9 Easy Salted Egg Dishes 2024

12 months ago 53

9 creamy salted egg dishes that are full of flavor, ranging from snacks and mains to desserts, beyond traditional mooncakes. These easy and delicious recipes can be made with salted chicken eggs if you don't have ducks eggs on...

9 creamy salted egg dishes that are full of flavor, ranging from snacks and mains to desserts, beyond traditional mooncakes. These easy and delicious recipes can be made with salted chicken eggs if you don't have ducks eggs on hand. So much cheaper than shopbought snacks.

Close up of a salted egg tofu with chilli and curry leaves dish.If you're cutting down on carbs, sub the potato with tempeh!
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What are Salted Duck Eggs?

Salted duck eggs are raw duck eggs that have been preserved with salt, enabling them to last for a long time. In the process, the flavor of the duck egg yolks also deepens, becoming full of umami. When cooked, they resemble grains of golden sand.

Mashing a cooked salted ducks eggs into fine crumbs.Crushing up some salted yolks.

They're a traditional Chinese ingredient but you can find them in other Asian cuisines as well. For example, in Philippines, they're known as itlog na maalat. In recent years, they've been all the rage in Singapore- you'll see them in new recipes such as croissants and ice cream!

Whilst the focus is on the golden yolk, don't throw away the egg whites! These can be eaten as well. (See FAQs below for recipe ideas.)

They can be easily made at home in a number of ways, from coating the egg in a thick layer of salted charcoal paste to soaking the egg in a salt water brine for 20-40 days. You can use the same method to preserve other types of eggs such as chicken, but fresh duck eggs are traditional because of their oiler and tastier yolk.

Some people add Shaoxing wine and Chinese spices to the brine but really all you need are eggs, salt, and water.

Eggs in salt brine in a yellow Peranakan kum cheng container.Chicken eggs in a salt brine solution.

Note: To learn how to make your own salted ducks eggs at home, click here.

Where to Buy

2 commercially made salted duck eggs with black charcoal around them.This is what some shopbought eggs look like. A bit of charcoal has been removed from the egg on the right so you can see the white shell peeping through. You will need to wash off all the black stuff before using the salted yolks.

If you don't want to make your own salted egg yolks, you can get them at Asian grocery stores. When still in the shell, shopbought eggs can be left at room temperature/ in a cool place.

Mains

Tofu

Close up of a salted egg tofu with chilli and curry leaves dish.
Salted Egg Tofu (Fried tofu & salted egg yolk sauce)
This salted egg tofu is an easy but delicious recipe- the fried tofu is crispy and smothered with a creamy and buttery salted egg yolk sauce that has hints of the citrusy curry leaf and the spice of the chilli. Yum!
Click here for salted egg yolk tofu
Salted egg yolk tofu with a box of tea.

Egg Yolk Sauce

Sautéing melted butter with curry leaves, chili and mashed up salted egg yolks.

If looking for a generic salted egg sauce recipe, that you can use to stir fry chicken, pork, and prawns etc, see below. This is my favorite way to use these rich yolks!

Tip: it tastes best if you fry whatever you're coating in the duck yolk sauce first. Deep frying creates skin with lots of crevasses to hold all that buttery, creamy goodness!

Salted egg yolk sauce
A versatile, easy creamy salted egg yolk sauce recipe that can be used for tofu, chicken, pork, prawns and so much more!
Check out how to make a creamy salted egg sauce
Salted egg yolk tofu with a box of tea.

Side Dishes

The easiest dish would be to boil or steam the whole eggs. Chinese people often eat these simple side dishes with congee for breakfast.

You can also fry these eggs, like you would do a regular chicken eggs, and serve with a plate of fried rice or noodles.

Snacks

Popcorn

A bowl full of homemade golden yellow salted egg popcorn snacks.Salted egg yolk snacks are crazy popular in South East Asia- when it first launched, there were huge lines to get the Irvins salted egg fish skin snack!

