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Tea Eggs

September 28, 2009 by Jennifer Che 30 Comments

Tea Eggs

I love tea eggs. They are hard boiled eggs slowly cooked over low heat in black tea and spices for hours. The resulting egg has a wonderful salty and tea-infused flavor that’s addictive. Furthermore, the eggs take on a beautifully intricate web-like design from the tea.

_MG_1466

You can buy pre-made tea-egg packs at Asian supermarkets.  However, my mom has an even easier recipe that still tastes fantastic and requires just a few ingredients you may already have on hand.  Note – if you can’t get star anise, you can try substituting with 5-spice powder and/or cinnamon.

For a printable version of the recipe, click here.

Recipe
1 dozen eggs
2 tea bags (I used Lipton’s black tea bags)
1 star anise
2 tsp salt

Make hard boiled eggs. There are several ways to make this. My mom recommends filling a pot with 12 eggs and adding enough water to comfortably cover the eggs. Bring to a boil and cook for 3-5 minutes. Then let the eggs cool.

Once cool, lightly tap the egg on a hard surface all the way around the egg. You want to lightly crack the shell but not remove it. The cracks will allow the tea to infuse even more into the egg.

Put the eggs into a clean pot and fill with water, comfortably covering the eggs. Add salt, tea bags, and star anise.

Tea Eggs With Tea Bags

Cook at medium heat for about 30 minutes, and then let soak overnight or let simmer for at least 2-3 hours. Alternatively, you can make this in a crockpot and cook at low setting for 8-10 hours. 

Tea Eggs In Pot

Sometimes, over time, the pot will start to lose water and the tops of the eggs will peek out.  Make sure to turn the eggs around so that all sides get exposed to the tea.

Enjoy!

Tea eggs - close up

Tea Egg and Cucumber Salad
©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Appetizer, Asian, Chinese, Chinese Recipes, Recipe, Taiwanese

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Comments

  1. Cookie says

    September 28, 2009 at 6:07 pm

    These Tea Eggs totally bring me back to my childhood in Shanghai. My grandma used to make them all the time and we’d eat them for breakfast. SO simple and yummy! I really need to make these myself!

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    September 29, 2009 at 12:39 am

    I dont know how you say “SO simple” when you have to wait overnight to eat?

    its ok to eat eggs that sit overnight?

    Reply
  3. Jen says

    September 29, 2009 at 12:46 am

    Anonymous – I guess it’s simple because the steps are not complicated. It’s true, though, you do have to wait. My mom told me letting the eggs sit overnight is OK because they are quite salty. However, if you are uncomfortable with that, you can use a crock pot and cook on low heat for 8 hours and that should work too.

    Reply
  4. Belle@Ooh, Look says

    September 29, 2009 at 1:18 am

    I love the lacy pattern on the eggs. Thanks for the recipe, I didn’t realise they were so easy to make.

    Reply
  5. Yan says

    September 29, 2009 at 4:50 am

    oh I love tea eggs! I just made them the first time but with a special packaged tea egg spice. I think there’s more to it than just anise, probably all the five spices out of 5-spice-seasoning.

    the recipe says either let it simmer for at least 2 hours or let it sit (cold) overnight, right?

    I would also add soy sauce (instead of salt) for more taste and color to the egg.

    Reply
  6. Spryte says

    September 29, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    These look so interesting! I’m definitely going to give them a try!

    Reply
  7. jada says

    September 30, 2009 at 8:56 am

    The tea eggs are gorgeous!

    Reply
  8. Kim (Edible/Usable) says

    September 30, 2009 at 10:33 am

    I just finished reading the Eggs section of Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking” and he has a whole section on preserving eggs. I’ve never had these, but Im going to try making them. They look so pretty.

    Reply
  9. Yan says

    October 21, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    as I don’t have pre-packaged tea egg spice anymore, I’m cooking it using this recipe here.
    12 rather small eggs, 3 lipton black tea bags, 3 teaspoons of 5-spice-powder, 3 table spoons light soy sauce, 1 table spoon dark soy sauce, 2 table spoons salt (as the sauce didn’t seem enough salty). As a special, I added three drops of very hot sauce!
    I’m really curious about the result and can’t wait to taste it 🙂

    Reply
  10. Jen says

    October 21, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    Yan – that sounds like a great recipe! Hope it turns out. My mom told me that she didn’t add soy sauce, so I’m just following her recipe, but I’m sure the soy sauce will add an interesting dimension in flavor. My mom also doesn’t eat very salty, which might explain why the eggs might not taste salty enough for some people.

