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My Most Popular Chinese Recipes ❤️
Tips, tricks, and recipes for perfect Chinese dishes
FREE EMAIL BONUS:
My Most Popular Chinese Recipes ❤️
Tips, tricks, and recipes for Chinese dishes
This past weekend, my neighborhood Albertson was having an egg sale for only 99 cents a carton. When I saw the ad, I immediately thought of Chinese tea eggs.
My uncle recently gave me a block of aged Chinese pu-erh tea (普洱茶) and it’s perfect for tea leaf eggs (茶叶蛋).
I am a huge fan of eggs, especially hard-boiled eggs in curry, soy sauce, or in this case, Chinese tea. What’s not to love about eggs that are steeped for hours in Chinese tea, with marbled pattern on the egg white, plus to-die-for aroma from the tea? I simply love Chinese tea leaf eggs.
If appearance is not important to you, you can prepare these tea eggs in a jiffy without boiling the eggs twice. Some people simply leave the eggs (with the shell on) in the Chinese tea mixture and skip the process of cracking the egg shells.
So, it’s totally up to you. For me, I love pretty looking tea leaf eggs and don’t mind spending longer time in the kitchen preparing them.
This is an easy Chinese tea eggs or tea leaf eggs recipe. Try them and make a big batch for your family and I am sure they will enjoy them very much!
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 70 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
Tea Leaf Eggs
Ingredients
- 12 eggs
- 4 cups water
- 6 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons Chinese pu-erh tea leaf
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1 star anise
- 3 cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Add 4 cups of water to a medium pot and gently drop in the eggs. Make sure the water covers the eggs. Bring the water to boil on high heat. Boil for about 10 minutes or so to make sure the eggs are cooked.
- Transfer the hard-boiled eggs out of the hot boiling water and rinse them with cold water. Using the back of a teaspoon, gently tap the eggshell to crack the shell. Return the eggs to the water and add in the remaining ingredients.
- Bring the tea mixture to a boil and immediately turn the heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour (the longer the simmering, the better the taste). Add more water if needed. Serve immediately, or leave the tea eggs in the mixture overnight to further develop the color and flavor.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi Bee,
While I’m writing this message, the eggs are simmering on the stove. If the taste will be as good as the smell of the infusion liquid then I can call it a success already. I will let them soak overnight. It’s quite exciting but I’m confident about the result. And finally I found a good purpose for the Pu’er tea leaves that I brought from China.
Kind regards, Johan
Sounds wonderful. My sister loves tea and eggs . She is homebound so I will make these for her. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Do you keep them in the tea solution in the fridge? And can you reheat them and keep hot in a crockpot? If so I’d assume in the tea solution
Yes you can.
Dear Bee,
I’m glad I found your recipe. I heard about tea leaf eggs and want to try them
I was wondering if I can use something else besides soy sauce? I also love oolong tea and have plenty. Can I use that? Look forward to hearing from you.
Tess
You can try salt. Sure any tea is fine.
Thank you. I’ll try it as soon as I can.
Hi Bee,
While I’m writing this message, the eggs are simmering on the stove. If the taste will be as good as the smell of the infusion liquid then I can call it a success already. I will let them soak overnight. It’s quite exciting but I’m confident about the result. And finally I found a good purpose for the Pu’er tea leaves that I brought from China.
Kind regards, Johan
Hi Johan, I am sure you will love it.
Can’t wait to try this, but we don’t have cloves or tea leaves at home. Can we substitute with Lipton tea bags for the leaves and omit (or substitute something else for) the cloves?
Yes, that’s fine. Just use more Lipton tea bags. You can skip cloves.
Sounds wonderful. My sister loves tea and eggs . She is homebound so I will make these for her. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Awesome! Please try.
Well, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MISSY !
Not only were the tea leaf eggs extremely delicious, but now I’m hooked on pueh tea as well ! It’s opened up an entirely new world of alternatives to commercial teas for me. Keep these treasures coming !
Hi Bee, love the tea eggs and I made a lot! Couldn’t finish them in one go ( although I really want to :p), how long can I keep them for? Should I leave them outside or in the fridge? Thanks!
My mum uses a different recipe but you can keep them in the fridge for at least a week and they are still good cold or warmed up in a microwave (beware of exploding egg if you zap them too long though).
Hi I have many packets of tea leaves. Are there expired dates for tea leaves? What to do with them? Please help. A waste to discard.
You can use them.