The Powerhouse Ingredient You're Overlooking For Hard-Boiled Eggs

Hard-boiled eggs are an easy and versatile pick for a quick snack or meal, and the best part is there are many ways to elevate them further. If you don't mind the extra steps, you can whip up a quick egg salad or make deviled eggs. Or, you can infuse the boiled eggs themselves with punchy flavors. There are lots of delicious liquids you can marinate hard-boiled eggs in, and a great option is miso. Made from fermented soybean, this traditional Japanese ingredient packs an umami-rich, lightly savory flavor that adds delicious complexity to simple boiled eggs. There are several types of miso to choose from, and white miso, which is readily available and has a delicate flavor, is the best place to start if it's your first time combining miso and eggs. For a stronger miso flavor, red miso is fermented longer and has more potent umami and salty notes.

There are several ways to infuse boiled eggs with miso, depending on how much time and effort you want to put into the process. You can make a miso braising liquid and simmer boiled eggs or marinade them in a miso marinade for a few hours. Alternatively, you can also add miso to deviled eggs for a twist on the classic snack. Ingredients like soy sauce, maple syrup, and alliums like onions and shallots are good accompaniments to miso eggs. Be sure to moderate how much salt you add to the eggs since miso (and soy) also add a lot of salty flavor.

Miso-infused boiled eggs need nothing more than some bread or boiled rice to become a delicious meal. While the process of braising them in miso requires a few extra steps, the results are worth it. You can make them up to 3 days in advance and store them in the fridge in an airtight container. Start lightly frying peeled boiled eggs in oil until their outsides are brown and blistered. For the braising liquid, mix the miso paste, soy sauce, and maple syrup and thin it with some water. Then, gently simmer the browned eggs until the liquid reduces to a thick sauce.

To marinate boiled eggs in miso, skip the frying step, and place peeled eggs in a sealed bag along with the marinade. The process is quite similar to making soy-marinated eggs, and you can use the same mix of ingredients used to make the braising liquid to marinate hard-boiled eggs. Alternatively, you can cover peeled boiled eggs in miso paste, wrap them, and refrigerate them for 4 to 5 hours. The eggs will have a light brown exterior infused with miso flavor, and you can eat them as is, or even use them to make easy deviled eggs that pack lots of flavor with way less hassle.

Miso is also one of the many ingredients you can use to make deviled eggs more delicious. You can use miso paste in the mashed egg yolk filling or substitute mayo for it. You can use the seasonings you normally use or top them with sesame seeds and green onion for a more exotic, Asian-inspired version.