You can make this even without a popcorn machine- i have a guide to making popcorn on the stove here! (It's super easy, don't worry.)

Asian Salted Egg Yolk Popcorn
Loaded with umami, you won't be able to stop snacking on this salted egg popcorn! Chilli and curry leaves are optional but they do add complexity to the popcorn and make it better!
Click here for the salted egg popcorn recipe
Picking up a bunch of golden yellow salted ducks egg yolk popcorn.

Crispy Cornflakes

A big bowl full of salted egg cornflakes amongst Lunar New Year decorations.
Salted Egg Yolk Cornflakes (CRISPY)
1 of the most popular Chinese New Year snacks in Singapore, it is also 1 of the easiest and quickest to make, requiring only 4-6 ingredients.
Click here for the salted egg cornflakes recipe
A wooden spoon full of crunchy salted egg yolk cereal.

Potato Chips

A platter of crispy homemade potato chips cooked in salted eggIf you're cutting down on carbs, sub the potato with tempeh!
Salted egg crisps
Super crispy potato chips that are dripping with a buttery salted egg sauce- much healthier and tastier than the shop bought ones! Tip: you can substitute the potato chips with fish skin if you like!
Click here to make your own salted egg potato chips
A platter of crispy homemade potato chips cooked in salted egg

Mooncakes

A traditional way to use the oily yolks is in moon cakes.

Glutinous Rice Dumplings

Zong Zi, also known as Ba Zhang or Sticky Rice Dumplings, are another classic way to use this ingredient. They're eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu Jie), which falls in the middle of the year (June or July.)

Sesame Balls

This crispy Jian Dui is made using glutinous rice flour, and filled with a salted egg custard.

It's a bit like a fried tang yuan. Plus, the juxtaposition between the crunchy exterior and lava-like interior is scrumptious!

Desserts

This may surprise you, but Salted Egg actually works wonderfully in desserts, such as cookies and cream puffs!

Rice Cake

Puto-steamed-salted-egg-cake
Steamed Filipino Rice Cake (Puto)
An easy, 5-ingredient steamed rice cake from the Philippines, this Puto is made with salted egg, but you can always use something else like chocolate if you want some variety! (For more 5 ingredient Asian recipes, click here.)
Click here for the salted egg cake recipe
Puto-steamed-salted-egg-cake

Expert Tips

Tip #1: If replacing ducks egg with chicken eggs and brining them, remember not to leave them in the salt water solution for too long. Chickens' eggs are smaller so they will become too salty quicker than ducks' eggs. (The longer the eggs are salted, the saltier they become. There is a fine balance between the whites and the yolk, as you will need more time for the sodium to reach the yolk (than the whites) and, in the process of creating the perfect salted egg yolk, the white may have become too salty.)

Tip #2: Salted ducks egg yolk goes really well with butter (or margarine)- if you've finished cooking all these recipes using salted ducks eggs, feel free to experiment with these 2 condiments (for example, you can make a creamy salted egg pasta)

FAQs

Are salted eggs and pidan (century eggs) healthy?

Although some research has claimed that salted eggs and pidan are "nutritionally rich alternatives of duck eggs products which will benefit the human health during consumption," keep in mind that salted eggs contain a lot of sodium so it is not advisable to eat too much of it. 1 salted egg yolk can contain about 680mg of sodium or ? of your recommended daily intake, as well as over half of your recommended daily cholesterol consumption. Most salted egg yolk dishes use more than 1 egg yolk, so much as I love this traditional condiment, I wouldn't recommend eating them too often.

What can I do whites of salted eggs?

You can steam or boil them and eat with white rice or congee. Alternatively, use them in fried rice, or mix with ground pork to make minced pork patties. (Basically, they can be used in many recipes in place of salt.)

What is your favourite salted duck egg dish? Let me know if you have anything you want to add to this list of salted egg yolk dishes!

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The post 9 Easy Salted Egg Dishes 2024 appeared first on Greedy Girl Gourmet.


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