Tony and I recently traveled in Taiwan, and were amazed by the green spaces, including the Taiwanese bikeways and hiking networks. But we had a hard time acclimating to the cuisine. It wasn’t quite what we expected. But we did enjoy some of their light snack foods, like Taiwanese tea eggs. They are served ceremonial with tea, sold at night markets, and can even be found at convenience stores throughout Taiwan for snacking. These flavorful hard boiled eggs are high in dairy-free protein, and are also a great way to use up that carton of eggs in your refrigerator.
Taiwanese Tea Eggs are a Naturally Dairy-Free Tradition
This particular recipe for Taiwanese tea eggs was originally shared with us by Kristen Nweeia, back when she wrote for a blog called Fit Fare, over fifteen years ago.
On a recent trip to South Africa I picked up a copy of the February issue of Fair Lady, a South African Women’s magazine. My favorite feature of the magazine was a regular column by food editor Nikki Wener. Entitled Kitchen Secrets, the column focuses on a different South African home kitchen each month to tell the story of a family’s prized recipes.
The February 2008 issue featured the story of a Taiwanese family living in South Africa and the ways they work to keep their heritage alive. Together they practice the Taiwanese tea ceremony and cook up delicious accompanying fare. Within this article I found a very fun recipe for Tea Eggs. These Tea Eggs are delicious and unique. Best yet, they take little effort to make.
Taiwanese Tea Egg Recipe Options
- Spices: We found that recipes tended to be simpler in Taiwan. But many tea egg recipes onlinw do incorporate other spices, like a cinnamon stick, a few bay leaves or cloves, or a 1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns and/or fennel seeds. If you don’t have whole spices on hand, try a teaspoon of 5 spice powder instead. It’s an Asian inspired blend of spices that typically includes Szechuan pepper, fennel seed, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves.
- Tea Options: Oolong tea is popular in Taiwan. It has a mellower, more sultry flavor than black tea. It also boasts all types of health benefits, including bone strength! But black tea and green tea will also work in this tea eggs recipe.
- Egg Sizes: The size of your eggs doesn’t matter too much. Large eggs are the standard, but extra-large eggs also work great in this recipe due to the long cooking time. If you use medium eggs, you might want to initially cook the eggs for just 10 minutes, and might be able to reduce the second cooking time a little, too.
- Soy Sauce Choices: Standard soy sauce is considered light soy sauce. Many recipes for tea eggs use dark soy sauce or a combination of dark and light soy sauces. Dark soy sauce is fermented longer. It has a little more of a sweet and salty taste, a richer flavor, and is darker in color, for better staining the tea eggs. Tamari falls in between dark and light soy sauce, and is also a great option for this recipe.
- Small Batch: Don’t be afraid to cut the recipe in half or even down to a third for smaller households. It’s okay if your seasoning amounts aren’t exact. For a half batch, I might use just 1 tablespoon each of the soy sauce and tea leaves, 2 star anise, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Feel free to adjust the ingredients based on your tastes.
Special Diet Notes: Taiwanese Tea Eggs
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, optionally gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, and vegetarian. If you confuse eggs with dairy, you’re not alone! Eggs are produced on chicken farms, not dairy farms. For more information and to explain the mix up, see this post: Are Eggs Dairy?
For soy-free tea eggs, you can substitute coconut aminos for the soy sauce. Coconut aminos are sold as a liquid with some similarities to soy sauce, but they are a bit darker and sweeter. Those properties actually work perfectly in this recipe.
- 12 eggs
- 8 cups water
- 10 Chinese oolong tea leaves (about 2 tablespoons loose tea)
- 3 whole star anise
- 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon soy sauce or gluten-free tamari
- 1¾ teaspoons salt
- Pour the water into a large pot. Stir in the soy sauce, tea, salt, and star anise. Carefully add the eggs to the tea water. Bring the water to a gentle boil, and simmer the eggs for 15 minutes.
- Remove the eggs and use a teaspoon or back of a spoon to crack the eggs, leaving the shells in place.
- Return the eggs to the pot and simmer for another 45 minutes. The flavor enters the eggs through the cracks.
- Serve the eggs hot or refrigerate them and serve cold. These hard boiled eggs will typically keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Sodium Note: The eggs do not absorb all of the sodium in this recipe, so it's hard to speculate the exact sodium level. You can reduce the salt amount, if needed.