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    Home » Recipes » Pantry

    Tea Eggs (Marbled Eggs)

    Last Modified: June 21, 2020 by Elaine| 28 Comments

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    Chinese Tea Egg is a famous Chinese street food which is also known as marbled egg. Eggs are braised with spices and Chinese teas thus have a unique and strong tea flavor.

    tea eggs|chinasichuanfood.com

    Traditional tea eggs are usually heating on a stove and has been boiled for quite a long time, possibly server hours. As a result, the egg white becomes quite rubber like and the yolk becomes quite hard and dry.  Most importantly, those tea eggs need to be boiled a long, not economic for home cooking.

    So a newly invented home cooking friendly way is introduced here. I call it cold soaking method. It has the following advantage comparing with the previous way.

    1. With this method, you can not only make traditional hard boiled tea eggs but also soft boiled eggs.  Even with hard boiled eggs, we are free of hard to swallow dried out yolks.
    2. It makes soft boiled marbled eggs possible.
    3. More importantly, it is more energy economic since the long time simmering is skipped.
    4. You can also serve the eggs warm by re-heating it slightly after soaked.

    Chinese tea eggs |chinasichuanfood.com

    The spices we used to make tea eggs are basically ingredients for the famous Chinese five spice powder, working along with soy sauce, sugar, ginger and tea leaves.

    Tips about soft boiled tea eggs based on this recipe

    1. Soak the eggs in enough cold water as soon as the cooking time is up to prevent the egg to be over cooked by the remaining heat.
    2. Make sure the liquid mixture is completely cooled down  (at least under 40 degree C) before putting your eggs in.

    soft boiled tea eggs|chinasichuanfood.com

    Instructions

    1. Clean the eggs and then place in a deep sauce pot. Add enough cold water to cover. Start with medium fire, bring the content to a boiling and then let it stand for 4 to 5 minutes (hard boiled).  | for soft boiled eggs, place room temperature eggs gently with a help of strainer in boiling hot water, cook for 6 minutes. Transfer to cold or chilled water to cool down completely and then crack the eggs with a scoop carefully.

    2. In another the pot, add all seasoning  (bay leaves, star anises, cassia bark, fennel seeds, salt and sugar ). Pour in around 800ml water and bring to a boiling, add tea leaves and simmer for 10 minutes. tea eggs|chinasichuanfood.com

    3. For hard boiled eggs| pour the liquid to the the pot with cracked eggs. Soak at least overnight or 48 hours recommended with lid covered. For soft boiled eggs| wait until the liquid becomes room temperature and then pour the liquid to soak the eggs overnight or 48 hours recommended with lid covered.tea eggs|chinasichuanfood.com

    4. Re-heat if necessary or serve directly with noodles, porridge or other food.

    tea eggs|chinasichuanfood.com

    Chinese Tea Eggs (Marbled Eggs)

    Elaine
    One of most famous Chinese street snack--tea eggs, also known as marbled eggs
    4.75 from 4 votes
    Watch Video Print Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Cook Time 15 mins
    Total Time 25 mins
    Course Side Dish
    Cuisine Chinese
    Servings 6 Making 6 tea eggs.
    Calories 102 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    • 8 to 10 eggs
    • Water as needed
    • 1 tbsp. red tea or black tea leaves , you can also use two tea bags
    • 1.5 tbsp. light soy sauce
    • 1 tbsp. dark soy sauce , for better coloring
    • 1 tablespoon rock sugar
    • ½ tbsp. salt
    • 2 pieces star anises , note 3
    • 1 tsp. Sichuan peppercorn
    • 1 thumb ginger , smashed
    • 3-4 bay leaves
    • ½ tbsp. fennel seeds , optional
    • 1 stick Chinese Cinnamon

    Instructions
     

    • Clean the eggs and then place in a deep sauce pot. Add enough cold water to cover. Start with medium fire, bring the content to a boiling and then let it  simmer for 4 to 5 minutes (hard boiled based on how soft you want the yolk to be). | for soft boiled eggs, place room temperature eggs gently with a help of strainer in boiling hot water, cook for 6 minutes. Transfer to cold or chilled water to cool down completely and then crack the eggs with a scoop carefully.
    • Transfer to cold or chilled water to cool down completely and then crack the eggs with a scoop carefully. 
      Place the eggs in a pot with a lid.
    • In another the pot, add all seasoning  (bay leaves, star anises, cassia bark, fennel seeds, salt and sugar ). Pour in around 800ml water and bring to a boiling, add tea leaves and simmer for 10 minutes. 
    • For hard boiled eggs| pour the liquid to the the pot with cracked eggs. Soak overnight with lid covered. For soft boiled eggs| wait until the liquid becomes room temperature and then pour the liquid to soak the eggs overnight with lid covered.
    • Re-heat if necessary or serve directly with noodles, porridge or other food. 

