There seems to be as many different ways to boil an egg as there are cooks. So here's some of our reader's favorite ways and they all work! Pick which works for you!

From Richard P: Prick the eggs at the tip with a clean needle.
Gently drop into boiling water. Cover. Turn off heat. Let ‘em sit for about 10 minutes.
Drain.
Run under cool tap water. Remove shells.
Boogie!

From Michael L:
I also use the pin-prick method (in the broad end of the egg). What it does is allows the air inside the shell to escape instead of cracking the shell when the boiling water heats it and also makes peeling easier.
However, I like to use a slightly different cooking method:
Bring the water to a boil.
Add the pierced eggs VERY GENTLY!
Lower heat to keep water boiling gently and continue cooking for 11 minutes.
Wash eggs in a colander with cool water.
Hard-cooked eggs will keep in the fridge for up to three weeks.

From Barbara of Bradenton, Fla.:
“I make my hard boiled eggs by covering them with cold water, I bring to a boil and set the timer for 15 minutes and then let them just simmer for the 15 minutes - remove - run under cold water. Never have a problem peeling them and they always turn out perfect - I don’t like them really hard.

From Heidi B.: I do the pin-prick method, too (and they actually make little gadgets just for this purpose). Why? Well, because my mother did it that way! But I like the reasoning mentioned here. I boil for about 12 mins, mainly because I’m always worried they won’t be done all the way through. But I’m sure all the methods are good ones.

From Kats B: Made them this morning and they came out beautiful with perfect yellow (no darkening) yolks: Bring water with the eggs to a full boil. The water covers the eggs by an inch. Boil for 1 minute, then turn off heat, and cover for 15 minutes. Interesting how our times vary. P.S. to above comment…after 15 minutes, I carefully lower the hard boiled eggs into a large bowl of iced water (with several ice cubes).

From Jim V: There are hard boiled eggs and then there are “hard boiled eggs”. The perfect HB egg has no darkening around the yoke, is solid but not rubbery. The two methods I’ve used over the years are: the pin hole and my favorite, place in cold salted water, bring to a boil then simmer uncovered for 12 min for mediums, 15 for large, & 18 for extra large. Rinse under cold water (twice) and your good to go. I take my digital timer and just put it in my pocket (don’t have to watch them then). One last bit: if your eggs are not very fresh they have a tendancy to darken around the yoke too, so when you place them in the cold water look to see if they are standing up on end. If so, your egg(s) aren’t fresh. Fresh eggs lay on their side. PS: sounds strange but no one has disproved it..yet. 

From Richard: Obviously, there are many ways to boil eggs. The bottom line is what works best for you. I use a bulletin board, stick pin (the ones with the colored, plastic tops)to puncture the bottom/big end of the egg, cover eggs with cold water in a sauce pan, add 1 teaspoon salt and slowly bring to a boil for 4-5 minutes. Remove pan from heat source, cover sauce pan to continue cooking for about 15 minutes. Cool by running cold water into pan then adding ice and let stand for about 10 minutes. The result is eggs cool enough to eat and to work with for slicing ,chopping, etc.

From Mary B: This works for me: use heavy pan with tight-fitting lid. To Cook: place eggs in *cool water to cover. Bring to boil; cover pan IMMEDIATELY and remove from heat. Let stand 25 min. Rinse in cold water and peel immediately or: To Peel: Drain, Rattle eggs in metal pan to thoroughly crack shells. Shells will fall off! Perfectly peeled eggs w/completely yellow yolks. Sometimes I let the eggs stand in the cold water for 5-10 minutes before rattling them. *I add some cider vinegar to the water not sure why except that’s what my mother always did…

From Alicia: I still follow Beverly’s mom’s way of doing it: Place the eggs in enough water to cover and bring to a boil. When the water boils, continue to cook the eggs uncovered for 3 minutes. Then simply cover the pot, remove it from the heat, and let the pot sit for 20 minutes or until you get around to remembering it. I've been cooking eggs this way for 20 years, and you'll get a perfectly hard-boiled egg every time. I’ve heard complaints over the years that hard-cooking eggs this way causes the outermost part of the yolk to darken, and I guess that’s true. But for me it’s a worthy trade-off not to have to stand there and time the cooking.