In terms of deciding how long to boil your quail eggs, generally, you can boil them for two minutes for a soft-boiled egg, or for three minutes for medium-boiled eggs. When your cooked quail eggs are cooked as desired, move the eggs into an ice-cold bowl of water, just like with normal chicken eggs.
Quail eggs can be softboiled in two minutes. They can be medium-boiled in three minutes. And quail eggs can be hard-boiled in four minutes. The shell of a properly-boiled egg should peel off easily. A good rule of thumb is that three quail eggs contain the same food value as a single chicken egg.
You will want to boil the quail eggs in boiling water for 3-4 minutes if you are starting your cooking process with cool water, or 5 minutes if you are adding quail eggs to the boiling water that is already there.
The best way to counteract this is to add a tablespoon or two of vinegar to cold water while you are boiling the quail eggs, so they will soften their shells slightly as they cook. If you would like to get soft (more on the runny side) yolks, then boil the quail eggs 1-2 minutes after you boil water in a pan. Starting off with cold water allows the eggs to warm up slower, preventing whites from turning rubbery.
What to Expect When Boiling Quail Eggs
The eggs that you put into boiling water will prick and crack, releasing egg whites, making your boiling water foamy and filled with white spots. You can just look and wait for the egg whites to stop coming out of the eggshells and to form ugly white globs on the outside. I do not need to tell you how satisfying it is to watch an eggshell slide off of a cooked egg white with no problems, that perfect glossy surface smiling back at you. I had to be careful to avoid damaging the egg white while I was peeling, because it is a lot softer than chicken eggs.
The most important step in getting the perfect, no-pockmarks, peel is tapping the boiled eggs with a spoon or rolling on a counter top to break open the shells before shocking the eggs with cold water. Depending on how well you like to cook your hard-boiled eggs, you should be done perfectly within 10-12 minutes. That is, depending on the height, shape of your pan, the size of the eggs, water-to-egg ratio, it may need a few minutes longer. Compare this with chicken eggs, which can take as long as 15 minutes to boil solid, and you can see an obvious difference.
It takes around 8-10 minutes to get 4 cups (1L) of water to boil, depending on your stove. Once the water has reached a rolling boil, lower the heat and wait a few seconds for the water to bubble just a little.
Best Practices for Boiling Quail Eggs
Boil the kettle and pour it into a smaller pot, turning your burner up to medium-high heat to keep the water boiling, but not boiling vigorously. Bring water to the boil on high, then turn heat down to medium-high, cooking the eggs on the gentlest simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. If you wish to cook eggs in the drier style, add eggs that are ready to be cooked into a larger pot, filling the pot with cold tap water.
Use as many eggs as you like, but it is not a good idea to overcrowd the pan, so if you want to make quite a lot of eggs, choose a larger pan, or otherwise cook them in batches. You can prepare and eat eggs as you would regular eggs, but since they are smaller and more delicate, try to be a little more cautious about how you use them. Size and weight will have an impact on how quail eggs are cooked fresh; smaller ones will require less cooking time.
You can boil them softly or hard, I prefer the soft/waxy variety, but depending on how you plan on using them, you may want to hard-boil them. You can also turn quail eggs into an omelet or scramble them, and they are incredible cooked & peeled, just a little peppery or celery salt. It is only worth using Quail eggs in situations where the entire point is how tiny they are — like with hors doeuvres, or as garnish, or as some kind of foodie wordplay (like the New Potato Salad, where you mock how small they are relative to potatoes).
Quail Eggs Are Flavorful but Small
Quails eggs pack as big of a punch as chicken eggs, and are a perfectly nice, tiny, alternate choice for serving alongside a favourite dish, a side, a snack, or just straight-up boiled eggs. If you want to eat a Quail Egg like you would any normal fried Egg, simply crack three or four in a cup, flip them onto the skillet, and they are done in under a minute. Nutritionally, because these eggs are smaller, it will take you three or four to get the same amount as one serving of a normal chicken egg.
You can make the boil just as you would a chicken egg, but the quail eggs only need about 2-4 minutes of boil time, depending on how you like your eggs. It is not that quail eggs that are just laying will cook quicker that way, but it does decrease your chances of breaking them as you drop them into the boiling water.
Or, a different way of brining or brining Quail eggs is by mixing brine made from 1 cup vinegar and a teaspoon of salt, boiling it down until the salt is dissolved. Simply make quick pickle brine by boiling water, vinegar, sugar, salt, spices, and grated beets, cooling, and pouring it over peeled, boiled quail eggs.
After the eggs are boiled, their shells are removed, and they are immersed in the vinegar, salt, spices, and other dressings. Allow the eggs to simmer for two minutes (soft-boiled), three minutes (medium-boiled), or three-and-a-half minutes (hard-boiled).
Tips for Preparing Quail Eggs
Set the timer, then lay your eggs on top of a slotted spoon, or simply use a regular spoon, gently placing them in your water. Cool down your eggs quickly: once the timer goes off, pounce like a tiger and pull them out of the water. Just remember that eggs have to be inserted simultaneously, so gently slip the eggs into the water using a large spoon or something like a soup bowl.
If you do not have a chance to cook eggs in water for whatever reason, then you can use a microwave for that purpose. With any storage method, you will want to check the freshness of the pasteurized eggs, should you hit your maximum storage time.
Some have found that rolling eggs in between her hands, cracking gently all over the shell, then peeling was easier. Make an Eggs and Asparagus on Toast, Garlic Mushroom Toast, or Tomatoes on Toast, and use the mini eggs (boiled or fried) in place of chicken eggs. Scoop the yolks of the eggs, stir in mayonnaise, wasabi, and top with either the chives — or, for an extra touch of exotic flair, with a shishito pepperoni and lemon zest.