    Video

    Notes

    The cooking time doest not include the overnight soaking time. 
    The Nutrition Facts is based on each single egg.
    Star anise has a stronger flavor than other spices. Don't want the taste of star anise out stand too much, use one piece only. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 102kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 8gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 223mgSodium: 614mgPotassium: 112mgSugar: 2gVitamin A: 325IUCalcium: 40mgIron: 1.4mg
    Keyword egg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @ChinaSichuanFood

    tea eggs|chinasichuanfood.com

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. [email protected]

      March 08, 2014 at 4:27 pm

      These eggs look very interesting and I am sure they taste very good. This really reminds me of the endless options of the amazing street food in Asia.

      Reply
      • Elaine Luo

        March 09, 2014 at 8:09 am

        Thanks Nicha. It is a childhood for me too especially in the old days.

        Reply
    2. The Kitchenmaid

      March 24, 2014 at 9:13 pm

      These are beautiful and I've always wanted to make them. Just to clarify - you crack the shells before the eggs are cooked? You must have to do it super carefully - I can imagine a few solid taps = egg everywhere!

      Reply
      • Elaine Luo

        March 24, 2014 at 9:18 pm

        Thanks for commenting. Yes I crack the shells before cooking. It is not that difficult as image. Just be gentle with a spoon.
        Of course, you can crack the shells when the eggs are half cooked.

        Reply
      • Christina

        November 24, 2019 at 7:13 am

        Crack the eggs after they’re cooked, before you soak them in the seasoning liquid concoction! Do not crack the eggs when they’re raw!!!

        Reply
    3. Susanne

      September 25, 2015 at 5:39 am

      I often include marbled eggs in my lunch box and I will definitely try your version. I like your spice mixture very much.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        September 25, 2015 at 10:43 pm

        That's a good idea to use it in lunch box. We usually are enjoying them with noodles or breakfast.

        Reply
    4. william

      October 07, 2015 at 2:17 pm

      what a really good website, Elaine!
      can I request for more vegan food for my parents?
      (they do for about 20 years XD)
      as a Sichuan food lover, ill often to check this out
      CTRL + D

      Reply
      • Elaine

        October 07, 2015 at 8:13 pm

        William, thanks for the suggestion about vegan foods. I receive many similar requests and I am trying to provide more vegan and vegetarian dishes.

        Reply
    5. Alex

      October 24, 2015 at 6:34 am

      I once made tea eggs with Indian masala chai (硬度香料差). Black tea with cardamom, clove, anise, ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper: delicious.

      Reply
      • Alex

        October 24, 2015 at 6:35 am

        Sorry I meant 印度香料查

        Reply
      • Elaine

        October 26, 2015 at 8:47 pm

        Hi Alex,

        I believe you are right. Is it Masala tea? I drink that tea too, but never tried to apply it in recipes. I will try it next time when making tea eggs. Thanks.

        Reply
    6. Alex

      October 24, 2015 at 6:36 am

      茶。I can barely see the characters on the screen so it's hard to tell if I picked the right one.

      Reply
    7. Nina

      April 22, 2017 at 12:53 am

      Hi Elaine,

      Thank you for sharing the recipe.

      I'm actually making it now so I thought I'd let you know that in the printer version of the recipe you never mention when to add the tea leaves, sugar and soya sauce.

      I just added it all the same time I added all other spices. I hope the eggs still turn out tasty.

      Kind regards,
      Nina

      Reply
      • Elaine

        April 26, 2017 at 8:30 am

        Nina,
        It is ok to add tea leaves with sugar and soy sauce.

        Reply
    8. Lee Thayer

      October 24, 2017 at 10:06 am

      5 stars
      Hi Elaine, I made these last night and let sit in the fridge overnight, perfect with wonderful flavor! I used 3 chicken eggs and about a dozen quail eggs. Had a chicken egg (tea egg) with my noodles this morning, another recipe I used from you 🙂 Thank you.

      Reply
    9. Kelly

      January 31, 2018 at 9:45 pm

      Hi Elaine, can I omit the ginger? What are they for actually?

      Reply
      • Elaine

        February 02, 2018 at 9:19 pm

        It is 100% ok to skip ginger for this recipe. Ginger is usually used to add aroma and remove the "raw" taste from meats and eggs.

        Reply
    10. Leila Kliner

      December 24, 2018 at 8:21 am

      Where do I find cassia bark and what does it look like?

      Reply
      • Elaine

        December 24, 2018 at 8:32 am

        Please check here.

        Reply
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