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Home / Cuisine / Chinese / Salted Eggs

Salted Eggs

By: 👩‍🦳 Linda · Published: 🖨 July 8, 2015 · Updated: 💻November 18, 2021 · 🗨 21 Comments

Recipe ▼

Homemade Salted Eggs using only chicken or duck eggs, kosher salt, Shao Hsing cooking wine, and water. The hardest part is the waiting.

Raw Salted Eggs with orange yellow yolk.

Salted Eggs are preserved eggs packed in salted charcoal paste or soaked in brine. You can find them at Asian grocery stores either covered in a thick, black layer of paste or vacuum packed in plastic. The raw egg white is almost gelatine-like with a round, yellow-orange yolk that is firm to the touch. When cooked, the white is soft and salty while the yolk is fatty with a slightly grainy texture.

A Poor Man’s Food

In Malaysia, Salted Eggs are rather inexpensive and easily available. It is considered budget food and is popularly served hard boiled with plain rice porridge or congee. The salty whites and rich yolks are the perfect complement to the bland gruel.

When I was a kid, my Grandma used to make this Minced Pork and Salted Egg Congee which was very tasty. It was and continues to be one of my favorite congees.

Salted Eggs with congee.

As Flavoring and Ingredient for Other Dishes

People often use Salted Eggs as a flavoring for appetizers, steamed meats, and clear soups like this Chan Choy Tong (Malabar Spinach Soup) and Steamed Pork with Salted Egg. You can also find the round yellow-orange yolks in traditional bak chang (glutinous rice dumplings) and mooncakes. They provide a counterpoint of taste, texture, color, and are symbolic of the full moon in mooncakes.

Easy to prepare homemade Salted Eggs.

Commercial versus Homemade Salted Eggs

These are usually packed in a layer of salted charcoal paste which must be scraped and rinsed off before cooking. Remove homemade ones from the brine once it has cured and reached the desired level of saltiness.

Salted Eggs in brine.

Salted Duck Eggs

I managed to buy duck eggs this time as my health food store finally brought them in. They are only available in the summer and are not cheap. I paid USD5.00 for 6 eggs. You can always use chicken eggs if you can’t find duck eggs. I have made them successfully as seen in this post on Roti n Rice. The yolks were just as beautiful and they took a slightly shorter time to cure, about 3 to 4 weeks.

Comparison of Salted Eggs made with chicken and duck eggs.

Similar Tools Used in Making These Salted Eggs

This post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy here.

Clear Half Gallon Wide-mouth Glass Jars (2-Pack), 64-Ounce / 2-Quart
Cuisipro Stainless Steel Measuring Cup and Spoon Set

Raw Salted Eggs with orange yellow yolk.
Print Pin Rate
5 from 4 votes

Salted Eggs

Easy to prepare homemade Salted Eggs using only chicken or duck eggs, kosher salt, Shao Hsing cooking wine, and water. The hardest part is the waiting.
Author : Linda Ooi
Course : Side Dish
Cuisine : Chinese
Keyword : salted chicken eggs, salted duck eggs, salted eggs
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Total Time 12 minutes
Servings: 12
Calories: 130kcal

Ingredients
 

  • 4 cups water (960ml)
  • 1 cup kosher salt / coarse salt (280g)
  • 2 tbsp Shao Hsing cooking wine
  • 12 large organic duck eggs or chicken eggs

Instructions
 

  • Bring 4 cups (960ml) water in a medium sized saucepan to a boil. Add salt and stir until dissolved. Remove and allow the salt solution to cool completely.
  • Rinse eggs and place in a jar with lid. Set aside.
  • When salt solution is completely cool, add Shao Hsing cooking wine.
  • Pour salt solution into jar containing rinsed eggs.
  • Filled a small Ziplog sandwich bag half full with water. Squeeze as much of the air out as possible. Gently stuff bag with water into the jar to weigh down the eggs so that they are totally submerged.
  • Cover jar with lid and place jar in a cool spot at room temperature for 4 to 5 weeks. Chicken eggs will take 4 weeks while duck eggs should be left in the brine for 5 weeks.
  • After 4 to 5 weeks, do a test to see if eggs are ready. Remove an egg from the brine and crack into a bowl to check its yolk. It is ready if the yolk is a bright yellow-orange color and is quite firm to the touch. The white should be a little cloudy but still runny.
  • Alternatively, remove an egg from the brine and place it in a small saucepan covered with cold water. Boil over medium heat for 15 minutes. Egg is ready if it is salty and the yolk is a bright yellow-orange color.
  • If eggs are not ready, leave them in the brine for another week. Finally, remove all eggs from brine and store in a container in the refrigerator.
  • Consume salted eggs within a month.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 130kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @MalaysianChineseKitchen or tag #MalaysianChineseKitchen

1.2K shares

Categories: 🗂 Chinese, Egg & Tofu, Side Dish, Video Recipes Tags: 📋 salted egg

About Linda

Linda is a food writer and photographer who hails from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She now lives in Wyoming, USA. Her other blogs are Roti n Rice and Tea Tattler.

