I have wanted to try Soy Sauce Eggs for a long time. Marinating boiled eggs in soy sauce until the whites turn brown from absorbing all the flavors sounded really, really good to me. I’ve pinned a few different recipes for this dish and ultimately decided to try this one because it was the simplest. Not that any of them sounded difficult, but this one only had the fewest ingredients. I’m all about a simple recipe!
Chinese Soy sauce egg (卤鸡蛋) is one of the most popular street foods with the famous Chinese tea eggs. And they are commonly served with noodles, breakfast or steamed rice.
The Ingredients
This recipe for Soy Sauce Eggs had seven ingredients, and I had several on hand. Water was one of them, of course, and the pinch of salt. I also had Chinese five-spice powder, sugar, and rice vinegar in my pantry and leftover eggs from the Spicy Coconut Curry Ramen I made last week. The only ingredient I had to buy was low-sodium soy sauce.
The Process
I think everyone who cooks has one or two things they struggle with. One of mine is hard-boiled eggs. I have always liked a fully cooked yolk, and I have been able to get it right. Believe me, I have tried all kinds of methods and even a color-change egg timer that’s dropped into the pan with the eggs. No joy.
This recipe, of course, began with boiling the eggs. I gave some serious thought to using my egg cooker since it’s the only way I have been able to get hard-boiled eggs right. However, I wanted to stay true to the recipe, and it calls for boiled eggs with yolks that aren’t fully set.
I brought a pan full of water to a rolling boil before adding the eggs. After lowering them into the water using a wire skimmer, I stirred them for the first two minutes per the instructions. This was a new method for me, but it worked well.
I boiled the eggs for seven minutes total and immediately transferred them to a bowl of ice water to cool them fast. They were ready to peel five minutes later. Two of them were easy to peel, the third was a little more difficult, and the last one was close to a disaster.
Tip: I find peeling boiled eggs is much easier when they are steamed in my egg cooker instead of boiling them on the stove.
Making the Marinade
I mixed up the marinade while waiting for the water for the eggs to boil. To save having to clean an extra dish, I mixed it in the pan I planned to cook it in. A 1-quart saucepan was the perfect size for it, but I did halve this recipe because I only made four eggs.
The marinade was ready when the eggs were cooled and peeled. The final step was adding the eggs and letting them marinate in my refrigerator overnight.
Tip: Mix the marinade in the container you plan to refrigerate them in. I chose a deep five-cup storage container with a lid.
The eggs marinated for 24 hours, and the moment of truth was at hand. I sliced an egg and it was just like the recipe’s photo. The yolk was creamy and the white had a ring of brown on the outside. I had expected the inside/yolk to brown a bit since I broke the white, but that didn’t happen.
Timing
This recipe doesn’t have any times at the top. The only times listed were the instructions and were for cooking the eggs and marinating. I used those times for the time rating.
Here’s how things went for me:
- 6 minutes to prep eggs and make marinade*
- 6 minutes to cook the eggs
- 5 minutes to cool the eggs
- 6 minutes to peel the eggs
- 24 hours to marinate
- 24 hours 23 minutes total
*I simmered the marinade while I cooked the eggs. It took 13 minutes total, including time for it to come to a boil.
