Cooked eggs keep in the fridge for up to about a week, whether they are hard-boiled, scrambled or in an omelette, as long as they were chilled promptly after cooking. Hard-boiled eggs last longest, and they keep best left in their shells until you want them, because the shell protects them from drying out and picking up fridge smells.

The working numbers

  • Hard-boiled eggs in their shells: up to a week. Cool them, refrigerate them, and leave the shell on until you eat them. That is the tidiest way to store them.
  • Peeled hard-boiled eggs: 2 to 3 days. Once the shell is off, the egg dries and takes on flavours faster. Keep peeled eggs in a covered container, ideally under a splash of water or a damp piece of kitchen paper, and eat them sooner.
  • Scrambled eggs, omelettes and cooked egg dishes: 3 to 4 days. These follow the ordinary cooked-leftovers rule. Chill them within a couple of hours and reheat once, until piping hot.

The clock starts when the eggs are cooked, not when you finally get round to labelling the tub. Get cooked eggs into the fridge promptly rather than leaving them on the side to cool for hours.

Why the shell matters

An unpeeled hard-boiled egg is essentially sealed. The shell keeps moisture in and other flavours out, which is why a shell-on egg lasts roughly twice as long as a peeled one. If you are boiling a batch for the week, boil them, cool them, and store them whole. Peel each one only when you are about to eat it.

How to tell if a cooked egg has gone off

Trust your nose. A cooked egg that has turned smells distinctly sulphurous or sour the moment you break it open, and that smell is the answer, so bin it. A grey-green ring around a hard-boiled yolk, by contrast, is harmless: it is just a reaction from overcooking, not a sign of spoilage. Any sliminess, off smell or mould on a cooked egg dish means the bin.

Quick answers

  • How long do hard-boiled eggs last? About a week in the shell in the fridge, 2 to 3 days once peeled.
  • Can you leave cooked eggs out overnight? No. Cooked eggs left at room temperature for more than a couple of hours should be thrown away.
  • Can you freeze cooked eggs? Whole hard-boiled eggs freeze poorly and turn rubbery, so freezing is better for raw beaten eggs. See can you freeze eggs for the method.

For where cooked eggs sit alongside everything else in the fridge, and the storage habits that make the times above hold, see how long food lasts in the fridge. If you want to check a raw egg is still good, how to tell if eggs are still good has the float test.