Are you making your own ramen at home but don’t know how to make the perfect soft-boiled egg to add? Use some of these helpful tips to make the perfect ramen egg every time without fail! This soft-boiled egg recipe is reliable and easy.
In my opinion, Ramen Egg is the must-have topping for any noodle dish. The gooey inside of a soft-boiled egg marinated in a deliciously flavourful sauce does it for me. It mixes in with the rest of the soup to create a flavorful, almost creamy-like broth that adds richness to every bite of noodle you take. I just can not have ramen without a Ramen egg in it.
These soft-boiled eggs are also great on their own too!
Why You Will Love Ramen Soft-Boiled Eggs
Forget about boring eggs, these ramen eggs are bursting with umami taste. You’ll enjoy eating them along with your ramen noodles, by themselves, or on top of a chopped salad. They are a salty and savory treat that is high in protein and packed with flavour.
So read on and and learn how to make your own ramen egg!
What is Ramen Egg?
Ramen egg is a Japanese egg dish also known as “Ajitsuke Tamago” or in short “Ajitama” in Japan. Aji means flavour and tamago means egg, so it is translated to flavoured eggs.
It is a soft-boiled egg marinated in a soy sauce-based marinade. Every bite is filled with spice and flavour – which is why people usually use it as a topping for their ramen noodles.
It’s so tasty, you can eat it on its own! You don’t even need the noodles.
Ingredients Needed To Make Ramen Eggs
Most ramen restaurants have their own secret ramen egg recipes. Some like to make them spicy while other like to use a sweeter marinade.
Want to know what makes them so special?
Ramen Egg Marinade Ingredients
It’s safe to say that the marinade for these eggs is probably made from a combination of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. But, mine are a bit different.
My secret ingredients (Kakushi aji) are Miso and Toban Djan (Chinese Chilli bean paste). Miso adds more umami flavour to it, and Tobanjan gives a little bit of a spicy kick to the eggs.
Note: I used both honey and granulated sugar to sweeten the marinade. You can omit the sugar and use all honey if you want. You’ll need to use about 3 tablespoons of honey if you do that.
How To Make Marinated Soft-Boiled Eggs
These ramen eggs are so simple to make! The most difficult part is waiting for them to marinate.
All the instructions are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. But first, here is a bit more information (and some step-by-step photos).
To make these ramen eggs, all you have to do is make soft-boiled eggs and then marinate them. Though it is just a few simple steps, I can understand that boiling eggs can be somewhat challenging. Here are a few tips that can help you!
Tips For Making Perfect Soft Boiled Eggs
Making fabulous soft-boiled eggs is so easy. Here are some tips that will make it even easier.
Leave The Eggs At Room Temperature
Let the eggs sit on the counter for at least a few hours. They should come to room temperature. This will make it easier for the eggs to peel after they are soft-boiled.
Use A Ladle
Add the eggs into boiling water gently using a ladle. You can add a little bit of vinegar or salt. This helps because if the egg cracks, the vinegar or salt in the boiling water prevents the egg from spreading out too much.
Watch The Cooking Time
Cook eggs for 7-8 minutes and keep rotating the eggs. This makes sure the egg yolk will be centered. If you like a runny egg, cook for only 7 minutes. I like mine a little more solid, so I usually cook them for 8 minutes.
Place The Soft-Boiled Eggs Into An Ice Bath
Remove the eggs into icy cold water so the eggs will not be cooked further by the residual heat.
Tips For Making Ramen Egg Marinade
After you have some perfectly soft-boiled eggs, you are ready to marinate them. Here are some tips (and step-by-step pictures) that will help you make the perfect marinade!
Use a Resealable Plastic Bag
You can use any refrigerator-safe plastic bag that seals completely. The important part is making sure it seals without leaking since it will have lots of liquid marinade inside it.
Add Water To A Tall Container
This tip is will help you remove all the extra air out of the food storage bag!
