Ramen Egg

Step 1

Gather all the ingredients.

Step 2

In a small saucepan, combine all the ingredients for the marinade.

Step 3

Bring it to a boil and whisk it a few times to let the sugar dissolved completely. Once boiling, lower the heat to simmer for 1 minute and turn off the heat. Set aside to cool completely.

Step 4

Add 4 cups (1L) water (plus 1 Tbsp vinegar and 1 tsp salt - optional but it helps with the peeling of eggshells) in a medium saucepan and bring it to a boil. There should be enough water to cover the eggs (at least 1 inch above). Once fully boiling (not gentle, but full boil), take out the eggs from the refrigerator and carefully and gently lower one egg at a time into the boiling water with a mesh strainer/skimmer or a ladle. When you add the first egg, set a 7-minute timer. 6 to 6 ½ minutes for runny egg yolk and 8 to 9 minutes for custard-like egg yolk but not runny.

Step 5

Lower the heat to maintain a gentle boil. Make sure the water is simmering, but not so strong that the eggs bounce around. If you want your egg yolk to be in the center, gently rotate the eggs with chopsticks once in a while for the first 3 minutes so the egg yolk will be in the center.

Step 6

After 7 minutes, immediately take out the eggs and shock them in an ice bath for 15 minutes.

Step 7

Once eggs are completely cool, gently crack the wide bottom side of the egg and start peeling vertically to the top. Dip in the ice water a few times which helps with the peeling. Once you peel one section vertically, the rest of the shell comes off easily.

Step 8

Place the eggs in a plastic bag and add the marinade into the bag. Why am I recommending plastic bag? With a plastic bag, we don't have to use a lot of the marinade to submerge the eggs. This marinade is one-time use for food safety reasons. If you used a container instead of a bag, it requires more marinade (= more condiments) to submerge the eggs.

Step 9

Remove the air from the bag and use a clip or rubber band to seal the bag right above the eggs. This way, eggs are completely submerged in the marinade. You can rotate the eggs if you like. Keep in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.

Step 10

Take out the eggs and cut them in halves to serve. Use a piece of string, fishing line, or cheese cutter (that's what I used here) to cut the egg in half cleanly. Enjoy the eggs as a snack, in bento, or as a ramen topping. If you want to warm up the eggs, soak the bag in warm water to bring up temp faster.

Step 11

Keep the eggs in the refrigerator all the time. The ramen eggs will get saltier so take them out from the marinade after 12-24 hours (depending on your preference). Enjoy the ramen eggs within 3-4 days if your eggs are soft-boiled. If your eggs are hard-boiled, you can keep them in the refrigerator for up to a week. For food safety reasons, I recommend not to re-use this marinade with new boiled eggs. You can repurpose this marinade as a seasoning sauce for your stir fry or simmered dishes, but use it soon.