Turmeric Pickled Eggs - a Golden Treat

Golden Turmeric Pickled Eggs are a fun variation on regular pickled eggs. The outside becomes a vibrant sunshine yellow, and the flavours of turmeric, ginger, garlic, and spicy pepper add a delicious zing. Make these when you have lots of eggs to use up and you'll love them later for flavourful protein-loaded nibbles that fulfill your pickle cravings. They're a super low-carb, paleo, and keto snack. (Skip to recipe.)

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter, even if it was a smaller one this year and we'll remember it for a multitude of reasons that made it stand out from any other Easter we've ever known. I hope the Easter bunny still made it to your homes, at least in spirit! If he did and he left you a stash of hard boiled eggs, you may want to steal a few to make these gorgeous golden turmeric pickled eggs. Or why not boil up a dozen and make a jar of these zesty treats to hide in the fridge for a rainy day?

We're dealing with an abundance of eggs because our dear old hens decided to start laying again. All of last fall, they were on strike, living a life of luxury and not doing anything to earn their keep, so I ordered a batch of replacements. And what do ya know, just before the 24 new chicks arrived two weeks ago, the hens kicked it into gear and started laying almost a dozen eggs a day again.

But those chicks bring me so much pleasure - especially when we still have two feet of snow in our yard and the temperatures  keep dipping below 0°C. When I go out to the coop to check on them it feels like spring is almost here as I watch the furry little bundles cavorting under the heat lamp.

When they were just a few hours old they looked like this:

Then a couple days later, out in their new surroundings (they're already starting to get their new feathers):

Aren't they just the cutest?

Look at that snow - when will it ever leave?

The hens venture outside on warmer days. They are just waiting for the snow to go so they can get scratching in the dirt.

When you've got a bunch of eggs, and you've dropped them off on the porches of whoever will have them, you've got to do something with the extras. So I've been deviling them and baking with them, and making these zesty golden turmeric pickled eggs. They're a variation of my Classic Pickled Eggs, but just a little bit more punchy and special - I'm trying to channel spring and hope it arrives sooner with these gorgeously bright and yellow eggs around. Turmeric adds its earthy tones along with its sunny hue. The ginger and garlic add a real flavour boost and a bit of extra cayenne pepper adds just a slight bit of kick.

How Do You Make Turmeric Pickled Eggs?

First you boil up a dozen eggs (unless you're raiding the Easter Bunny's stash). I like to crack them all over against the side of the sink, then peel them under running water, letting the shells drop into a colander set into the sink.

 

Then you put all the brine ingredients into a pot, boil it for a few minutes, and pour it over the eggs. That's it. You're done. Now they can marinate in the fridge for a week and they're ready to eat.

When I was young, I didn't care for pickled eggs - I was missing out! Now I I really enjoy munching on one of these little balls of mouth-puckering sunshine for a snack. They're loaded with protein and really satisfy my cravings. If I feel like I want to be rooting around the cupboards for a sweet snack, it's surprising how eating a pickled egg can totally turn off that hankering. I feel filled and don't need to indulge in sweets anymore.

I love the golden colour of these eggs. Of course, they're delicious just plain, but they look great when they're quartered and added to a charcuterie platter, or slice them up and add them to a sandwich, try chopping them and adding them to a salad. A jar of these Turmeric Pickled Eggs in the fridge is like gold in the bank.

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A few other ways to use up those extra hard-boiled eggs:

Creamy Egg and Quinoa Bake

Eiersalat - German Egg Salad with Apples & Pickles

Springtime Egg and Chive Pasta Salad

Bacon, Egg, and Spinach Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Ham ‘n Egg Salad with Flax Crackers

Classic Pickled Eggs

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Kitchen Frau Notes: Medium-sized eggs work best for this recipe as 12 of them fit comfortably into a quart-sized mason jar and you'll get a more even colour coat. However, I've made it with large eggs and it works, too, but they are a tighter fit and sometimes if the eggs are squished together there'll be white spots where the golden brine can't get in between the eggs to colour them. If using large eggs, just use 9 to 10 eggs.

Also, the fresher your eggs are, the harder they are to peel, so I save them until they're at least 1 or 2 weeks old before I use them for boiling.

Golden Turmeric Pickled Eggs

• 1½ cups (360ml) white vinegar
• ½ cup (120ml) water
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• a 1-inch (2.5cm) piece of fresh ginger root, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 bay leaf, torn into 3 or 4 pieces
• 12 hard-boiled eggs, medium-sized, peeled

Combine the vinegar, water, salt, ginger, garlic, turmeric, peppercorns, cayenne, and bay leaf in a small saucepan. Bring this brine to a boil.

Fish the ginger, garlic, and bay leaf out of the brine and pop them into the bottom of a clean quart-sized (1 litre) mason jar or an empty quart-sized pickle jar. Drop the peeled eggs gently into the jar, and pour the hot brine over them (using hot brine makes more tender egg whites) to totally cover the eggs. If you don't use up all the brine, fish out any remaining peppercorns and add them to the eggs, then discard the rest of the brine.

Let cool. Seal, and refrigerate. Tip the jar, shake it gently, and set it back upright once a day for a week, in order to get the yellow brine swirling around all sides of the eggs to colour them. If the eggs are wedged up tightly against the glass, there may be white spots where the brine doesn't reach.

Pickled eggs can be eaten after three days, but are best after a week. They will last in the refrigerator for several months.

Makes 12 pickled eggs.

Guten Appetit!

 

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