I Tried TikTok's 2-Ingredient Chili-Oil Eggs, and It's My New Go-To For Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Look, I could say I made TikTok's viral chili-oil eggs recipe three times in less than 24 hours for this story, but what will my excuse be tomorrow? (Umm yeah, that it's just crazy delicious and takes 10 minutes from start to finish.)
This popular recipe making the rounds on the video-sharing app has all the components of my favourite go-to meals: it's fast and easy, it only requires two ingredients, and it's tongue-tingling spicy. So naturally, I had to try it.
In one of the most-watched TikTok videos featuring the recipe, Jen Curley (aka @snackqween on TikTok) references a commenter who suggests the recipe as a chili-oil twist on pesto eggs (another viral TikTok recipe). The face she makes at the end really says it all.
While Curley uses Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp in her chili-oil eggs, I decided to try it out with Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp ($13).
The complex umami flavours of this buzzy chili oil — which is crafted in Chengdu in the Chinese province of Sichuan and made from dried chili peppers, fermented black beans, garlic, sesame oil, mushroom powder, Sichuan pepper, ginger, seaweed, and other spices — elevate this straightforward egg dish and make it perfectly acceptable to enjoy as your breakfast, lunch, or dinner. As promised on its website, Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp is crunchy, numbing, and intensely flavourful without being gotta-chug-some-milk hot. It's spicy that tastes good, not spicy purely for the sake of being spicy.
Here's how to make chili-oil eggs:
To start off, you'll drop a couple spoonfuls of the chili crisp of your choice into a pan and turn the heat on medium-high until it starts to bubble. You'll want to swirl it around to coat the pan.
Crack two eggs into the pan on top of the chili oil. Put a lid on the pan and make sure the egg whites fully cook.
Take the lid off and spoon some of the oil on top of the eggs. At this point, just cook the eggs to your liking. I don't like a runny yoke with my fried eggs (I know, I know!), but the most popular egg-cooking method for this recipe is fried with runny yokes.
Now just top the eggs onto whatever your heart desires. Here, I enjoyed them over a bowl of steamed rice and arugula. (Honestly, skip the arugula.)
And here, I slide them on top of a slide of homemade sourdough bread — I'd recommend toasting it! Another great idea from TikTok is to use them on top of ramen noodles. Maybe I'll do that for lunch today . . .
Chili Oil Eggs
INGREDIENTS
- 2 eggs
- 2 spoonfuls of Fly by Jing's Chili Crisp or other chili oil
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of pepper
- Slice of bread, noodles, or rice (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Put chili oil in a pan and turn heat on medium-high.
Swirl around the bottom of the pan.
Crack eggs onto chili oil.
Put lid on top of pan.
Take the lid off once the eggs are cooked to your liking.
Spoon some of the chili oil from the pan onto the eggs and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Top a bowl of rice, noodles, or slice of bread with the eggs and enjoy!