Malaysian Chinese Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

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Comments

  1. DongXing says

    July 10, 2015 at 11:48 am

    5 stars
    Delightful!! I miss these salted ducks and it is about time I bring out my jar to make them again. The last time I made these was early last year but without the addition of the wine. Love to try it with the wine to see the difference! Now to go hunt for duck eggs in the market….P/S – love your new hair colour, its all the rave I hear these days!

    Reply
    • Linda says

      July 10, 2015 at 2:26 pm

      I want to make another batch soon while there are still duck eggs at the store. Love them with congee. I am glad you noticed my new hair color. You can have it too. You just need some patience and a little wisdom. 😉

      Reply
  2. Felicia Koh says

    September 5, 2015 at 10:08 am

    Can I reuse the salt solution for another batch ? thnaks

    Reply
    • Linda says

      September 7, 2015 at 7:38 pm

      I am currently reusing mine (as a trial) for a batch that I made a month ago because the brine still looks clear. Just put in some more eggs yesterday. Please discard and do not use the brine if it is cloudy.

      UUPDATE: The second batch of salted eggs turned out fine. However, for safety reasons, it is best to DISCARD USED BRINE and start anew.

      Reply
  3. Jenny L says

    September 13, 2016 at 2:29 pm

    Hi, I am trying to make tge salted eggs. But after 1 week, I notice there is a crack line in one of 10 eggs. What should I do ? Thanks for your earliest reply.
    Jenny

    Reply
    • Linda says

      September 15, 2016 at 6:48 am

      Remove all the eggs from the jar and strain the brine if it is still clear. Discard the cracked egg and wash the remaining eggs before putting them back into the jar. If the brine is messy, discard and prepare fresh brine. Wash the good eggs and pickle them in the new brine.Discard cracked egg.

      Reply
  4. Anne says

    February 11, 2018 at 3:33 am

    Your recipe looks amazing and will be trying it. I wanted to know if there is any difference in taste and texture between chicken yolks and duck yolks? Particularly for moon cakes. Many thanks

    Reply
    • Linda says

      October 11, 2018 at 12:26 pm

      Duck eggs produce richer yolks and flavor.

      Reply
  5. Chrissie says

    August 14, 2018 at 7:44 am

    I just made a batch of salted duck eggs. The yolk colour is bright orangy-red. However, they do not taste salty. What could be reason for this? Can I still use them for recipes that calls for salted eggs?

    Reply
    • Linda says

      October 11, 2018 at 12:13 pm

      Did you use less salt than was called for in the recipe?

      Reply
  6. Chrissie says

    August 14, 2018 at 7:45 am

    I just made a batch of salted duck eggs. The yolk colour is bright orangy-red. However, they do not taste salty like the store bought ones. What could be reason for this? Can I still use them for recipes that calls for salted eggs?

    Reply
    • Linda says

      November 12, 2018 at 9:50 am

      The brine is probably not salty enough. You may be using a different kind of salt. Yes, you can still use them for recipes calling for salted eggs if the yolk is properly cured.

      Reply
  7. Mandy C says

    November 3, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    Thank you so much for this recipe. This is my first time making it. Am I suppose to use boiled eggs or i boiled eggs? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Linda says

      November 12, 2018 at 9:24 am

      Please use raw eggs. The brine will cure the egg. This is a curing and not pickling process.

      Reply
  8. Pam G. says

    November 8, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    Would it hurt to cut out the wine out of the salted egg recipe or is there other stuff beside alcohol to use in it?

    Reply
    • Linda says

      November 12, 2018 at 9:30 am

      You can omit the rice wine. The wine is supposed to give a more brilliant colored yolk. Without the wine, the eggs will still cure but the yolk will have a paler color. However, in my own experience, I think it really depends on the eggs itself. I have noticed that some eggs (probably with more fat) produce more brilliant yolks as seen here with regular hormone free chicken eggs –> Salted Eggs (suing chicken eggs). These duck eggs are organic and the color of the salted egg yolks are not as brilliant. You can also see that it is less oily.

      Reply
  9. Kerrie says

    November 10, 2018 at 9:50 am

    5 stars
    I have submerged the eggs totally in brine but still had some left over – is it still ok or should I make sure all the brine is used? Not sure whether it would mean a less salty egg.

    Reply
    • Linda says

      November 12, 2018 at 9:22 am

      Please discard the leftover brine. It really depends on the size of your container. If the eggs are totally submerged, it should be okay.

      Reply
      • Kerrie says

        December 27, 2018 at 8:00 am

        5 stars
        Thanks Linda, the eggs turned out perfect!

        Reply
  10. Seet May says

    November 16, 2018 at 7:17 am

    5 stars
    My first batch of Chicken Salted is perfect! Thank you so much for the recipe. Surprisingly we found duck egg in store, so second batch of duck egg is waiting to due and my husband ask me make another batch already.

    Reply
    • Linda says

      November 16, 2018 at 10:30 am

      So glad to hear that. I have not found duck eggs here in Colorado yet. Will probably make a batch soon using chicken eggs. So good to eat with congee in this cold weather.

      Reply

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