Pickled quail eggs aren’t just a cute novelty, they’re delicious! After a long vacation road trip across the country, I brought a coworker a jar of pickled quail eggs from a convenience store in Texas. I also brought canned armadillo for another coworker, but that’s a different story…
I thought both were really spectacular gifts, but especially this tiny jar of pickled micro eggs was amazing, but my coworker wasn’t impressed. To each his own I guess, but about a decade later it’s time to make my own pickled quail eggs.
Quail eggs are an exciting treat to find at the grocery store and my little ones bounced with excitement when they saw a package of these tiny speckled morsels on the shelf at our local food coop. We have friends who raise quail, but they live too far away to share their bounty with us.
We’ve considered raising them ourselves, since they’re pretty easy to tend, and you can even raise them indoors in rabbit hutches without too much trouble. One can only take on so many projects though, so quail eggs remain a fun novelty for now. My three-year-old just couldn’t get enough of holding them, and it took time and effort to get her to give them up.
How to Hard Boil Quail Eggs
The first step in making pickled quail eggs is hard boiling. Those tiny little eggs don’t take long to cook, and I found several methods described online.
The first, and most obvious, is a simple boiling water method. Start by bringing a small pot of water to boil on the stove.
Use a slotted spoon to place the quail eggs carefully into the water. Turn the temp down to a simmer and cook for about 4 minutes before removing the eggs to a cold water bath to cool.
The benefit of this method is that it’s quick and easy, but when you take a cold quail egg from the refrigerator and put it directly into boiling water there’s a risk that the egg will crack. With chicken eggs, cracked eggs in the boiling water means the white squirts out everywhere before it cooks and it makes a big mess.
I wanted to avoid this messy situation, so I put the quail eggs into a bowl of warm water from the sink tap to take the fridge chill off them. Even with this precaution, I still had two eggs crack immediately when they hit the boiling water. The thing is though, even though the shells visibly cracked, the membrane underneath is much tougher than a chicken egg and no white escaped.
If you want a more foolproof method to avoid cracking, starting with cold water is the way to go. Place the quail eggs in cold water in a pot and then put the pot on the stove.
Bring the water up to just boiling, and then turn the heat off. Remove the pot from the heat and put a lid on. After 6 minutes, remove the eggs from the hot water to a cold water bath.
This slow heating means that the eggshells are less likely to crack. That said, even with cracks it didn’t really impact the quality of the finished hard-boiled quail eggs. The cracks actually made them easier to peel, since a bit of water got in under the shell and helped to separate it from the egg.
How to Peel Quail Eggs
Believe it or not, peeling quail eggs is actually really easy. I don’t say this lightly, I’m horrible at peeling eggs. I have a really wonderful recipe for spiced deviled eggs that I’d love to share with y’all, but the eggs are always so mangled after I peel them that I can’t bear to take a picture to go with the recipe.
Quail eggs are different. If you try to crack a raw quail egg into a bowl you’ll quickly learn that while the shell breaks easily, the membrane underneath does not. It’s actually quite difficult to crack a quail egg because as you whack it the shell falls away and you’re left with a tiny rubbery bag holding the egg inside.
Quail egg farmers have actually devised tiny scissors to cut the top off of quail eggs. That’s not because the shells are hard, but rather because you need something to puncture the inner membrane to get the egg out.
Once you’ve hard-boiled quail eggs, simply tap them against the counter to break up the shell. Then, working carefully, pinch a bit of the membrane and pull it back away from the egg. At this point, the egg membrane can be pulled off in a spiral around the egg, with no damage at all.
There you have it, perfectly peeled quail eggs.
How to Make Pickled Quail Eggs
Once they’re hard-boiled and peeled, making pickled quail eggs isn’t really any different than any type of pickled egg. While the process isn’t any different, the result sure is. Since there’s more surface area to volume, the flavors infuse better and the final flavor is out of this world.
When pickling quail eggs, the seasonings are completely up to you. Start with a basic brine made with 1 cup of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring it to a boil on the stove so the salt dissolves. White vinegar is the most neutral, but any type will work. Apple cider vinegar gives the pickled quail eggs a bit of a rustic flavor, while balsamic adds sweeter, warmer notes and a lot of color.
For milder pickled eggs, with less tart vinegary flavor, substitute 1/3 of the vinegar for another liquid such as a dry white wine. Or beet juice for beautiful color and a lot of flavor. Or really, any other liquid that suits your fancy.
For seasonings, I prefer a warmly spiced pickled egg, with garlic, cloves, allspice, mustard seeds, and pepper. Keep in mind the seasonings are completely up to you, and alterations will make a dramatically different egg.
