Chinese Egg Recipes from Chinese Tea Eggs to Egg Foo Young

Our best Chinese egg recipes make some of our favourite Chinese egg dishes, including a Chinese tea eggs recipe for perfumed marbled boiled eggs, a soft scrambled eggs recipe with Chinese barbecue pork and chives, egg foo young recipes for both the Cantonese and Chinese-American versions, Chinese special fried rice with scrambled eggs, a Chinese egg drop soup, and more. Chinese tea eggs are eaten for the Dragon Boat Festival, which is being celebrated in China and Chinese communities around the world this weekend.

These perfumed marbled Chinese tea eggs, which are almost too pretty to eat, are one of the many Chinese foods consumed during the Dragon Boat Festival this weekend. I’m using that as an excuse to make this recipe for Terence’s perfumed marbled Chinese tea eggs, which are almost too pretty to eat, and to share these Chinese eggs recipes with you.

I’ve compiled this collection of our best Chinese egg recipes from our 15 year-old Weekend Eggs series of recipes for quintessential eggs dishes from around the world from places we’ve lived, travelled and loved. Our recipes will make you everything from egg foo young, both the Cantonese and Chinese-American versions, and soft scrambled eggs with Chinese barbecue pork to egg drop soup, and Chinese special fried rice with scrambled eggs.

Eggs are not only eaten at the Dragon Boat Festival, they’re popular over Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year and feature in our Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year recipe collection, which includes recipes for fried spring rolls, dumplings, pork dishes, Chinese greens, Chinese fried rice recipes, and more.

This round-up of recipes for Chinese egg recipes for Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year features both new-ish and old recipes. If they inspire you to seek out more eggs recipes from our archives, browse our collections of best omelette recipes, scrambled eggs recipes, boiled eggs recipes and fried eggs recipes.

If you’re visiting us for the first time, we started Weekend Eggs back in 2010 when we launched Grantourismo with a yearlong global grand tour aimed at promoting slow, local and experiential travel, more sustainable, ethical, engaging, and immersive forms of travel.

On that trip, we spent two weeks in each destination, staying in apartment rentals and holiday homes to try to live like locals, and in each place we settled into, we explored the local food, and connected with local cooks and chefs. Terence learnt to cook local specialties, which we shared in a series called The Dish, for which Terence learnt to cook a quintessential dish of each place, and our Weekend Eggs series. If you’re an eggs lover, do dig into our Weekend Eggs archive (link above) for inspo.

Before I tell you more about our recipes for Chinese egg recipes for Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year, we have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve cooked and enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon; or buying a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; booking a cooking class or meal with locals on EatWith; or buying something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, classic cookbooks for serious cooks or gifts for Asian food lovers.

Looking for more cooking inspiration? We’ve got hundreds of recipes from around the world from places we’ve lived, worked and travelled in our archives, and you can save recipes you like by clicking on the heart on the right of any post to save your favourites in your own private account. Now let me tell you all about these Chinese egg recipes for Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year.

Chinese Egg Recipes from Perfumed Chinese Tea Eggs to Egg Foo Young

Our Chinese eggs recipes include a combination of recipes for traditional Chinese egg dishes, as well as dishes that feature eggs, such as special Chinese fried rice, but aren’t egg dishes as such; along with Chinese egg recipes from the Chinese diaspora, such as a Chinese-American egg foo young recipe; as well as our own Chinese-inspired egg recipes, such as Terence’s omelette with char siu pork.

Aside from Chinese tea eggs, eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, our recipes for Chinese egg dishes aren’t necessarily consumed during Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year, but we love to use the Chinese holidays as an to cook Chinese food, including Chinese eggs and we’re hoping that you do, too. Not that we need one, Chinese cuisines are some of our favourite cuisines.

Chinese Tea Eggs Recipe for Perfumed Marbled Eggs

One of our best boiled eggs recipes, this Chinese tea eggs recipe makes marbled eggs – aromatic boiled eggs that have a marbled appearance when peeled – and it’s one of the best Chinese egg recipes, and can be eaten for breakfast, brunch, lunch, a snack or dinner.

Steeped in a stock of five spice, star anise, soy and tea flavours that perfume the eggs, marbled eggs are a tasty snack when eaten on their own, or add soy sauce, chilli sauce and steamed rice and you have a lovely light meal.

We love to eat the eggs with Lao Gan Ma (chilli sauce) with peanuts and a little soy sauce. You can also eat them with the more popular Lao Gan Ma with Spicy Chilli Crisp.