Add some water to a tall container. Seal the plastic bag and leave about an inch of it open in the corner. Then, submerge the marinating eggs into the container of water.
As the bag lowers into the water, the water pressure will push the air out of the bag. When all the air is out of the bag, seal it completely.
Tips To Cut A Soft-Boiled Egg
The eggs in ramen are usually neatly cut, aren’t they? How is this possible when the yolk is runny and soft? This is my trick (I did not invent it but I learned in Japanese home ec class when I was a high school student a long time ago).
Use A Cotton Thread!
Wrap the thread around an egg where you would like to cut it, then cross both ends and pull the thread. Easy!
The thread will slice through the egg and it will be cut in half.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ramen Eggs
Soft-boiled ramen eggs will only last a few days in the fridge because they can not be frozen. Use your ramen egg within 5 days for the best taste and to stay safe.
If you don’t have mirin, it can be substituted with sake/dry sherry and sugar. Read more about Japanese food substitution in this guide.
Apart from eating with ramen, they can be just eaten as a snack, or you can add to your Bento Box. If you are going to add to your bento box, make your soft-boiled eggs a little firmer.
This is entirely up to you. Some people like to poach an egg in their ramen bowl. This is definitely an option. The only reason I don’t like doing this is that I really like how marinated eggs taste. They add a lot of flavour to my soup.
Yes, it is okay to hard-boil your ramen egg. Traditionally, the eggs in ramen noodles are soft-boiled. If you like your eggs to have a firmer consistency, just let them cook for 5 more minutes.
More Ramen Recipes
Now that you know how to make the perfect ramen egg, try making some of these ramen noodle dishes to eat at home:
- Basic Homemade Ramen Broth
- Easy Homemade Ramen Noodles
- Chashu Ramen Pork
- Shio Ramen
- Shoyu Ramen
- Tantanmen
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If you liked my Ramen Egg recipe, or made this recipe, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe.
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Ramen Egg
Ingredients
- 4 eggs ( room temperature)
- 2 tbs soy sauce
- 2 tbs sugar
- 1 tbs miso
- 1 tbs mirin
- 2 tsp honey
- 1/4 tsp Tobanjyan Chinese broad bean chilli paste *5
- 1 clove garlic crushed
Instructions
Soft Boiled Eggs
- Bring water to boil in a large saucepan.
- Add the eggs one by one gently into the boiling water with a ladle.
- Set a timer for 7-8 minutes. *1
- After boiling for 7-8 minutes, remove the eggs from the boiling water into a bowl of icy cold water. *2
- Peel off the shells and set aside.
Marinade
- Combine all sauce ingredients except miso in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Turn the heat off just before the sauce boils. Do not completely bring the sauce to boil.
- Add miso paste and dissolve it. *3
- Cool the sauce down and marinate the eggs in a ziplock bag and refrigerate for about 5 hours at least. *4
Notes
Nutrition
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Will definetly be making those! How long can they be kept in the fridge after being marinated? Thanks for sharing!
I would say a couple day.
Tried it today. The marinade turned out really great! Absolutely perfect addition to our homemade ramen 🙂
Fantastic Maria 😀
Hi,
Could you specify what type of miso (colour) you use?
Many thanks.
Hi Tess, I used my home made miso You can use any type of Miso. If you like strong taste use Aka(dark brown) and if you like mild and sweeter Miso use Shiro(white) miso 😀
Would it be terrible to leave out the honey?
Hi Tania, I like sweet taste, if you like savoury I don’t thinks it would be terrible.
I’m curious if any water is used when simmering the sauce ingredients?
Hi Michele, no no water.
Is there anything I can use in place of the broad bean paste, or would it be totally offensive if I left it out altogether? I have all the other ingredients. If I can make a tasty enough egg without the paste, I want to go for it!
Hi Elaine, do you have chili paste? or chili? add a little bit of chili instead. If you don’t you can left out 😀
wow nice recipe i enjoyed it !
I’m glad! Thank you 🙂