Roasted eggs—why?

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The craze on Pinterest and Facebook this week seems to be roasting eggs. I’ve had several friends post instructions on how to hard cook eggs in the oven.

Linnette Goard, Extension Field Specialist in Food Safety and Assistant Professor with Ohio State University has concerns with this latest rage.  She says the eggs could easily explode when heat builds up inside the shell. It would be similar to what happens when you try to cook an egg in the shell in the microwave.  It’s not that you would get a food-borne illness from this cooking method—the eggs are cooked—but you might get hurt from the hot flying food.   Not to mention the possible mess in the oven.

In searching the internet, I found several references to this method.  One source baked the eggs in muffin tins and another directly on the oven racks.  I noted that one of the recipes says to put a baking sheet underneath “just in case the egg breaks.”  The typical baking time is about 30 minutes. Many of those that have tried it say they think it’s easy and the eggs come out creamy.

Another potential problem: the eggs could scorch because of the direct heat contact with the muffin tin.  Comments mention that this method takes longer than cooking them the regular way.   And what about the energy use? It seems to me that 30 minutes in an oven would use more energy than cooking them on top of the stove.

I’ll admit I haven’t tried to roast any eggs.  I just keep wondering “why”? Hard cooking eggs isn’t that difficult the “old fashion” way. (See my earlier post on how to make “hard cooked” eggs for instructions.)

I’m inclined to say DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME.

Cheryle Jones Syracuse, MS

Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University