Today I’ll show you how to make traditional Taiwanese tea eggs two ways- soft boiled and hard boiled! These are such a staple snack and they’re great for potlucks too. While kids are snacking on chips and chocolate in America, Taiwanese kids snack on tea eggs!

The longer you marinate them in what we call the “Golden Sauce”, the more flavorful they become. I only marinated mine for 24hrs, so they have a lighter appearance but in my defense I was extremely excited to try them. 🙂

Tips for the Best Tea Eggs

I like to boil my traditional Taiwanese tea eggs in water for roughly 7 minutes, give them an ice bath and then marinate them in the sauce overnight in the fridge. Traditionally, you would boil them in water until cooked, crack them and then boil them again in the sauce for a few hours. Doing it traditionally would give you a super well done egg that I don’t prefer because of its texture.

Try cracking the eggs with the back of a spoon. You really have to finesse it if you’re doing the soft boiling method but also crack it enough for the juices to seep in and marinate the egg. The longer you marinate the egg in the fridge, the gooier and thicker the yolk will become!

How to make Traditional Taiwanese Tea Eggs

SOFT BOILED VERSION:

1. Boil eggs for 7-8 minutes. Take out and add to ice bath.
2. Add into a pot soy sauce, dark soy sauce, bay leaves, star anise, cinnamon stick, sugar, salt, black/oolong tea, and water.
3. Let the marinade boil for 10 minutes, drain and cool.
4. Crack the eggs with a spoon, add to a container and add the cooled marinade mixture.
5. Set in fridge for at least 24hrs.

Traditional Taiwanese Tea Egg

I love making Taiwanese Tea Eggs to snack on throughout the day. It's such an easy recipe and it has a strong tea aroma with an extra gooey yolk. It's great for pairing with rice dishes or just snacking by itself!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Resting Time 5 hours hrs

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack

Calories 110 kcal

Ingredients  

• 12 Eggs

Marinade

• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 3 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
• 10 cloves Garlic
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 3 Star Anise
• 2 tbsp Oolong/Black Tea

Instructions 

• 1. Add all the ingredients for the marinade to a pot and simmer for 10 minutes; set aside to cool down.
• 2. Bring a pot of water to a soft boil, gently add the eggs and cook for 7-8 minutes for a gooey yolk.
• After 7-8 minutes, turn off the heat and add the eggs to an ice bath for at least 3 minutes.
• Use the back of a spoon to gently crack the eggs shell, covering the entire egg with cracks big enough to penetrate through to the egg.
• Add the marinade to the eggs, cover and let sit for at least 5 hours.

Video

Keyword asian food, asian recipe easy, authentic asian recipe, marinated eggs, taiwanese food, taiwanese recipes, taiwanese tea eggs, tea eggs, vegearian recipes