The Best Tested Scotch Eggs

Whether baked or fried, hard boiled or soft boiled, dipped in sauce or on their own, Scotch eggs are an amazing treat. These are perfect as a holiday dinner showstopper, a high-protein addition to a picnic, and everything in between.

Easter is just around the corner and although Cadbury eggs are delicious, I prefer a more savory option like these Scotch eggs. They’re high in protein and flavor, and when dipped in a homemade horseradish aioli, there’s almost nothing else like it.

There are a lot of different opinions on how to make the best Scotch eggs. Some argue that frying is the traditional cooking method, and there’s no other way to do it. While others say that baking them in the oven is just as good. Some think that a soft boil makes for a superior bite, and others would rather stick with the tried and true hard boil. I have tested 6 different boiling times and 2 different cooking methods, and in this post I break down how each one compares.

The origin of Scotch eggs

Contrary to what the name might imply, Scotch eggs did not originate in Scotland. There are a few theories of how they came to be, but the widely believed origin is in England as a portable snack for hungry travelers back in the 1700s. (source) They have since evolved to be more common place as pub or picnic food, but the recipe has essentially stayed the same with minced meat (usually sausage) wrapped around a boiled egg and deep fried or baked.

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Tools you may need:

Frying thermometer

Dutch oven

Immersion blender

Testing to find the best Scotch egg

There are tons of different recipes out there with various boil times with their own fry or bake durations. Some say that you get the same Scotch egg whether you bake it or fry it. I wanted to know if either cooking method really did produce the same end result and if soft boiled could be achieved in the oven.

Boil the eggs

First I started with six different boil times – three for baking and three for frying. In an effort to maintain even a bit of a jammy egg at the end of baking, I started with an extremely soft boil of four minutes with a five and six minute boiled egg as the other two options. For frying, I did six, six and a half, and seven minute boiled eggs.

Once they were boiled, I put them in ice water to stop the cooking, and, once completely cooled, I peeled each one. As you might imagine, the four and five minute boiled eggs were extremely hard to handle, but I was successful in peeling off the shell without breaking the white.

Pro-tip: Before dredging, completely dry each egg with a towel. The sausage will stick much better to a dry egg.

Set up dredge

After peeling, I set up the dredging station with all purpose flour seasoned with a teaspoon each of garlic powder, salt, and pepper along with a half teaspoon of nutmeg and paprika, two eggs whisked together with a tablespoon of water, and about a cup and a half of finely ground, seasoned sourdough breadcrumbs.

Encase with sausage

I weighed my sausage in grams on a food scale and divided the total by 6. It came out to around 90 grams per serving, but you can do your own math. I laid out a sheet of wax paper, and placed each portioned piece of sausage down with enough room to flatten each to hold an egg.

Start by rolling each egg in flour before encasing in sausage to ensure it sticks well. Place the egg in the middle of the flattened sausage and roll around in your palm using your other hand to enclose the sausage completely. Make sure not to leave any open areas in the sausage where you can see the white of the egg underneath.

Pro-tip: When handling the sausage, keep a bowl filled with a bit of water. This helps to keep the meat from sticking to your hands when forming into a ball around the egg.

Prepare to fry

Heat up your fat of choice to around 350F degrees. I prefer to use lard, tallow, or avocado oil for frying because I avoid seed oils in my cooking, and I will always encourage my readers to do the same. This recipe is not quite a deep fry but also not quite a shallow fry. Most of the egg is under the frying fat, but it still requires constant attention and turning the egg over a few times to get a solid cook and browning. You’ll need about 3 cups of whatever fat you choose.

Fry three eggs at a time for six minutes. Constantly manage the heat of the frying fat to stay as close to 350F as possible, and turn each egg every minute or so to ensure an even cook on the sausage. When finished, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

The final results

After half of the eggs were baked for 35 minutes in a 350F oven and the other half were fried for six minutes in a 350F Dutch oven, it was time to compare the two different cook methods and the six different boiling times.

Baked

The shape, color, and crisp of the baked eggs were vastly different than the fried. The yolks also were all hardened in the baking process. Boiling for less time did nothing to ensure a more jammy texture in the final product.

Pros:

This baking method does not require a frying set up. If cooking with hot oil intimidates you or you don’t have the equipment, this is the route to take.

Some argue that it’s healthier to bake rather than fry.

There’s less clean up involved.

Cons:

It loses its shape and its crispiness in the oven as it sits on the pan in its own rendered fat throughout the baking process.

The yolk will always be hard no matter how soft boiled it is from the start.

The sausage wanted to separate from the egg more so when baked.

Fried