    Reply
  11. Yan says

    October 21, 2009 at 3:24 pm

    Jen, I’m really sorry for being so rude and just overtaking your recipe here – I’ve just realized that my posts sound very critical. Be assured that I’m very glad to have found your recipe 🙂 even though I have changed some little things. Thank you for posting this!

    Reply
  12. Sasha says

    February 11, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    awesome – I will have to try this – such a wonderful idea, and a great post for the Chinese New Year

    Reply
  13. Samantha @ Bikini Birthday says

    January 28, 2011 at 9:58 am

    These are SO cool!

    Reply
  14. japan_style says

    June 23, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    Your recipe was very delicious and everyone ate it so quickly that I had to make a new batch!

    Reply
  15. Ellaram19 says

    September 6, 2011 at 9:02 am

    how to cook chi-pay?

    Reply
  16. Meister @ The Nervous Cook says

    September 10, 2011 at 6:03 am

    I just finished up a batch of these and can’t wait to see how they turned out! 

    Because I didn’t have five-spice powder, I improvised with salt, black pepper, cinnamon, and ground ginger. Only time (and tongue!) will tell if I did okay…

    Reply
  17. Janet Wise says

    October 13, 2011 at 6:43 pm

    I love the smell of these in Hong Kong but I’ve never had the nerve to buy one. Now I can make them myself. They sound even better than I imagined.

    Reply
  18. Loong Gingoog says

    December 1, 2011 at 12:12 am

    Thanks you so much for creating this blog. It means a lot to me. I am an English teacher working in Taiwan. Needless to say I can’t speak Chinese. But I love the food but because I can’t even read a menu. I have to cook at home most of the time, I could never cook Chinese food before as books in English are not around. So once again thank you..  

    Reply
  19. Merel says

    April 3, 2012 at 3:53 am

    I was wondering. If I only want the crackle effect and not the extra flavour, could i keep away the star anise? We normally eat eggs cooked with some pepper and salt. Just for the fun look i want to make this for easter next week..

    Reply
  20. Jennifer Che says

    April 3, 2012 at 8:01 am

    Absolutely! The tea may still give it some flavor though. I guess if you used beet juice or something else then you could even do different colors!

    Reply
  21. John Batt says

    June 28, 2012 at 9:55 am

    I’ve never heard of this…but I’m dying to see what it tastes like! Speaking of, do you know of any really good asian food online stores to buy from?  

    Reply
  22. Del Mar Dentist says

    August 23, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    Wow. This recipe did work for us to. My family just finished the eggs immediately. Is there any other spices that we can add besides star anise?

    Reply
  23. ns9212 says

    February 7, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    I feel like a complete beginner for asking this but how do you get the eggs to come out so perfectly formed? The shell of my completed tea-eggs don’t come away easily. Is there a specific “tapping” method you use?

    Reply
  24. Lee Mike says

    February 7, 2013 at 10:52 pm

    ns9212 they are not perfect. I live in Taiwan i see perfect eggs everyday at 7-11 and every where else Tea eggs are very much a part of Chinese culture.

    Reply
  25. Jennifer Che says

    February 8, 2013 at 12:20 am

    I think a lot of that depends on how old your eggs are. Older eggs are easier to peel than really fresh eggs! Other than that, there’s no special method I use. Sometimes it comes off easily, sometimes it doesn’t!

    Reply
  26. Lauren W says

    February 28, 2014 at 10:45 pm

    I had these for the first time at a Chinese New Year’s celebration. I was so impressed with the beautiful pattern that I actually took pictures of it! I just made some of my own and used a black tea that had cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, black pepper, and star anise mixed in. Can’t wait to try them after they sit overnight. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
  27. Lara Fieschi-Corso says

    July 9, 2014 at 10:12 pm

    That seem to be so interesting… I bet the flavor is also interesting… Can’t wait to try. Thanks!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Night Market Harvard Square - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    May 27, 2015 at 3:25 pm

    […] prefer a stronger tea flavor in my eggs, and in fact I don’t use any soy sauce when I make my version at home. Nevertheless, it’s a tasty egg and I enjoyed dipping it in the green sauce. The Daikon […]

    Reply
  2. Chinese Braised Peanuts - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    April 1, 2016 at 1:13 am

    […] easy to make in bulk, and store well for a week, dishes like Taiwanese meat sauce over rice, tea eggs, bok choy, and Korean spinach salad.  Occasionally, I’ll throw in something fun, like Totoro […]

    Reply
  3. Reflections on a Decade of Blogging: Happy Birthday Tiny Urban Kitchen! - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    October 1, 2019 at 8:29 pm

    […] Tea Eggs […]

    Reply

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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