Chinese Tea Eggs Recipe for Perfumed Marbled Eggs Almost Too Beautiful To Eat

Half Boiled Eggs Recipe for Classic Kopitiam Eggs to Go With Your Kaya Toast

This half-boiled eggs recipe makes the classic kopitiam eggs tailor-made for having with kaya toast in a Singaporean or Malaysian coffee shop. The just-set, still runny yolks and milky whites are perfect for dipping toast ‘soldiers’ into. The secret is getting perfectly soft eggs every time and Terence’s technique is flawless.

The best bit about these half-boiled eggs is that they require very little attention. If you start these eggs on a timer, by the time your alarm goes off you could have toasted your bread, slathered on some kaya and be ready to dip those toast fingers into your eggs.

We shared this recipe a year into the pandemic when we were missing the experience of lingering over a long, slow, weekend breakfast or brunch at a local cafe or coffee shop and whatever that entails wherever we are in the world, and this half-boiled eggs recipe was a result of us craving the quintessential kopitiam breakfast in Singapore and Malaysia.

Half Boiled Eggs Recipe for Classic Kopitiam Eggs to Go With Your Kaya Toast

Soft Scrambled Eggs Recipe with Char Siu Pork and Chives

This soft scrambled eggs recipe with char siu pork and chives makes a fantastic, filling breakfast eggs dish that literally takes minutes to make. One of our best char siu pork recipes, made with Chinese barbecue pork and using a combination of Eastern and Western techniques, the result is the softest silkiest scrambled eggs that we can happily eat every day.

Terence’s creamy soft scrambled eggs are cooked to around the same ‘doneness’ as good French-style scrambled eggs with big curds, but these soft scrambled eggs have a much lighter texture. That makes them even more special and perfect for a leisurely Chinese holiday breakfast.

Based on a Cantonese technique where the whites and the yolks are separated, the whites are whisked briskly and once the egg whites are fluffy, the yolks are added and lightly mixed through. We add a generous dash of toasted sesame oil and then the egg mixture is tossed into a hot wok with foaming butter.

You then need to wait for the centre of the eggs to cook and push the cooked egg mixture to one side, tilt the wok to let the still-liquid eggs cook, then repeat those steps until all the eggs are just cooked. We add the Chinese barbecue pork or char siu pork and some slices of scallions or spring onions, and then I top the finished creamy scrambled eggs with plenty of sliced garlic chives. More of our best scrambled eggs recipes here.

Soft Scrambled Eggs Recipe with Chinese Barbecue Pork and Chives

Egg Foo Young Recipe for the Cantonese Crispy Omelette

Our egg foo young recipe makes the wonderful Cantonese crispy filled omelette from Southern China and it’s one of our favourite Chinese egg recipes. Traditionally filled with char siu pork, spring onions and bean sprouts, it’s also hugely popular in Hong Kong.

Called fu yong dan or fuyong dan in Cantonese, but in English known as egg foo yung or egg fu yung, it differs from the Chinese-American egg foo young, below, a popular Chinese restaurant takeout dish of crispy pancake-like omelettes drizzled in gravy.

If you like enjoy these omelettes, definitely try the Thai style puffy omelette kai jiew with ground pork (also below), which is one of our favourite ground pork recipes. We recommend a seasoned carbon steel wok for making this dish. More of our best omelette recipes here.

Egg Foo Young Recipe for the Original Cantonese Style Crispy Omelette Fu Yong Dan

Egg Foo Young with Gravy Recipe for the Chinese American Restaurant Favourite

Another of our favourite Chinese egg recipes, this egg foo young with gravy recipe will make you a version of the original Cantonese omelette, above, which has evolved in Chinese diasporas right around the world, as the dish has been tweaked to suit local tastes and availability of ingredients.

You’ll find egg foo young everywhere from London to Kuala Lumpur but this egg foo young with gravy recipe makes a Chinese American version that has long been a Chinese restaurant favourite that’s especially popular as a takeout dish – or take-away dish for those of us outside the USA.

You really need your wok hot for this dish to work. Use a decent thermometer because if the oil temperature is lower than 190°C (375°F), you’ll be making a soggy mess of an omelette, which you definitely do not want.You will need a good high smoke-point oil such as peanut oil.

Have a sheet pan with rack covered in kitchen towels (or kitchen wipes as they’re sometimes called) ready for the finished omelettes. We use a fish slice for this dish to shape and flip the egg because tongs can break up your omelette when you’re flipping it over.

Egg Foo Young with Gravy Recipe for the Chinese American Crispy Omelette That’s a Takeout Favourite

Classic Thai Omelette Recipe for Kai Jeow

One of the best Thai Chinese egg recipes, this Thai kai jeow recipe makes a crispy, puffy golden-brown omelette cooked in plenty of oil in a very hot wok. The eggs are fortified by a good dash of fish sauce and the omelette is served on steamed jasmine rice with some Sriracha sauce to spice things up

It’s a dish that’s spectacular to cook. When poured into the hot oil, the whisked eggs with fish sauce form bubbles that grow and the omelette puffs right up like a crazy magic trick, before settling down as it cooks into a thick, soft, fluffy golden-brown omelette.

