Learn how to make perfectly jammy soft-boiled ramen eggs at home with just 3 ingredients (4 if you want to get fancy). Also, known as Ajitsuke Tamago, Nitamago, or Ajitama, these caramel-colored umami-rich eggs are a favorite addition to homemade ramen or eaten as a snack. When cooked well, ramen eggs add creaminess, richness, and downright deliciousness to any bowl of ramen or even chicken noodle soup. Use this recipe to make the best soft-boiled eggs for ramen in just a matter of minutes.
No bowl of Japanese ramen would be complete without a few noteworthy components and delicious toppings. Chief among them are chewy, springy alkaline noodles, deeply flavored slow-simmered broth, thin slices of chashu pork, crispy chicken katsu, scallions, a leaf or two of nori, and jammy soft-boiled, salty-sweet rich ramen eggs — to us, ramen just isn’t ramen without these eggs. As you can see below, ramen eggs can be hardboiled, soft and jammy on the inside, or just slightly cooked beyond jammy to a more custard-like center.
Why We Love This Homemade Soft-Boiled Ramen Egg Recipe
- They take just 5 to 6 minutes to cook
- They make every bowl of ramen richer, silkier, and full of umami
- Ramen eggs can be made 2 or 3 days in advance
- Ramen eggs can be enjoyed as a snack, on a sandwich, or with rice (not just in a bowl of ramen)
What are Ramen Eggs?
Ramen eggs are umami-rich eggs that have been boiled, cooled immediately to keep them from further cooking, then marinated overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and water. Sometimes sake and a pinch of sugar are added, as well as spices or even a slice of ginger. They’re salty-sweet on the outside and are usually creamy and custardy on the inside, but can even be hard-boiled — no matter what, no bowl of ramen is complete without them in our opinion.
Ramen Eggs Ingredients
Like most other ramen soup components, this recipe uses simple and straightforward ingredients to turn ordinary eggs into something extraordinary. This is the most basic recipe for ramen eggs, but you can also add sake if you have it on hand, or if you’re making chashu pork for your ramen, you can simply use the leftover cooking liquid to marinate the ramen eggs (it’s delicious and it kills two birds with one stone).
- eggs
- soy sauce
- mirin
- water
Did I Mention How Easy These Ramen Eggs Are To Make?
If you can boil an egg, then you can make ramen eggs at home. The hardest part is letting them marinate overnight (or for at least 2 hours) without sneaking into them and eating one. All you need to do is cook the eggs in boiling water (or steam them), cool them immediately after cooking (in an ice bath or under cold running water), carefully peel them, and add them to a mixture of water, soy, and mirin. Keep reading for easy substitutions and marinade additions you may also want to try.
How to Make Easy Soft-Boiled Ramen Eggs at Home
While you can also steam ramen eggs (which we show you how to do below), boiling them is so easy, that we hardly use any other method anymore. It’s best to let ramen eggs marinate overnight or up to 24 hours, but even 2 hours gives you a good flavor. We’ve even eaten them after marinating for just 30 minutes and they were still great. Try to plan ahead for the best flavor though and make them the day before you plan to use them.
- Boil the eggs. To a pot of boiling water, gently add the eggs and allow them to cook for 6 to 6 1/2 minutes for more runny yolks or 7 to 8 minutes for more custardy yolks. Remove them to a bowl of ice water and allow them to cool completely to stop the cooking. Gently peel the eggs and try not to tear them. Place them in a bowl or a sustainable plastic bag. *If you don’t have ice (this is for the European and Asian audience), cook the eggs for exactly 6 minutes, remove them to a bowl and run the eggs under cold tap water until completely cooled.
- Make the soy-mirin marinade. While the eggs are boiling, add the soy sauce, mirin, and water to a measuring cup or bowl and stir to combine.
- Marinate the eggs. Pour the marinade over the eggs to cover them. If using a plastic bag, remove all the air and twist it up and seal it so that the eggs are fully immersed in the marinade. If using a bowl, place cheesecloth or a paper towel over the top of the eggs so that it absorbs the marinade and will properly color and coat any part of the eggs that are not fully immersed. (see photos). Marinate overnight or up to 24 hours for the best flavor, or at least a minimum of 2 hours. Slice the eggs in half and Enjoy!
How to Make Ramen Eggs step-by-step recipe photos
How to Store Homemade Ramen Eggs
Homemade ramen eggs can be made up to 4 days in advance and stored in the marinade in the refrigerator until ready to eat. Usually, around the 2nd day of marinating, ramen eggs are fully cured and should be removed from the liquid and stored in a sealed container so they don’t become too salty. Do not freeze ramen eggs because they become rubbery.
