In fact, I am pretty disappointed when a ramen shop doesn’t have these. (Santouka you are my favorite ramen spot but but what are you doing with fully hard-boiled eggs?) I get it, it can be a bit of a waiting game with some timing tricks and marinating the egg, but once you figure it out it’s pretty easily repeatable. Even if your favorite ramen shop won’t go through this trouble doesn’t mean we’ll be deprived of this delicious egg. Let’s learn how to make some ramen eggs!
Egg sizes
For this recipe, use only ‘large’ size eggs. Other ones will work but you’ll have to adjust cooking times for them. ‘Large’ is a specific size rated by the USDA which means the eggs weigh about 24 ounces per dozen. Here’s the rest of the USDA sizes for comparison:
Small: 18 ouncesMedium: 21 ouncesLarge: 24 ouncesExtra-Large: 27 ouncesJumbo: 30 ounces
Preparation
Boil water Use a pot large enough so the eggs can all fit on the bottom. Add enough water so after you submerge your eggs, there’s at least half to one inch of water above the eggs. If you need to drop your eggs in temporarily to figure this out you can. Remove the air gap Use a thumbtack to poke a hole on the larger end of the eggs. This will remove the air gap inside the egg and give you more perfect looking eggs after you peel them, but you can skip this if you want to. Egg temperature Leave the eggs in the fridge until your water is boiling and you’re ready to drop em in. This ensures more predictable egg temperatures and cooking times. If your fridge is set properly it should be below 40 °F, likely around 35 °F based on normal fridge settings for food safety. Yes, I know starting from ‘room temperature’ can vary depending on where you live and what season it is, something this recipe doesn’t account for so you may have to do some tweaking. However if we start with fridge temp eggs they will be too cold–this makes it so if you want jammy yolk centers, the outer edge of the yolks will be overcooked. Ice water bath
Prepare an ice water bath so you can dunk the eggs in after boiling to stop them from cooking. Two cups of ice, and one cup water will be plenty. If your water is really cold you could just put the eggs under running water for two minutes.
Cooking
Lower the heat from high to a medium-high or medium. Quickly add eggs to the pot one at a time, either by hand or with a ladle. Immediately start your timer for 6 minutes 30 seconds. When the timer is up, transfer the eggs to the ice bath for two minutes.
Marinating
Marinating adds seasoning and flavor to the egg that completely changes the experience. Feel free to tweak the recipe according to your tastes. Some of the variations I tried were too sweet, or too bitter. So you may need to experiment with a ratio of sugar, alcohol, or timing that you enjoy best. I’m sharing with you my favorite recipe here, and a timing of about three days provides the best texture for the eggs and yolk. Dashi is one ingredient I added that I was actually unable to tell the difference in taste, but adding the recipes with dashi in it had a lighter, more even color for some reason. So if you can’t find dashi easily, you can skip this. It’s still edible beyond three days but the texture starts to get weird pretty quickly so if you need more time before eating, pull them out of the marinade. Either warm these in a water bath or simply pull out of the fridge, slice in half and serve with a hot bowl of your favorite ramen! I had so many of these during testing that I ate them with just about anything… rice bowls, homemade Korean BBQ, or just by themselves. Also these would also go great with thit kho (Vietnamese braised pork and eggs), if you have the patience to marinate these in the broth for that recipe instead!
What is ajitsuke tamago?
Ajitsuke tamago are soft boiled and marinated eggs that are typically eaten with ramen or other foods.
What is a ramen egg?
A ramen egg is a soft boiled egg and then marinated with a blend of soy sauce, dashi, sugar, mirin, and sake for a few days in the refrigerator. They are delicious in ramen or other soups and dishes.
How long are ramen eggs good for?
You should eat them within two to three days to get optimal flavor.
How do you peel an egg?
After boiling, I always put them in an ice bath. I lightly tap the egg and roll it slowly to get an even crack along the middle of the egg. Then I return the egg back into the water so I can crack it evenly without making a mess of all the egg shells. This is a similar process to my deviled egg and grated egg avocado toast recipes.