It takes real confidence in your kitchen skills to stay calm while flipping this omelette over! To that point, please wear closed footwear and wear a kitchen apron. A round bottomed wok is best for making this dish as you need to get under the omelette with a wide mesh skimmer.

More tips: You want the fish sauce thoroughly combined with the eggs and we recommend the Thai fish sauce, Megachef for its reliability and availability as much as its quality. Also use an oil with a high smoke point, such as rice bran oil, as you’ll be deep frying at 190°C.

Classic Thai Omelette Recipe for Kai Jeow, a Crispy Puffy Golden-Brown Omelette

Thai Crispy Fried Egg Salad Recipe for Yam Khai Dao

This Thai Chinese fried egg salad recipe for yam khai dao makes an addictive salad of crispy fried eggs with sweet tomatoes, purple shallots, crunchy peanuts, fragrant coriander, and Chinese celery, with chillies and a salad dressing that’s all at once sweet, sour, tangy, and funky.

It’s a Thai-Chinese style of fried egg, which means that it’s deep-fried or fried in a lot of oil so that the egg has a crispy texture and is brown coloured.

‘Yam’ is salad and ‘khai dao’ in Thai means ‘fried egg’. It’s easily another of the best Thai Chinese egg recipes if you’re an eggs lover, and one of our best fried eggs recipes.

Thai Fried Egg Salad Recipe for Yam Khai Dao, a Deliciously Addictive Crispy Fried Egg Salad

Char Siu Pork Omelette Recipe

Terence’s char siu pork omelette recipe makes another of our best Chinese egg recipes. Char siu pork leftovers are wrapped in a fluffy omelette and garnished with crunchy bean sprouts, Chinese celery leaf, finely sliced red chillies, and Sriracha sauce.

If you’ve made and enjoyed his sublime char siu pork recipe – or our soft scrambled eggs with Chinese barbecue pork and chives, above, one of our most popular Asian eggs recipes – then you’re going to love this char siu pork omelette.

It was created to use up leftover char siu pork, so if you don’t happen to have some Chinese barbecued pork tucked away in the fridge, then we suggest make that first. If you’re up for a second cooking project, make some homemade Sriracha sauce too.

A tip: for a four egg omelette like the omelette you’ll be making for this recipe, Terence suggests a 20cm (8-inch) omelette pan. These pans have steeper and taller sides than many all-purpose fry pans.

Char Siu Pork Omelette Recipe with Crunchy Sprouts, Chinese Celery Leaf and Sriracha

Egg Drop Soup Recipe for Egg Flower Soup

This egg drop soup recipe makes an egg flower soup just like your favourite Chinese restaurant does – a velvety yellow soup so dense with creamy egg wisps that it’s almost like a liquid omelette.

Slender slices of shitake mushrooms ensure it isn’t! A drizzle of sesame oil, pinch of white pepper and sprinkle of spring onions complete this comforting broth.

To create those ‘egg flowers’ (use your imagination), you must stir the soup continuously (some old Chinese cooks swear it must be clockwise), and then add the egg very slowly to the soup at the same time as you’re stirring.

This tastes just like the egg drop soup I grew up eating at our favourite neighbourhood Chinese restaurant in the western suburbs of Sydney, which I imagine tastes very much like a Chinese-American egg drop soup. If you enjoy this, try this Basque garlic egg soup recipe.

Egg Drop Soup Recipe for Egg Flower Soup Like Your Favourite Chinese Restaurant Makes It

Chinese Special Fried Rice Recipe

Not necessarily an egg dish but a dish with eggs, this Chinese special fried rice dish is one of our best Chinese egg recipes and one of my favourite fried rice dishes. It’s also called Yangzhou fried rice, because its provenance is the city of Yangzhou in China’s Jiangsu province, one of the culinary hotbeds of Huaiyang cuisine.

The traditional version of this Chinese special fried rice dish includes cooked rice, char siu pork, shrimps, scallions, ‘scrambled’ eggs, peas, and carrots. Sea cucumber and crab meat are other additions. Some recipes use lap cheong (or lap chong) instead of char siu pork.

Growing up in Australia, this special fried rice was served at every suburban Chinese restaurant in Australia, not to mention at those old-school Cantonese ‘all you can eat’ restaurants that were in every city and town’s Chinatown, so it has a special place in the hearts of nostalgic Australians, especially during Chinese New Year holidays.