How to Peel Quail Eggs: 3 Excellent Ways Of Doing So

Quail eggs are a type of egg that will be used as a delicacy in a wide variety of regions around the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. In particular, they are often used in Japanese cuisine in both raw and cooked as tamago for sushi in addition to being used in bento boxes. As such, in certain parts of the world, quail eggs are often seen as being quite exotic. Due to this, you may be uncertain of how quail eggs need to be prepared. If so, you may be wondering how to peel quail eggs?

Table of Contents

• What Are Quail Eggs
• How To Boil Quail Eggs
• Methods For Peeling Quail Eggs
  • How to Peel Quail Eggs
  • Dissolving the Shells in Vinegar
  • Cracking Quail Eggs
• Answered: How to Peel Quail Eggs
• FAQ – How to Peel Quail Eggs

What Are Quail Eggs

As you can likely imagine, a quail egg is simply the egg of a quail. The quail is a small, game bird that is ground-nesting, migratory and part of the pheasant family. Due to their small size, quail eggs will be noticeably smaller than that of the more commonly seen chicken eggs with three quail eggs being roughly equivalent to that of one chicken egg. Unlike the chicken egg, the quail egg will also be noticeably different in colour with chicken eggs typically being one solid shell colour. Meanwhile, quail eggs will often be cream coloured with an assortment of speckles and spots scattered across the surface.

In terms of flavour, quail eggs are somewhat similar to that of a chicken egg or duck egg. However, the ratio of egg white to yolk with quail eggs will typically have more of an emphasis on the yolk part of the quail egg. As such, when compared to a chicken egg, a quail egg will be noticeably creamy. Taste-wise though, they are often more closely compared to that of duck eggs than they are other types of eggs such as chicken eggs.

How To Boil Quail Eggs

A common way of cooking them is to boil quail eggs. Both soft and hard-boiled quail eggs are a common way of eating these types of eggs. When you prepare quail eggs, the process is rather simple with soft boiled quail eggs often being the preferred option of many people, However, this is of course not a universal preference. As such, when you are boiling quail eggs, you should decide which method best suits your preferences along with best suits the dish you wish to cook.

When you are hard-boiling a quail egg, the flavours present within will be somewhat similar to that of a hard-boiled chicken egg. That said though, as mentioned above the inherent flavour of a quail egg will be much richer than that of a chicken egg. In particular, these types of quail eggs will often be best served with something like soup or chopped up in pasta or egg salad.

For soft boiled eggs though, the texture of the eggs will be invariably more runny and soft. The beauty of cooking them this way though is that the creamy and richness of the eggs will be more obviously present. As such, these types of boiled quail eggs will be best served as deviled eggs, alongside some asparagus or with pork and Japanese dishes such as bento boxes, sushi or even ramen.

No matter which way you wish to cook your boiled quail eggs then don’t worry as the process is surprisingly simple. With that in mind then, if you are wishing to hard or soft boil your quail eggs, you should follow the steps outlined below:

1. Fill a small saucepan with water and bring it to a rolling boil on the stovetop at a high heat.
2. In a second pan or a large bowl, fill it to the brim with ice and cold water to create an ice bath. Then place the ice bath into an empty sink.
3. Put the quail eggs into the pan only three or four at a time in order to avoid overcrowding the pan.
4. Remove the eggs from the pan using a large slotted spoon. Do so after four minutes for hard-boiled eggs and after two for soft boiled ones. Meanwhile, for something in between, three minutes is a good amount of time.
5. Place the eggs into the ice bath and allow them to fully cool. This should take approximately five minutes.
6. Once the eggs have cooled then you should remove them from the ice bath. This should not take long at all, roughly two minutes or so. When you do so though, you should only do so when the quail eggs can be safely held with your hands.
7. Once the eggs have been removed from the ice bath and cooled enough to be handheld, they should then be peeled. For information on how to do so, keep reading further.

Once you have boiled your eggs, how you use them will vary depending on how you’ve boiled them. When soft boiled, you should serve them immediately alongside a sprinkle of salt and maybe some pepper. When hard-boiled though, your eggs can be kept in the refrigerator for approximately three to five days.

Boiling quail eggs is a popular way to cook them as it would be for chicken or duck eggs. However, these are not the only ways in which you can cook quail eggs. Other common ways to do so are to fry or poach quail eggs.

