What Is a Tea Egg?
Tea eggs are hard-cooked eggs marinated in a savory liquid infused with tea and spices. The eggshells are usually cracked before marinating, resulting in the signature crackly appearance. Originating in China, tea eggs are commonly sold by street vendors or restaurants and enjoyed as a snack. As for the taste, tea eggs have the same texture as a hard-cooked egg, only with a salty, lightly spiced flavor. If you’ve had a marinated ramen egg before, the flavor is similar, but the black tea adds a unique earthiness.
How to Make Tea Eggs
Depending on the country and region you’re enjoying tea eggs, the flavor can vary slightly due to the different ratios of the basic tea egg ingredients: black tea, soy sauce, and spices. Feel free to experiment with your own ratios. In my research for a basic, traditional tea egg recipe, here’s the easy process to follow:
Step 1: Boil Eggs
Start by making a batch of hard-cooked eggs using your favorite method (our Test Kitchen’s go-to is steaming). Tea eggs are usually enjoyed hard-cooked, but you can also make them medium for a softer yolk if you like.
Step 2: Crack the Shells
Quickly cool the eggs in ice water or cool running tap water. Tap the eggs with the back of a metal spoon on all sides while leaving the shell intact. Try to be gentle enough some or all of the shell comes off, it’s totally fine—you’ll just end up with a slightly darker tea egg.
Step 3: Make the Tea Egg Marinade
In a saucepan, bring water, soy sauce (I used a combination of light and dark soy sauces), black tea bags or leaves, cinnamon sticks, star anise, Sichuan peppercorn, and bay leaf to a boil. A five-spice blend can be used in place of the whole spices. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely. How much tea egg marinade you need to make depends on how many eggs you want—just ensure there’s enough liquid to cover the eggs entirely.
Step 4: Steep Tea Eggs
In a storage container or bag (I used a reusable silicone bag), completely cover the cracked eggs with the liquid and soak for at least 24 hours or up to four days in the refrigerator. When ready to eat, peel and enjoy the crackly tea egg appearance before diving in. Tea eggs are great cold or at room temperature. There are also methods that you can gently simmer the cracked, hard-cooked eggs in the pot for 2 to 3 hours before cooling and steeping for about 8 hours. This allows you to eat the tea eggs sooner and can result in deeper color and flavor.
Type of Tea to Use
Any type of black tea will work great for making tea eggs. You can find authentic Chinese black tea at your local Asian market or go with whatever black tea is in your pantry. For a smoky flavor, opt for Lapsang souchong tea, which we used in our fun tea egg deviled eggs (pictured above).
How Long Do Tea Eggs Last?
Storing the shell-on tea eggs in the marinating liquid will last up to one week. If you eat the tea eggs fast, you can reuse the liquid and add more hard-cooked eggs to the mixture to make another batch.
