obviously already learned this skill (well done) but at some stage you had to learn. Clearly this life skill is not aimed at you, it is aimed at other people- and your comment doesn't really help anyone although I suppose it does give other readers an idea of the skills you have so Well Done!

[Quiggley]

Well said!

[wold630]

;)

[klkerley]

Very nice instructable, thanks for doing it. As long as the membrane is split after the tap on the bowl or counter, I have noticed that squeezing the egg at + and - 90 degrees from the break around weakest part of the shell makes a pretty clean break. I think that may actually be what the single handed method does.

[wyocoyote1]

peeling a boiled egg is also trickier than one might believe.

[RiadhF3]

put a small hole on top of the egg while boiling it, it will make a lot more easier

[itsmescotty]

oh my, I've been cracking two eggs at a time since forever. One egg in each hand, crack and empty in bowl (unless I only need one egg). I thought everyone did it with one hand.

[flaCra]

I would suggest NOT using the edge of a bowl - when the shell strikes the Edge of the bowl the broken shell part can be forced INTO the liquid. If use this method, be diligent and double check the egg in the bowl.

[obillo]

I sometimes watch, with envy, the short-order cook in my corner bodega, who cracks dozens of eggs every morning for the two-scrambled-on-a-toasted-roll that begins lining up at about 6:30. With the bowl in his left hand and the egg in his right, he deftly taps the egg on the bottom of the bowl, whips it over the bowl and parts the shell halves just as you describe. As soon as the egg is in the bowl he drops the shell into the waste bin and grabs a fork. Three or four powerful stirs and the egg is scrambled. The left hand then dumps the contents onto the griddle and the cooking begins. It's a really beautiful demonstration of manual skill, and if I'm fifth or sixth in line, it passes the time with wonder.

[RayJN]

Method 4: knife edge

[nehmo]

I've been perfecting my system for years.

I have a piece of granite as a hard surface, but whatever counter material you have will suffice. Put a piece of aluminum foil on the counter on one side of the pan. I use a hotplate, so there is no stove top. Hold a disposal plate (maybe already used) over the pan to the side a bit. Use the one-hand flat-surface cracking method. Crack on the aluminum foil, dump the contents of the egg into the pan, put the empty shell on the disposal plate. If a piece of shell gets into the pan, fish it out with your shell scrap. When finished, throw away the aluminum foil, and dump the egg shells outside. We have raccoons, possums, and cats that lick the insides. It's a waste to just throw shells in the garbage. The shells disappear into the grass after a short while.

[GTO3x2]

As egg cracking seems one of a more trivial concern, I recently have noticed how there is usually egg spattered when using a fork or pan edge which is a pain to me because there is an immediate mess to clean, and if you don't it will cook on the stovetop of side of the pan. I'll have to try the flat-surface method because I don't see any other result from a rupturing strike; I thought I wasn't being careful enough, but upon further analysis the impact and pressure must be shooting the egg out; the yolk must also be floating in the white. -Yes, it bothers me that much, lol.

[random_builder]

Those are great ways! I love everything about this instructable, but I like the egg border the best. How do you get it like that?

[wold630]

Thanks, I just do it in the HTML.