Methods For Peeling Quail Eggs

Once you have boiled your quail eggs the next step for you to follow is to peel quail eggs. Peeling is something that some people may find to be obvious and naturally easy, at least with chicken eggs. However, the quail egg’s size means that they will inevitably be more delicate. As such, to successfully attain your peeled eggs, you should adhere to some tried and true methods. As such to easily peel quail eggs you should try one of the methods below. These being:

• How to Peel Quail Eggs
• Dissolving the Shells in Vinegar
• Cracking Quail Eggs

How to Peel Quail Eggs

The process of peeling a quail egg is remarkably similar to the method that will be used in order to peel a chicken egg. However, due to the smaller size and inherent fragility of the quail eggs, there are some variations in the steps required, As such, when you are peeling quail eggs, you should adhere to the steps below:

1. Once you have boiled the quail eggs with the steps outlined above it’s time for you to peel the shell. Put down a paper towel on a clean surface. This is necessary to catch the pieces of eggshells that come loose.
2. Take each egg from the ice bath or bowl of water where they have cooled.
3. Gently tap the egg atop a hard surface just firmly enough to crack the eggs.
4. Roll each egg on a surface to crack the remnants of the egg. When doing so, ensure that you take a delicate hand. The reason is that when placing too much pressure, you are likely to inadvertently crush your quail eggs.
5. Remove any of the shells that are left from the egg, along with the membrane that surrounds each of the eggs.

Dissolving the Shells in Vinegar

This is a method that is best to only be used for the purposes of removing the shells from a hard-boiled egg. As such, when you have soft boiled your quail eggs then the peeling directions outlined above will be your best option for removing the shell. This won’t impact the flavour of the egg itself since the vinegar will dissolve the shell but not the membrane. If you do have hard-boiled quail eggs that you wish to remove the shell from, then use the method outlined below:

1. In a tall wide-mouthed jar, place your fully hard-boiled and cooled quail eggs. The jar should be sufficient for you to reach your hand inside off. A perfect option for such is a plastic or glass pickling jar.
2. Into the jar of hard-boiled quail eggs, pour in distilled white vinegar until the eggs are completely submerged in the vinegar. Ensure that above the eggs is approximately one to two inches of space vinegar.
3. Immediately, you should start to see bubbles rising to the surface of the jar. You should leave the jar for around eight hours in order for the shells to fully dissolve.
4. After this time has elapsed, then you should remove an egg to inspect them for any signs of remaining shell pieces. If there are any remaining shards of shell, then you should allow them to rest for another two hours.
5. Once, the remaining shell pieces are dissolved, you should use a strainer or colander, to remove the vinegar from the eggs.
6. Whilst still in the strainer or colander you should gently wash the eggs to remove any small remaining fragments along with the vinegar.
7. Using your fingers, gently remove the membrane from each of the eggs. To do so, hold the bottom of the egg with one hand and use the thumb and index finger of your other to gently pinch the membrane of the egg.
8. Pull the rubbery membrane away from the egg until it ruptures. Following this, the egg can be slid out from the membrane. These membranes are quite thick, as such, they may not come off in one piece.

Cracking Quail Eggs

To peel quail eggs easily, one of the simplest ways of doing so, like with boiled chicken is to crack quail eggs. The difference is that when cracking quail eggs, your should be careful with how you do so. With that in mind then, when you are planning to fry or poach quail eggs they can’t just simply be cracked against your pan. Instead, use this method to crack your quail eggs, you should follow the guide found below:

1. Pick up your egg and hold it with the narrow side facing downwards.
2. Using a quail egg scissor or some other form of cutting tool, cut approximately a quarter of the way from the top of the egg.
3. Cut around the top of the eggshell until the top of the egg can be removed.
4. With the top of the egg removed, the egg pan can then be tipped from the shell and into your bowl or pan.
5. Following this, the quail egg can be cooked in whichever manner you so choose.

Answered: How to Peel Quail Eggs

As mentioned above there are three distinct and simple ways that you can use in order to remove the shells from your quail eggs. These are to peel soft boiled eggs, use vinegar to dissolve the shells of hard-boiled eggs or to remove open an uncooked quail egg for purpose of cooking it.

With that in mind then, the option of which of the quail eggshell removing methods you wish to use is entirely down to your own needs. No matter which you need though, you’re now ready to get peeling.

FAQ – How to Peel Quail Eggs