Chilli Oil Eggs: 4 Ways (Fried, Jammy, Scrambled, Cured)

The fried egg is the one everybody arrives at on their own. The other three are where it gets interesting, and cured yolks in particular are the thing that makes people ask what on earth they are eating.

Two rules for all four

Add the oil at the end. Crispy chilli oil is a finishing condiment. Put it in a hot pan and the crunchy garlic and chilli soften, the aromatics can catch and go bitter, and the smell disappears into your extractor fan instead of your bowl. Off the heat, on the plate, or at the table.

Stir the jar first. The solids sink. Pour off the top layer and you get oil with almost no flavour, which is why some people decide their chilli oil is disappointing. Go in with a spoon and dig to the bottom. This matters more with eggs than almost anything else, because the yolk is what carries the crunch.

1. Crispy fried chilli oil egg

The one you will make three times a week. The trick is more oil and more heat than feels reasonable, so the white bubbles up into a lacy, golden, shatteringly crisp edge while the yolk stays liquid.

You need: 1 or 2 eggs, 1 tbsp neutral oil, 1 to 2 tsp crispy chilli oil, flaky salt, spring onion.

1. Get the pan properly hot. Medium-high, with a tablespoon of neutral oil. You want it shimmering. This is more oil than you normally use and that is the point.
2. Crack the egg in from low down so it does not spread too thin. It should sizzle aggressively on contact. If it does not, the pan was too cool, and you will get a pale flabby egg.
3. Tilt and spoon. Tip the pan slightly and spoon the hot oil over the white around the yolk. Two minutes gets you crisp brown edges and a set white.
4. Lid for a runny top, no lid for a raw one. Thirty seconds under a lid steams the surface of the yolk just enough to set it without cooking through.
5. Plate, then spoon the chilli oil over the yolk. Not into the pan. Finish with flaky salt and spring onion.

Serve it on: toast, plain rice, leftover noodles, avocado toast, or a bowl of knife-cut noodles. For the full version of that last one, see our 10-minute chilli oil noodles.

2. Jammy soy and chilli oil eggs

Inspired by Korean mayak eggs, which translates roughly as "drug eggs", on the grounds that people cannot stop eating them. Boiled to a set white and a molten orange centre, then left to sit in a soy and chilli oil marinade until they turn glossy and deeply savoury.

Make six on Sunday and eat them all week.

You need: 6 eggs, 6 tbsp light soy sauce, 6 tbsp water, 2 tbsp crispy chilli oil, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 garlic cloves finely chopped, 1 spring onion sliced, 1 tsp sesame seeds.

1. Boil for exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds. Lower fridge-cold eggs into already boiling water on a spoon, and keep it at a steady simmer. Six minutes gives a properly runny centre, seven gives a fudgy one. Set a timer, because guessing is how you end up with a hard-boiled egg and regret.
2. Ice bath immediately. Straight from the pan into cold water with ice. This stops the cooking dead and, more usefully, makes them far easier to peel.
3. Peel gently. Tap all over, roll, then peel under running water. Jammy eggs are delicate.
4. Mix the marinade in a container just big enough to hold the eggs: soy, water, chilli oil, sugar, vinegar, garlic, spring onion and sesame seeds. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
5. Submerge and refrigerate. Lay a piece of kitchen paper over the top so the exposed bits stay wet and colour evenly. Four hours is the minimum, overnight is better, three days is the limit.

Serve them on: hot rice with a spoonful of the marinade poured over, in ramen, halved on toast, or straight from the container standing at the fridge, which is the traditional method.

3. Chilli oil scrambled eggs

Soft scrambled eggs are texturally one note all the way through, which is exactly the gap crispy chilli oil fills. This is the fastest upgrade to breakfast available.

You need: 4 eggs, 1 tbsp butter, 2 tsp crispy chilli oil, a splash of soy sauce, salt, chives or spring onion.

1. Beat the eggs properly, until there are no streaks of white left, with a small splash of soy sauce instead of some of the salt. Soy brings savoury depth that plain salt does not.
2. Low heat, butter in the pan. Low. Scrambled eggs go wrong because people rush them.
3. Stir constantly with a spatula, pulling the setting egg from the edges into the middle. Three to four minutes for soft curds.
4. Pull them off while still slightly wet. Residual heat finishes them on the plate. If they look done in the pan, they are overdone by the time you sit down.
5. Fold in half the chilli oil off the heat, then spoon the rest on top so you keep some crunch on the surface. Chives to finish.

Also works with: Chinese-style tomato and egg, an omelette, or folded into a breakfast burrito.

4. Soy-cured chilli oil yolks

The showstopper, and the one nobody expects. A raw yolk sits in soy sauce and chilli oil for a few hours, and the salt draws out water and firms it into something between a custard and a jammy sweet. It goes on hot rice and breaks like a sauce.

Almost no work. Just planning.

You need: 4 very fresh egg yolks, 6 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp crispy chilli oil, 1 tbsp mirin or 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp sesame oil.

1. Separate the yolks carefully. Crack into your hand and let the white run through your fingers, which is gentler than passing the yolk between shell halves. Keep the whites for an omelette or meringue.
2. Mix the cure in a shallow container: soy, chilli oil, mirin and sesame oil.
3. Lower the yolks in using a spoon, spaced apart so they do not touch. They should be mostly submerged.
4. Refrigerate for 4 to 12 hours. Four gives you a lightly set, still very runny yolk. Twelve gives you something dense and sliceable that behaves like a soft cheese. Beyond about 24 hours it turns rubbery and too salty.
5. Lift out with a spoon and set on hot rice. Break it with your chopsticks and let it run. Spoon a little of the curing liquid over, but go easy, it is intensely salty.

Serve on: hot steamed rice, a rice bowl with avocado and nori, cold noodles, or on top of a steak tartare if you are feeling ambitious.

Which one should you make?

FAQs

Should you cook chilli oil with eggs or add it after?

After. Crispy chilli oil is a finishing condiment, and heating it softens the crunchy solids and can turn the fried garlic bitter. Cook the egg in a neutral oil, then spoon the chilli oil over on the plate.

How long do you boil an egg for a jammy yolk?

Six and a half minutes for a fridge-cold egg lowered into already boiling water, then straight into an ice bath. Six minutes gives a very runny centre, seven gives a fudgier one.

How long do marinated soy and chilli oil eggs keep?

Up to three days in the marinade in the fridge. Beyond that they get progressively saltier and the whites turn rubbery.

Are soy-cured egg yolks safe to eat?

They are raw, so the usual raw egg guidance applies. Most healthy adults using fresh, well-refrigerated eggs are at low risk, but food safety authorities advise that pregnant people, young children, older adults and anyone immunocompromised avoid raw eggs or use pasteurised ones instead. Pasteurised shell eggs work exactly the same way in this recipe.

Why are my fried egg edges not crispy?

Not enough oil, or a pan that was not hot enough. You want a full tablespoon of oil, shimmering, and an aggressive sizzle the moment the egg hits. A gentle sizzle gives you a soft pale white every time.

Can I use chilli oil on a boiled egg without marinating it?

Yes. Halve a jammy egg, add flaky salt and a spoonful of chilli oil straight on top. It is thirty seconds of work and it is the single easiest snack on this page.

Keep reading

• 27 things to put crispy chilli oil on
• Crispy chilli oil: the complete guide
• 10-minute chilli oil noodles
• Hot honey cheesy eggs on toast, for the sweet version

Made one? Tag us. Yolk shots especially.