Tea eggs (茶葉蛋, cha yip daan in Cantonese) is a Chinese street-food snack which originated from Zhejiang, China. It is essentially eggs boiled in a tea marinade for several hours. The boiled eggs are cracked before steeping in the marinade, which gives it it’s beautiful, dark marble-like pattern.

Traditionally, cha yip daan is cooked in the marinade for a few hours. However, I personally prefer the texture of soft-boiled eggs and I did not have the patience to cook these eggs for a few hours, so…… here’s a recipe for soft-boiled Chinese tea eggs.

If you let these soft-boiled eggs sit in the marinade for at least 2 days, the eggs would be more flavourful and the egg yolks would be thick, buttery, creamy, and so delicious. Hope you enjoy this recipe!

ingredients for making soft-boiled chinese tea eggs:

• 8 eggs

marinade:

• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp black tea + 1 tbsp oolong tea (or use 2 black tea bags)
• 2.5 cups water

what kind of tea should I use?

• For tea eggs, you can use regular black tea leaves or black tea bags. You can use English breakfast tea, Assam black tea, earl grey, etc.
• In this recipe, I used a mix of two Chinese tea leaves (black tea and oolong). Black tea has a more smoky and woody taste, whereas oolong tea has a lighter, flowery and fragrant taste.

steps:

part 1: preparing the marinade

1. Add all the marinade ingredients into a pot. Bring it to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to medium-low heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Remove pot from heat and let the marinade cool down completely.

part 2: preparing the eggs

1. Using a needle, poke one hole in the bottom of all the eggs. This ensures the eggs do not crack when boiling them and results in a smoother and rounder shape.
2. To boil the eggs, gently place eggs into a pot of boiling water and boil for 5-6 mins. While waiting, prepare an ice bath to cool the eggs.
3. Once done, immediately place the boiled eggs into the ice bath for a few mins. Then, gently crack the eggs using the back of a spoon. This ensures the marinade seeps into the egg and creates the marbling pattern.

part 3: marinate the eggs overnight

1. Transfer eggs to the marinade and refrigerate overnight. The marinated eggs can be kept in the fridge for 3-5 days. The longer it marinates, the stronger the flavour. Enjoy!

egg tips:

1. Poke a small hole at the bottom of the egg. This helps to release gas from the egg and prevents it from cracking while boiling. It also ensures the egg has a smoother and rounder shape after boiling. I used a thumbtack to poke the hole.
2. Put the eggs in boiling water. This gives you more control over cooking time, so you know how long you need to boil the eggs for your desired result (~5-6 minutes for soft-boiled running yolk texture).
3. Use room temperature eggs. Sudden temperature changes from cold to hot could cause the egg to crack when you put them in boiling water. So make sure you take your eggs out the fridge and let it sit in room temperature for a while.
4. Give the eggs an ice bath after boiling. If you want the soft-boiled egg result, putting the eggs in an ice bath immediately after boiling helps to stop the cooking process. The ice bath also makes the eggs a lot easier to peel.
5. Crack the eggs gently! Use the back of a spoon and gently tap around the egg to create cracks. More cracks mean more marinade will seep into the egg.

marinating eggs:

• For the best results, marinate the eggs in the fridge for 2-3 days. Although you can definitely enjoy the eggs the next day, I’ve found that letting the eggs sit in the marinade for 2-3 days would not only result in the eggs tasting a lot more flavourful, the egg yolk would also be richer, creamier and thicker.
• Make sure that every single egg is covered by the marinade. I used a pretty tall container so the surface area is small enough to let the marinade cover all the eggs.
• You can reuse the marinade! Simply reheat the marinade and bring it to a boil, remove from heat and let it cool down. Then you can use it again for another batch of eggs.

more classic chinese recipes:

• Chinese sticky rice
• Stir-fried eggplant with minced pork
• Salt and pepper tofu

https://www.instagram.com/p/CiZoXEjjwVU/

*This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I can earn from qualifying purchases. However, there is no additional cost to you. When you make a purchase through my referral links, I may earn a small commission from Amazon and other retailers.