Chinese Braised Eggs is a delicious, easy make-ahead dish that can last for almost a week in the fridge! It makes for a very comforting meal, even with just a bowl of white rice or porridge. It usually needs to be marinated overnight in the fridge before it can be eaten, but I show you how to vary the recipe so it can be eaten immediately.
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⭐ Why This Recipe is a Star
- Delicious: Like Chinese Egg Drop Soup, Chinese Braised Eggs (滷蛋) is 1 of the most famous Chinese egg recipes. It's a comforting dish that takes you back to your childhood and tastes great! Eat them alone for a light supper or breakfast. You can also serve for lunch or dinner with pork congee, rice and a variety of foods.
- Simple: It's an easy recipe that doesn't require much technique. You really just need to be able to boil something!
Note: Chinese Braised Eggs are different from Taiwanese tea eggs as the latter has a marbled pattern on the egg whites and is cooked for a much longer period of time.
🥘 Ingredients
You will need a few simple ingredients:
- hard-boiled eggs: this recipe uses chicken eggs but you can also use duck's eggs or quails eggs. (You'll need to vary the quantity of braising liquid and cooking time.) Preferably cook the fresh eggs till they have runny yolks (not firm yolks) but don't stress too much either way. For more Asian recipes which use eggs, click here.
- Light soy sauce: Light soy sauce is not the same as sweet soy sauce, dark soy sauce or thick soy sauce. (You can add 1 Tablespoon of sweet soy sauce or 1 Tablespoon of dark soy sauce to the recipe if you are making the eggs to eat immediately.)
- Spices: I used 3 Star Anise, 1 bay leaf and 1 Cinnamon stick. Sometimes I add a few cloves of garlic to the sauce or throw in any leftover dried shiitake stems I have on hand.
- Sugar: You can omit this but we all know some sugar makes everything taste a bit better! Rock sugar is traditional but I use white sugar when I'm out of the former.
- A pinch of salt: this is optional. If you want to eat the eggs immediately, instead of leaving them in the braising liquid overnight to develop the flavor, you'll need a stronger marinade (so that the eggs can take on the flavor in a shorter period of time.) In this case, I recommend the salt.
📖 Variations & Substitutes
- Marbled Eggs: Use the back of a spoon to gently crack the egg shells so that they form a spiderweb-like pattern (but still remain on the egg) then braise the cracked eggs. You will need to braise for longer, at least a few hours, to get the flavor into the eggs.
- Taiwanese Tea Eggs: Crack the eggs as above, and add a strong chinese tea to the braising liquid.
- Korean Braised Eggs: Add a green onion onion stalk to the braising liquid. Before storing the eggs in the fridge, add some sesame oil and lightly toasted sesame seeds to the sauce.
- Mayak Eggs: if it's too hot to braise anything, make these Korean Soy Sauce Eggs instead. The eggs soak in a cold soy bath and you don't have the braise them!
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
1a. Hard boil the eggs. (See section above if you need more details on this.)
1b. Optional: over low or medium heat, lightly toast the star anise, cinnamon stick and bay leaf till fragrant.
1c. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients the pot, increase to medium-high heat, and bring to the boil.
2a. Add the eggs and boil for 20 minutes over medium heat.
2b. After 20 minutes, switch off the fire and allow the eggs to steep in the sauce till cool then refrigerate in the sauce.
Enjoy the next day with a bowl of rice!
Note: cooking times are a rough guide. Obviously, the longer you cook the eggs, the tastier they'll be. If you plan to cook them for longer, reduce the heat to a simmer over low heat.
The quick way is simply to make the braising liquid stronger so that the flavor can soak in more quickly. (See recipe card for quantities.)
How to Hard Boil Eggs
- Bring a pot of water to the boil then add room temperature eggs.
- Boil for 5-6 minutes, depending on the size.
- Switch off the fire, carefully remove the eggs and soak in an ice bath.
- Once cold enough to handle, peel eggs and you can start cooking!
🥡 How to Store
Store in the marinade in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Note: If you're making the eggs to eat immediately, do NOT store in the marinade. It will make the eggs too salty. You'll need to dilute the marinade with water before refrigerating with the eggs.
I don't recommend freezing the eggs!
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
Tip #1: The braising liquid is delicious with some crusty white bread!
Tip #2: If you keep your eggs in the fridge, place them in a small bowl of warm water till they come to room temperature before cooking.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Yes, the spices used and quantities are just a guide. This is a rather flexible recipe! You can adjust the spices to suit your taste. For example, add black pepper if you prefer a warmer flavor. (Click through for a guide to using Asian spices.) If you prefer a stronger flavor or have less time to braise the eggs, increase the amount of soy sauce and spices. Keep in mind that the eggs should be fully submerged in the braising liquid.
Chinese braised eggs are often served at room temperature or slightly chilled. After braising, allow the eggs to cool before peeling and serving. If you prefer to eat them hot, gently reheat in the marinade till hot throughout before serving.
Yes, you can reuse the braising liquid for another batch of eggs, as long as it has been properly cooled and stored. (Sieve the sauce then refrigerate or freeze, depending on when you are using next.) Reheat the liquid and add more seasonings if necessary before braising the next batch.
The braising liquid can be used to flavor other foods like tofu, chicken, or other types of eggs. Just make sure to adjust the cooking time based on the ingredient you're using.
🥗 Suggested Accompanying Recipes
Enjoyed this easy Chinese Hardboiled Eggs Recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below! If you REALLY liked this Braised Eggs dish, please consider supporting it by buying me a bottle of soy sauce! 🙂 (No obligation though!) Thank you and have a great day!
Chinese Braised Eggs
Equipment
- Pot
Ingredients
Braising sauce ingredients (this sauce recipe is for eggs that will be left overnight in the marinade. For eggs that you want to eat immediately, refer to the notes.)
- 3 star anise Substitute: you can replace the star anise and cinnamon stick with 5-spice powder.
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 Cups water Reduce this to 1 Cup of water if you want to eat the eggs immediately. You'll only be able to cook 3 eggs in this case. All the other braising sauce ingredient quantities are kept the same. (Alternatively, keep it as 2 Cups of water and 6 eggs but double the quantities of the rest of the sauce.) If you do this, don't store the eggs in the undiluted marinade or they'll be too salty!
- ¼ Cup Light soy sauce Not the same as sweet soy sauce, dark soy sauce or thick soy sauce. (You can add 1 Tablespoon of sweet soy sauce or 1 Tablespoon of dark soy sauce to the recipe if you are making the eggs to eat immediately.)
- 1 Tablespoon sugar You can omit this but we all know some sugar makes everything taste a bit better! Rock sugar is traditional but I use white sugar when I'm out of the former.
- 1 pinch salt Optional. If you want to eat the eggs immediately, instead of leaving them in the braising liquid overnight to develop the flavor, you'll need a stronger marinade (so that the eggs can take on the flavor in a shorter period of time.) In this case, I recommend the salt.
- Garlic, dried shiitake stems, oyster sauce, chicken stock powder Optional. I add them if I have them on hand. For oyster sauce, 1 Tablespoon is good. For chicken stock powder, ½-1 teaspoon is good.
Instructions
- Hard boil the eggs. (See "Step by Step Instructions" in recipe post if you need more details on this.)
- Optional: over low or medium heat, lightly toast the star anise, cinnamon stick and bay leaf till fragrant.
- Add the rest of the sauce ingredients the pot and bring to the boil.
- Add the eggs and allow to boil for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, switch off the fire and allow the eggs to steep in the sauce till cool then refrigerate in the sauce. Enjoy the next day with a bowl of rice.
Notes
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