Easy & Simple Chinese Tea Eggs

Name: Easy & Simple Chinese Tea Eggs
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 4 large eggs; 2 black tea bags; 6 tbsp regular soy sauce; 2 cups water; 2 star anise; 1 cinnamon stick; 1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 tsp white granulated sugar

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Beautiful marbled savoury eggs marinated in a soy tea broth with Chinese five-spice powder. These easy Chinese tea eggs are a great snack or side dish to make with simple ingredients.

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Ingredients & Substitutes
Expert Tips
Instructions
Storage
Pairing Suggestions
FAQ
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Chinese Tea Eggs are made of a hard-boiled egg steeped in black tea, soy sauce, water, star anise, cinnamon, Chinese five-spice, sugar and salt.

The eggs are lightly cracked and marinated a delicious brine staining it into a gorgeous web pattern.

In China, this is a popular snack sold at convenience stores or as street food at night markets in Hong Kong. On Chinese New Year, tea eggs are eaten during to bring prosperity.

I love making these tea eggs as they're packed with savory flavors and stunning to look at! You can also store them in the fridge for up to 4 days whenever you want a quick bite.

Ingredients & Substitutes

Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.

Large Eggs

Marinade

Black tea bags: like orange pekoe or ceylon tea bags. You can substitute with black tea leaves if you don't have tea bags. Avoid using flavored black tea.
Regular soy sauce: or substitute with low sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce. If you’re gluten-free, substitute a gluten-free soy sauce of your choice.
Cold water
Star anise
Cinnamon sticks
Chinese Five Spice powder
Salt
Sugar

Expert Tips

Bring the eggs to room temperature when you boil them so they don't crack in the hot boiling water. You can do this by running the cold eggs under warm running water.
Use an ice bath to quickly cool down the boiled eggs.
Very gently crack the eggs. You do not want to crack them so hard as if you're trying to peel them or the marinade will totally color the egg white brown and you won't get that cracked pattern.
Use the back of a spoon when cracking and peeling the eggs.

Instructions

Below are step-by-step instructions on how to make Chinese tea eggs:

bring eggs to room temperature by soaking them in warm water for 5 minutes

First soak your eggs in a small pot of warm water for 5 minutes. This prevents the egg shells from cracking when you boil them. Make sure there's enough water to cover the eggs.

bring the pot of water with the eggs to boil on medium-high heat for 5 minutes covered and chill in an ice bath

Then bring the pot of water with the eggs to boil on medium-high heat for 5 minutes covered. Prepare an ice bath. Transfer eggs to the ice bath and let them cool down. Discard the boiling water in the pot.

lightly crack the eggs with the back of a spoon and place into the empty pot

Using the back of a spoon, VERY lightly crack the shells so they create a "web" pattern. If you crack it too hard the shell will break loose and all your soy sauce will seep inside. Place cracked eggs back into the empty pot. To the pot, add the marinade ingredients.

bring pot of eggs with marinade to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 40 minutes

Bring this pot to a boil, then simmer over medium heat for 40 minutes covered.

Let the eggs to cool down so you can remove the cracked shells. To quicken the cooling process, remove the hard boiled eggs from the broth and rinse it under cold water to peel. Peel carefully with a spoon. Enjoy!

Storage

Leftovers will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can enjoy them chilled or microwave at 10 second intervals until warm.
Freezer-friendly? I don't recommend freezing these eggs as they will taste rubbery.

Pairing Suggestions

This Chinese dish serves well with:

starters like egg drop soup or hot and sour soup
white or brown rice, cauliflower rice, fried rice, chow mein, lo mein, plain noodles, soup noodles
cooked vegetables like bok choy or spicy garlic bok choy

FAQ

Can I make this in advance?

This can be made 1 day in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

How do you eat Chinese tea eggs?

You can enjoy them warm, at room temperature or cold! If you want to warm them up, run them under some hot boiling water but do not microwave them or they can explode.

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