🔗 Share this article

Let me explain: the best baked eggs never require an oven. Through culinary experiments, discovering that covering the pan produces a humid atmosphere to cook the top of the eggs, delivering a gently cooked perfectly poached egg with a tender white and a warm, runny yolk. Direct oven heat from baking is much more aggressive compared to steaming, typically causing to dry everything out and overcook the yolk. Here are two sauce options as inspiration, though feel free to experiment. One is a super-simple turmeric coconut curry, and the second offers a merguez ragu reimagines classic tomato-baked eggs, essentially, eggs cooked in zesty tomato base.

Golden Coconut Sauce Baked Eggs (featured)

Preparation 10 min
Cooking time 55 minutes
Serves 2

Olive oil
1 onion, trimmed and minced
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Fresh ginger root, grated ginger
1 tbsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
Coconut milk
400g tin chickpeas
Basil leaves, plus extra to serve
Four eggs
Green chilies, finely sliced, as garnish

Use a heavy skillet at moderate-high temperature. Drizzle olive oil, toss in the onion seasoned with salt, fry until softened. Incorporate aromatics and spices, leave to sizzle, occasionally stirring for a few minutes, add coconut milk including chickpea can contents. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, allow to cook slowly for 30-35 minutes, when sauce is rich and yellow. Adjust seasoning, then stir in the basil leaves.

Employ a utensil making four indentations within the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, then cover the pan with a lid, simmer over low heat briefly, until egg whites firm and yolks warmed. Take off the heat, garnish with more basil plus chili slices, ready to enjoy.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Preparation 10 min
Cook 45 min
Yields Two

Olive oil
2 merguez-style lamb sausages
1 tbsp harissa
Toasted cumin
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Canned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
Four eggs
Pickled peppers, diced
Chopped herbs, diced
Greek yogurt
1 lemon, wedge-cut, for serving

Heat a skillet on a medium heat. Pour in oil and, once it’s warm, remove the skins from the sausages forming small bits into the skillet, almost like little meatballs. Lower temperature, cook until golden, extracting spicy fats. Move sausage pieces as they cook, for even browning.

After browning, mix in spices and garlic to the pan, increase to medium heat and cook, stirring, for three to four minutes, until the mix smells fragrant, and the garlic has lost its raw edge. Pour in tomato contents, salt to taste heat to simmer. Reduce to low heat and leave to blip away for twenty minutes. The ragu will reduce, thicken and deepen in colour, while the oils split and rise to the top.

Employ utensil forming wells in the sauce, then crack an egg into each. Dust with salt with a little salt, place lid on pan. Cook for two to three minutes gently, until the whites are set and yolks warmed.

Remove from heat, garnish with peppers, herbs, yogurt dollop, and oil splash, accompanied by lemon.