Make Flavorful (and Super Pretty!) Pickled Eggs at Home with These 4 Easy Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the danger of pickled eggs? ›

Eggs prepared with this method have sometimes had high enough levels of botulinum toxin to cause illness in a human. Pickled eggs may be served as part of a main course, hors d'œuvres, or garnishes.

Add the eggs, make sure they are submerged (you can top them off with an additional 1-2 tablespoons water if you need to). Cover and chill overnight. The eggs will intensify in flavor and color the longer they are pickled. We suggest waiting at least 2-3 days before eating them.

It takes at least 24 hours for the pickling liquid to work its magic on the eggs, and letting them rest there for a few days is even better. If you're not going to eat them in the first few days, it makes sense to add a bit of water to thin out the brine.

While recipes can vary from brand to brand, store-bought pickled eggs are often submerged in pickling solutions consisting of ingredients like beet juice, vinegar, water, and sugar. Commercial pickled eggs can also contain sodium benzoate, which is a common preservative that keeps food stable on store shelves.

While you may see home-canned pickled eggs for purchase, it is actually not safe to can pickled eggs at home. In fact, home-pickled eggs stored at room temperature were linked to a case of botulism — so just imagine long term shelf storage of canned pickled eggs!

Keep them refrigerated at all times. If small eggs are used, 1 to 2 weeks are usually allowed for seasoning to occur. Medium or large eggs may require 2 to 4 weeks to become well seasoned. Use the eggs within 3 to 4 months for best quality.

Pickling liquid is a balance of water, vinegar, salt, and sugar. So, if the solution is high in vinegar, it makes the liquid quite acidic. And If the eggs sit in that liquid too long, you get rubbery eggs.

Pickled eggs can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 months, but they are best when consumed within the first month for optimal flavor.

Pickled eggs need to be hard-boiled and peeled prior to making the brine solution of vinegar, salt, spices, and other seasonings. Pickled eggs MUST be always stored in the refrigerator. The pickling solution must completely cover all hard-boiled eggs.

For pickled eggs, swapping white vinegar for apple cider vinegar is a no-brainer. While white vinegar has a pretty even taste and doesn't affect the eggs much in terms of color, apple cider vinegar brings a complexity of flavors and provides the eggs with a unique hue.

How many times can you reuse pickle juice for pickled eggs? ›

How many times can I reuse pickle juice? To be on the safe side, we wouldn't recommend reusing it more than once, although some say you can safely reuse it 2 or 3 times. Again, watch for changes in the clarity of the brine. BONUS!

Malt vinegar imparts a nice rounded vinegar flavour and the eggs take on a nice brown colour after a week or so. Malt vinegar can be purchased pre spiced or you can add spices of your own to personalise the flavour if you want.

Pickled eggs left at room temperature developed botulism in the yolk, which had been pricked with a toothpick, before the acid pickling solution was able to equilibrate throughout the egg. To prevent botulism toxin from forming in non-canned foods, low-acid foods need to be refrigerated after they are cooked.

Since the eggs will float up to the top, make sure the jar is filled up to the rim with pickling solution to minimize air up there. If you don't have enough pickling solution, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar until it is up to the rim.

A quart size jar will hold approximately one dozen medium eggs. Jars and lids should be sterilized before use. To sterilize the jars and lids, place in boiling water for 10 minutes. Keep the jars and lids warm in the water while you prepare the pickling solution.

And like all great immigrant fare, there's also bonus food science: Eggs contain the amino acid cysteine, which is key to liver function (and why eggs are an important part of your hangover breakfast) while the pickling process can generate probiotic bacteria that aids digestion.

Pickled eggs have all the nutrients and vitamins and healthy fats and cholesterol and protein of boiled eggs but they also have probiotics which is an additional plus.

As a result, eating too many pickles may be risky for anyone with liver disease or kidney conditions. Diets high in sodium may increase your risk of gastric cancer. High salt intake may damage your stomach directly, leading to cancer, or it may lead to infections and ulcers that eventually become cancerous.

Cholesterol. One drawback of whole eggs is that they are high in cholesterol, so if you're watching your cholesterol intake, avoid the consumption of whole eggs. You can, however, eat pickled eggs with no yolk, as they are cholesterol-free; the fatty yolk is the source of the egg's cholesterol.