9 creamy salted egg dishes that are full of flavor, ranging from snacks and mains to desserts, beyond traditional mooncakes. These easy and delicious recipes can be made with salted chicken eggs if you don't have ducks eggs on hand. So much cheaper than shopbought snacks.
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What are Salted Duck Eggs?
Salted duck eggs are raw duck eggs that have been preserved with salt, enabling them to last for a long time. In the process, the flavor of the duck egg yolks also deepens, becoming full of umami. When cooked, they resemble grains of golden sand.
They're a traditional Chinese ingredient but you can find them in other Asian cuisines as well. For example, in Philippines, they're known as itlog na maalat. In recent years, they've been all the rage in Singapore- you'll see them in new recipes such as croissants and ice cream!
Whilst the focus is on the golden yolk, don't throw away the egg whites! These can be eaten as well. (See FAQs below for recipe ideas.)
They can be easily made at home in a number of ways, from coating the egg in a thick layer of salted charcoal paste to soaking the egg in a salt water brine for 20-40 days. You can use the same method to preserve other types of eggs such as chicken, but fresh duck eggs are traditional because of their oiler and tastier yolk.
Some people add Shaoxing wine and Chinese spices to the brine but really all you need are eggs, salt, and water.
Note: To learn how to make your own salted ducks eggs at home, click here.
Where to Buy
If you don't want to make your own salted egg yolks, you can get them at Asian grocery stores. When still in the shell, shopbought eggs can be left at room temperature/ in a cool place.
Mains
Tofu
Egg Yolk Sauce
If looking for a generic salted egg sauce recipe, that you can use to stir fry chicken, pork, and prawns etc, see below. This is my favorite way to use these rich yolks!
Tip: it tastes best if you fry whatever you're coating in the duck yolk sauce first. Deep frying creates skin with lots of crevasses to hold all that buttery, creamy goodness!
Snacks
Popcorn
You can make this even without a popcorn machine- i have a guide to making popcorn on the stove here! (It's super easy, don't worry.)
Crispy Cornflakes
Potato Chips
Glutinous Rice Dumplings
Zong Zi, also known as Ba Zhang or Sticky Rice Dumplings, are another classic way to use this ingredient. They're eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu Jie), which falls in the middle of the year (June or July.)
Sesame Balls
This crispy Jian Dui is made using glutinous rice flour, and filled with a salted egg custard.
It's a bit like a fried tang yuan. Plus, the juxtaposition between the crunchy exterior and lava-like interior is scrumptious!
Desserts
This may surprise you, but Salted Egg actually works wonderfully in desserts, such as cookies and cream puffs!
Rice Cake
Expert Tips
Tip #1: If replacing ducks egg with chicken eggs and brining them, remember not to leave them in the salt water solution for too long. Chickens' eggs are smaller so they will become too salty quicker than ducks' eggs. (The longer the eggs are salted, the saltier they become. There is a fine balance between the whites and the yolk, as you will need more time for the sodium to reach the yolk (than the whites) and, in the process of creating the perfect salted egg yolk, the white may have become too salty.)
Tip #2: Salted ducks egg yolk goes really well with butter (or margarine)- if you've finished cooking all these recipes using salted ducks eggs, feel free to experiment with these 2 condiments (for example, you can make a creamy salted egg pasta)
FAQs
Although some research has claimed that salted eggs and pidan are "nutritionally rich alternatives of duck eggs products which will benefit the human health during consumption," keep in mind that salted eggs contain a lot of sodium so it is not advisable to eat too much of it. 1 salted egg yolk can contain about 680mg of sodium or ⅓ of your recommended daily intake, as well as over half of your recommended daily cholesterol consumption. Most salted egg yolk dishes use more than 1 egg yolk, so much as I love this traditional condiment, I wouldn't recommend eating them too often.
You can steam or boil them and eat with white rice or congee. Alternatively, use them in fried rice, or mix with ground pork to make minced pork patties. (Basically, they can be used in many recipes in place of salt.)
What is your favourite salted duck egg dish? Let me know if you have anything you want to add to this list of salted egg yolk dishes!
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