Pickled Quail Eggs
Pickled quail eggs are tiny delicious treats that are easy to make at home.
Ingredients
- 12 quail eggs, hard boiled & peeled
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 5 whole peppercorns
- 3-4 whole allspice berries
- 1-2 whole cloves
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
Instructions
- Hard boil and peel quail eggs as described above. Place the clean, peeled eggs in a jar.
- Bring all other ingredients to a boil on the stovetop and stir for about 1 minute until salt is dissolved.
- Pour hot brine and spices over quail eggs in a jar.
- Seal lid and store in the refrigerator for at least 1 week before eating to allow the flavors to infuse.
Notes
Pickled eggs CANNOT be safely canned at home. These must be stored in the refrigerator. That said, pickled quail eggs should keep in the refrigerator for several months, if they last that long...
How Many Quail Eggs Fit in a Jar?
It takes about 18 quail eggs to fit into a standard wide-mouth pint mason jar. I happened to have some small European flip-top rubber gasket jars that were 350 ml, or roughly 12 ounces. A dozen quail eggs were just right for that jar.
For every dozen quail eggs you need roughly one cup of prepared brine, so I’ve written this recipe for a dozen eggs. Scale to the number of eggs you have on hand. Since it’s 18 eggs to a wide mouth pint, a triple recipe with 36 quail eggs will make two wide-mouth pint jars full.
Canning Pickled Quail Eggs?
I’m sorry to say that you cannot can pickled eggs at home. There are no safe approved methods for canning pickled eggs at home according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation. There have been several cases of botulism from home-canned pickled eggs, and people have actually died.
How come granny never died from eating her canned pickled eggs? Pure luck. Botulism has to be present in order to take hold.
Improperly canned goods only create the right oxygen-free environment for botulism to thrive. If by pure luck there are no spores present, then no, it cant grow. But there’s no way to know that, and canning unsafe food is like playing Russian roulette.
How Long Do Pickled Quail Eggs Keep?
Since you can’t can pickled eggs, how long will they keep in the fridge? Longer than you might think! A jar of pickled quail eggs can keep 3 to 4 months in the refrigerator according to the national center for food preservation.
That is a long time to have a jar in the fridge and trust me, they’re pretty addictive. Once you eat one, you might well just polish off the jar.
Easy enough. Make tasty pickled quail eggs. Eat them.
Repeat.
Really, they’re not going to make it that long in the fridge anyway.
More Ways to Preserve Eggs
Billy
I’ve never tried pickled quail eggs before. They sound delicious! I cannot imagine they are much different than normal pickled eggs. Thank you for sharing! Cannot wait to maek these at home.
KIM HAMMETT
IF YOU SOAK THE BOILED EGGS IN VINEGAR THEY WILL PEEL PRETTY EASY. YOU CAN SIT AND WATCH THE DOTS
FLOAT TO THE TOP.
M
We’ve been raising quail for five years now…..it wouldn’t cross my mind to put them in the fridge! If you can find a source that doesn’t you will eliminate the cold issue……please consider keeping these charming little birds yourself! The eggs are amazing little protein packed beauties and the poop is the best thing in the world for your garden.
Kathryn
I store my quail eggs and chickens eggs on the counter. Un washed they will keep for up to 3 weeks. You only have to store eggs in the refrigerator if the bloom has been washed off. You won’t have an issue with your eggs cracking in the boiling water this way.
Maia Ramsden
Quail eggs are sold here by street vendors from carts around town, already hard-boiled and freshly peeled (yay!), for 50 cents a dozen. I love them as an instant non-messy snack but never thought of pickling them. Thanks for the reminder!
Sharon Merkel Prudhomme
Married 30 years to a Cajun. So being a Jersey girl brought up roaming the woods, streams and oceans, eating fish, clams, mussels, oysters, wild game & fowl I’ve been open to gator, crawfish, etc. Every year on our trip to La. to visit relations, I’d pick up jars of pickled quail eggs. LOVE them! Just found a NJ source of fresh eggs-cheap! Now I’ll never run out! Ever do “mustard eggs”? Pickled as you would for red beat eggs, but no beets or beet juice. Add 2 LARGE commercial sized serving spoons full of mustard-basic ball park will do. We slice raw onions and jam in. They become wonderfully crisp and yellow eggs result. Saw them for sale in a hole in the wall tavern in a teeny Pa. river town. Yum!
