Chinese Tea Eggs

An easy & delicious recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs, perfect for a simple dinner or as part of a Chinese New Year meal.

chinese tea eggs

Chinese Tea Eggs

Following on from my previous post where I shared my recipe for Chinese Turnip Cake, it seemed only fitting to also include my recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs.

If you are planning a Chinese New Year lunch or dinner, or any Chinese-inspired feast, these Chinese Tea Eggs are great to include in the menu, not least because they can be made well ahead of time.

My initial motivation for making this dish was to get our children to eat boiled eggs. Our picky four-year-old has never liked eating plain boiled eggs, which therefore often rules out many quick and easy-to-make lunch or snack ideas which are meant to work for children his age.

Then he went through a stage where he would only eat the eggwhites, or only the yolks, but never the two combined.

So one day, I thought of making these Chinese Tea Eggs as a way of flavouring the eggs, and now he happily eats 2 to 3 whole eggs with his rice and vegetables!

chinese tea eggs in bowl

Tea Eggs Recipe

Admittedly, Chinese Tea Eggs involve a bit of preparation and planning, but there is very little cooking itself to be done; you just need to be patient to let the eggs cook and steep in the tea mixture for a few hours.

The tea mixture itself is comprised of a few ingredients plus, of course, some tea leaves for both colour and flavour. As this is a Chinese dish, I like to use Jasmine tea leaves in this recipe, but the orange flavours in Lady Grey also works really well.

Most of the flavour of these tea eggs comes from soy sauce, which is why they are sometimes also called “Soy Sauce Eggs“, although recipes for the latter don’t always include tea leaves.

The eggs, once cooked in the tea mixture, keep well in the fridge for several days, and need only be reheated in the tea mixture for an instant snack or quick meal.

And whilst the marbled eggs themselves look very impressive at the table, I happen to think there is much comfort in serving boiled eggs as part of a meal. These Chinese Tea Eggs just take it up a notch.

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Chinese Tea Eggs

chinese tea eggs

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5 from 2 reviews

  • Author: eatlittlebird.com
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 3 hours 30 mins
  • Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
  • Yield: Makes 12 eggs

An easy & delicious recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs, perfect for a simple dinner or as part of a Chinese New Year meal.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Place the eggs in a large pot filled with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-high heat for 10-12 minutes. Drain the eggs and place them in a large bowl of cold water in the sink.
  2. When the eggs are cool enough to handle, use a teaspoon to gently tap the eggs all over until they are lightly cracked but the shell still remains intact around the egg. The cracks will allow the tea mixture to seep through the shell and marble the eggs and to add flavour.
  3. Put all of the remaining ingredients into a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then turn it down to a low simmer.
  4. Gently place all of the cracked eggs into the saucepan, and simmer over very low heat for about 3 hours.
  5. You can serve the eggs right away, or leave the eggs to cool completely in the saucepan in the tea mixture and place it in the fridge overnight. If the latter, the eggs will take on more flavour from the tea mixture. To serve, gently heat the eggs in the tea mixture over medium-high heat until they are completely warm through.
  6. You can serve the warm eggs as they are and allow your guests to peel the eggs at the table, but I usually peel them first so that everyone can admire the marbled texture on the eggs.

Kitchen Notes

CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 12
  • Calories: 89
  • Sugar: 2.5g
  • Sodium: 354mg
  • Fat: 4.8g
  • Carbohydrates: 3.9g
  • Fiber: 0.2g
  • Protein: 7.1g
  • Cholesterol: 186mg

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12 comments

  1. Annie @ Annie's Noms 19 January 2017

    I’m literally obsessed with boiled eggs haha!! I just love them and these look absolutely delicious; what a great way to switch up a plain egg!

    Reply
  2. Diana 19 January 2017

    Wow I’ve never heard of Chinese tea eggs before! But this looks very interesting

    Reply
    • Eat, Little Bird 19 January 2017

      They can look a bit strange to the unaquainted, but I can assure you that they are delicious 🙂 They are essentially hard-boiled eggs cooked in a soy sauce mixture.

      Reply
  3. Liz @ I Heart Vegetables 19 January 2017

    I’ve never heard of these! But they look yummy and I’m sure my husband (who is a huge egg fan) would love them!

    Reply
  4. Platter Talk 19 January 2017

    Very pretty way to make a boiled egg attractive. My kids will love this. Nice idea for a brunch, too.

    Reply
    • Eat, Little Bird 19 January 2017

      Indeed, it’s an unusual way of cooking eggs, but they taste and look delicious 🙂

      Reply
  5. Gloria @ Homemade & Yummy 19 January 2017

    I have always been intrigued by these eggs. I think they are so pretty. I have yet to try them.

    Reply
    • Eat, Little Bird 19 January 2017

      I didn’t make these for a long time because I thought they were tricky to make, but it turns out that they are incredibly easy to make. It just takes time for the eggs to cook, that’s all.

      Reply
  6. Shez 14 March 2018

    I made these for Chinese New Year this year and they were so delicious! Goes so well with rice.






    Reply
  7. Julia 16 April 2018

    I am going to make this! Perfect! Looks tasty and healthy! Yum!






    Reply