Yikes, I left the eggs in the pot too long. HELP please.

United States
April 11, 2007 3:08pm CST
I just boiled 4 eggs and forgot about them. They were sitting in the pot for about 4 hours. I just peeled the shells off, and put them in the refrig. Do you think it will be safe to eat now?
8 people like this
20 responses
@TerryZ (22076)
• United States
11 Apr 07
Ive done that before and they were okay. But I didnt cook them that long there couldnt have been any water left.LOL
• United States
11 Apr 07
I shut the burner off, and they were in the water on the stove for 4 hours.
@lightningMD (5931)
• United States
11 Apr 07
I'm thinking you mean sitting cooling in the pot otherwise the water would have evaporated long before 4 hours...so i think they will be fine to eat....but you could just toss them and start over just to be on the safe side...we all get busy and forget sometimes...
2 people like this
• United States
11 Apr 07
Yeh, that's what happened. I shut the burner off, and then forgot them. I peeled the shells off, and they didn't smell, just looked a bit tough. I am going to whip them with mayo. I just didn't want to get sick from them.
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
11 Apr 07
LOl, easy to have happen, they could be ok, just really tough to eat. Test the first one gingerly and then go from there. Eggs are pretty cheap so you might just want to try again. Good luck and stay safe!! My last post of the day since I have to go to work. I hope you are having a terrific day! Take care!!
2 people like this
• United States
11 Apr 07
Thanks honey. Wishing you a wonderful day too.
1 person likes this
• India
11 Apr 07
Ha ha ha, it has happened to me a number of times. Once i had left the eggs in the pot for over 8 hours and when i tasted it it was horrible. After that i couldn't eat another egg for a month as it reminded me of that horrible taste. However 4 hours should be ok. Anyway good luck with the eggs
2 people like this
• United States
11 Apr 07
Thanks dear. I just didn't want to get sick from them.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
11 Apr 07
LOL 4 hours is a long time. I am surprised that they still had water on them. LOl They should be fine just well done. I dont think they will taste bad at all as long as they had water on them but they will have no nutritual value at all.
2 people like this
• United States
11 Apr 07
Good to hear the okay from you. As I know that you would know. The fire was off, I just forgot to remove it. The water was tepid when I realized they were still in there.
@TriciaW (2441)
• United States
11 Apr 07
LOL I had that happen to me not too long ago. I had someone come to visit and I forgot about them. It wasn't until I smelled something that I remembered. The water was completely gone and the shells were burning. I didn't eat them because it stunk so badly. I am not sure if you can eat them but I would open them up and see if they smell badly. If so throw them out right away.
2 people like this
• United States
11 Apr 07
Okay, thanks for the advise. Hehehe, I cannot believe I forgot them.
1 person likes this
@shelagh77 (3643)
12 Apr 07
Oh wonderful, heehee! Yes, they will be well and truly safe as nothing will have survived lol. You were lucky though. Many years ago I put some eggs into the water to boil and a friend phoned me. Well, yaketty, yaketty, yak and then I heard this "pop". The eggs had totally vapourised and exploded lol. The only sad thing was that the pan was a write off. Enjoy your eggies :-)
1 person likes this
@1grnthmb (2055)
• United States
11 Apr 07
They will be safe to eat but they are probably going to be very chewy. I have done this also and we joked that we had egg jerky.
1 person likes this
@patootie (3592)
14 Apr 07
Other than being rock hard I can't see why they shouldn't be ok to eat ..
1 person likes this
• United States
11 Apr 07
I'm think they will be OK. Just be glad you didn't leave them boiling because I did that and all the water was gone and the eggs burned. That was the worst smell ever it took almost three days to get rid of the odor!
1 person likes this
@sigma77 (5383)
• United States
11 Apr 07
I haven't a clue on this one. You are supposed to be the expert cook...lol. Perhaps by mistake you have invented a new recipe...all you have to do is find someone to eat them first. They just might be ok, if the pot wasn't on a hot burner and they were cooling off for all that time. Good luck.
1 person likes this
• United States
11 Apr 07
I've never done such a stupid thing before. I just didn't want to get sick eating them. The burner was off, so I think if they are safe, I will whip them up for an egg spread with mayo. What do you think? Sound good? Wanna try it first? :)
1 person likes this
• United States
11 Apr 07
I would think they are perfectly safe to eat, though they may taste funny if you actually had them boiling all that time. If you mean that you boiled them and then left them in the cooling water, they should be perfectly fine, since they were cooked and then cooled in their shells. four hours at room temperature wouldn't be enough to spoil a hardboiled egg anyway.
1 person likes this
@sjohnson628 (3197)
• United States
11 Apr 07
Like the comment before mine says (with the Easter eggs)they should be okay. I remember when I was younger we use to leave the colored hard boiled eggs on the kitchen table for the whole day and I'm still alive after eating them.
1 person likes this
@makingpots (11915)
• United States
11 Apr 07
Do you mean that you left them cooking for 4 hours? Surely not, right. Are you concerned that they needed to be refigerated. My family has been known to leave hard boiled easter eggs out all day and still eat them. None of us have ever gotten sick from it.
1 person likes this
• United States
11 Apr 07
Margie-- Your eggs will be find, though you will likely find the outer edge of the yolk has turned green. This happens when eggs and overcooked or old. They won't hurt you and if they were just sitting in the pot for 4 hours, they won't even taste funny. I think we've all done this at one point or another.
1 person likes this
• United States
11 Apr 07
Margie-- Your eggs will be find, though you will likely find the outer edge of the yolk has turned green. This happens when eggs and overcooked or old. They won't hurt you and if they were just sitting in the pot for 4 hours, they won't even taste funny. I think we've all done this at one point or another.
1 person likes this
@dfinster (3528)
• United States
11 Apr 07
LOL! This is pretty funny because I did that once too. I actually let all the water boil off so I didn't try to eat them at all. I don't think they'd taste very good. Oh well, I guess I would just call tha a "do over." LOL!
1 person likes this
@aprilgrl (4460)
• United States
11 Apr 07
That has happened to me once but not that long. I thing I would just boiled another eggs just in case.
1 person likes this
@raydene (9871)
• United States
11 Apr 07
Hi Sweets,I'm always forgetting something somewhere and have done just what you did and we have eaten them and as you can tell I'm alive and well.Now on a very hot day when you have made deviled eggs and you forget them in the sun...DO NOT EAT THEM...We were at a party where my son ate the eggs..I thought they had been in the fridge but later found out they had been forgotten for about 3 hours on the picnic table in full sun.My son got very sick.Had to spend the night in the hospital..Chances are your eggs didn't even got totally cooled off did they..They are only eggs ..If you feel uncomfortable they won't taste ok to you anyway so why not dump them. Hugs
1 person likes this
• United States
11 Apr 07
Really, it sounds like they should be fine. They might be what I call 'army eggs', with army-green yolks (from overcooking), but other than that I think they should be edible. If you're really not sure, though, I'd just toss them and start over. Eggs are wonderfully cheap!