Kyle
Im from Texas and buy different brands of pickled quail eggs all over. They are DELICIOUS. My favorites, and would be my influence in my spice selections would be…Oma’s and Hruskas brand of “spicy” style. Oma’s I think is just one variety, spicy. Where as Hruskas has both spicy and mild. Omas can be found around Texas gas stations, truck stops… etc. In fact that’s exactly what Hruskas IS. A gas station and likely inspiration for “Buckys” MASSIVE truck stops all down I 10 and 71 between Austin and Houston. Lots of coffee and jerky and bakery…we used to call them “Czech stops“ with the Euro immigrant population in Central Texas. German, Czech, Irish….lots of them started stores with all sorts of stuff…Bakery, smokehouse, coffee, gas….Buckys just does it Walmart style. Anyway they have eggs too and they’re way too OILY. Not the clean spicy brine of Omas and Hruskas. A napkin and a bottle of eggs makes more lovely trip to and from Austin, especially if your hands aren’t covered in veggie oil. Messy and unnecessary. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but just look at the ingredients for your first try. I can easily finish a bottle in a trip. They’re expensive too. Ten bucks a bottle so it’s time to buy some quail.
Kesavavardan
I m from India , Tamilnadu… I want to know the process of pickled quail eggs… Can anyone explain how the process made and the rules should be followed… Or any suggestions…
Marla
I just made egg salad with some boiled quail eggs . We used to just put them on salads. Can’t wait to try these pickled babies!
Ashley Adamant
Wonderful, hope you enjoy them!
Tabitha Parenti
As for canning, I would never water bath anything other than fruit. Even tomato based sauces if they include anything low acid should be pressure canned. That being said, pressure canning eggs, even pickled ones should suffice to kill the spores. 70 minutes at 10lbs pressure for pints, 90 minutes for quarts. Check your own altitude for proper pressure.
Administrator
It is not considered safe canning practice to can eggs at home in a water bath canner or a pressure canner. These need to be kept in a refrigerator.
Kim in the South of the South USA
I know from a legal standpoint you must say this. But I was raised on a farm & we canned everything & my grannies never owned a pressure cooker… Waterbath fed many a people… keeping everything sanitary and sanitized it the key to safe canning & common sense. Since we know some do not & have none, hence the legal disclaimers everyone uses.
Lisa
At the age of 60, I just found out the secret to EASY peeled eggs. Add a 1/2 tsp of salt to your water before boiling eggs. Every eggs peels easily!
shyn
I steam eggs to cook them instead of boiling, it can even be done in a rice cooker if you have a bunch of eggs to cook. It’s the same cooking time, but eggs are so much easier to peel verses boiling. 10 minutes for fresh chicken eggs
Administrator
Yes, I always steam my eggs too.
Bernie
I have tried many of your recipes, all excellent. My question, if I can’t pressure can pickled eggs, quail and/or
Chicken. What do they do to grocery store pickled eggs that appears to make them last longer? And in taverns on the bar are gallon jars of hard boiled eggs and sausage. What makes them eatable?
Bernie
Administrator
It’s very possible that the pickled eggs sold commercially use some kind of chemical preservative. The other thing to consider is that commercial canning equipment can reach much higher temperatures than what can be accomplished in a home canning situation.
Debbie Ferris
Can I use ground all spice and black pepper. I don’t have either in the pepper corns ir whole form. I’ll likely purchase those once I know I like this recipe. Thanks!
Administrator
Yes, that will work just fine.
Steph
Can you do pickled quail eggs in the 1/2 pint jelly jars?
Administrator
Yes, that should work just fine.
Henry
I like adding pickled jalapeños to my brine when making these pickled quail eggs.
Norma whittaker
My mom use to just put eggs in a jar add vinegar and clove let them sit on the counter then eat she never made a brine or keep them in the frig. Just like at the bars and the butcher shop. Like dill pickles in the barrel .
Administrator
Yes, many people did this at one time but this is not considered a safe storage method. We highly recommend that everyone follows safe food storage procedures. It’s really not worth taking a risk that someone could get sick.
Clayton
You can very safely can pickled eggs as long as you properly clean and prepare your ingredients and equipment.
Administrator
This is not considered safe canning procedures.
Kristen Slaughter
Hi, do you have to make a brine or can you just put all of that into a jar in the fridge?
Administrator
You really do need to make the brine on the stove to ensure that everything dissolves properly.
James
Question. Do the jars of eggs need to cool down before putting them in fridge?
Administrator
Yes, I would allow them to cool before putting in the refrigerator.
Destiny
Do you just throw the whole garlic clove in? Or would you mince the garlic before putting it in your brine?
Administrator
It’s totally up to you. You can leave them whole or cut them up. Either way is fine.
EB
What do you mean by seal lid then put in fridge? Does that mean to can it first in a water bath first?
Administrator
No, you just need to put a lid on it.