Other Ramen Month Recipes to Make the Perfect Piping Hot Bowl
If you’re just getting into making homemade ramen (and all the delicious components that go with it), you can start from the beginning with our favorite ramen recipes. Lots of these components can and should be made ahead and frozen which makes it easy to have real ramen any night of the week with minimal prep work. Here are the delicious Ramen Month recipes starting with baked baking soda.
- How to Make Baked Baking Soda (for Ramen, Chinese Wheat Noodles & Pretzels)
- How To Make Homemade Ramen Noodles From Scratch (The Easy Way)
- Stay tuned for all of our Ramen Month recipes!
Let’s get started!
Print How to Make Perfect Jammy Ramen Eggs (Ajitsuke Tamago 味付け卵)
- Total Time: 8 minutes
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Learn how to make perfectly jammy soft-boiled ramen eggs at home with just 3 ingredients (4 if you want to get fancy). Also, known as Ajitsuke Tamago, Nitamago, or Ajitama, these caramel-colored umami-rich eggs are a favorite addition to homemade ramen or eaten as a snack. When cooked well, ramen eggs add creaminess, richness, and downright deliciousness to any bowl of ramen or even chicken noodle soup. Use this recipe to make the best soft-boiled eggs for ramen in just a matter of minutes.
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup soy sauce (120g)
- 1/2 cup mirin (120g)
- 1 cup water (236g)
Instructions
- Boil the eggs. To a pot of boiling water, gently add the eggs and allow them to cook for 6 to 6 1/2 minutes for more runny yolks or 7 to 8 minutes for more custardy yolks. Remove them to a bowl of ice water and allow them to cool completely to stop the cooking. Gently peel the eggs and try not to tear them. Place them in a bowl or a sustainable plastic bag. *If you don’t have ice (this is for the European and Asian audience), cook the eggs for exactly 6 minutes, remove them to a bowl and run the eggs under cold tap water until completely cooled.
- Make the soy-mirin marinade. While the eggs are boiling, add the soy sauce, mirin, and water to a measuring cup or bowl and stir to combine.
- Marinate the eggs. Pour the marinade over the eggs to cover them. If using a plastic bag, remove all the air and twist it up and seal it so that the eggs are fully immersed in the marinade. If using a bowl, place cheesecloth or a paper towel over the top of the eggs so that it absorbs the marinade and will properly color and coat any part of the eggs that are not fully immersed. (see photos). Marinate overnight or up to 24 hours for the best flavor, or at least a minimum of 2 hours. Slice the eggs in half and Enjoy!
Notes
- If using cold eggs straight out of the refrigerator, add one minute to the cooking time.
- If you have sake on hand, you may substitute 1/4 cup (60g) of the mirin with it to make it a total of 1/4 cup (60g) mirin + 1/4 cup (60g) sake.
- If you’re making our chashu pork recipe, you can skip making this egg marinade recipe and use the leftover chashu cooking liquid to marinate the ramen eggs. This saves time and ingredients and it’s just as delicious.
- If you don’t have ice in your freezer when you decide to make ramen eggs, boil the eggs for exactly 5 minutes and remove them to a bowl of cold tap water and continue running water over them until they are completely cool.
- Adding 1 tablespoon (15g) of vinegar and 1 teaspoon (4g) of salt to 4 cups (1 liter) of water, makes it a little easier to peel the eggs, but the best trick is to not use super fresh eggs which are difficult to peel no matter what. Obviously, this doesn’t mean you should use expired eggs, but rather eggs that are just a little bit older because they’re always easier to peel.
- Be very gentle when peeling ramen eggs, because they’re very soft which makes them easy to tear. However, if you do get a crack or even a large tear it’s no big deal, pop them into the marinade anyway because they’ll still taste delicious.
- If you want to steam ramen eggs instead of boiling them, set a steamer basket over a wok or other large pot filled with a couple of inches of water. Once the water is boiling, add the eggs to the steamer basket, cover, and cook for 8 minutes. Remove the eggs to an ice bath until completely cool.
- Using dental floss or a wire to cut ramen eggs makes the cleanest cut, but if you’re only concerned with flavor and not whether they look perfect, just use a sharp knife.
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 minutes
- Category: Ramen
- Method: Boiled
- Cuisine: Japanese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 egg
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