Boiled egg is called ゆで卵 (yudetamago) in Japanese. ゆでる(yuderu) is a verb meaning “to boil.”
When you want to say boiled food in Japanese, the structure of phrase is same as English: boiled+food name, ゆで(adjective meaning boiled)+たまご(food name).
Various ways to say boiled egg.
Different people have different preferences for the hardness of their boiled eggs. Some people might like soft-boiled eggs, and other people like hard-boiled eggs.
We will share about how to express the hardness of a boiled egg and various ways to say boiled egg!
Soft-boiled egg/半熟ゆで卵
Boiled egg with a soft yolk is called 半熟ゆで卵 (hanjuku-yudetamago) or 半熟卵 (hanjuku tamago).
半熟 (hanjuku) means half-ripened in Japanese, and it’s usually used to express how ripened fruit is, like a banana. When you say it with boiled egg, 半熟 expresses how cooked the yolk is.
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It is totally fine to say やわらかいゆで卵 (yawarakai yudetamago) too! やわらかい means soft in Japanese.
Hard-boiled egg/ 固ゆで卵
If you want to say that you like hard-boiled eggs, you say 固ゆで卵 (kata yudetamago).
固い(katai) is an adjective and means hard. It’s okay to say 固いゆで卵 (katai yudetamago), too.
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Soft-boiled egg is called 半熟ゆで卵, so when you want to say hard-boiled egg, you can say 完熟ゆで卵 (kanjuku yudetamago). This literally means "fully-ripened boiled egg" or simply "fully-cooked boiled egg."
Ramen egg/味付け卵
You probably have seen ramen topped with a boiled egg before. This is called "ramen egg" in English. Ramen eggs are a little different than boiled eggs because they are seasoned with a shoyu and mirin mixture.
Ramen eggs are called 味付け卵 (ajitsuke tamago/seasoned egg) in Japanese. In a ramen shop, it is usually called 味玉 (ajitama).
Onsen egg/温泉卵
An onsen (hot spring) is one of the must-go sightseeing spots in Japan. You may have heard of the onsen monkeys before! Every onsen town has a boiled egg called an onsen egg. It’s called 温泉卵 (onsen tamago).
What in the world is an onsen tamago!?
Onsen tamago is an egg slow cooked in boiled water the same temperature as hot onsen water (60~70℃).
It is a boiled egg, but the egg white and yolk are not hard at all. It is actually very good!
You don’t have to go the onsen every time when you want to get them. You can get onsen tamago even in the super market! A popular pairing with onsen tamago is dashi soup.
Black egg in Hakone
One of the best onsen towns in Japan is Hakone (箱根). You'll probably see black eggs when you go to Oowakudani Valley (大涌谷) in Hakone. They're called 黒たまご (kurotamago).
They're boiled in the onsen valley and the eggshell is covered in iron by the onsen gas.
Black eggs (kurotamago) taste just the same as a normal boiled egg. But it is said that you can live seven years longer if you eat the black egg!
If you want to know more about black eggs, here is official website of Oowakudani black egg museum!
Summary
まとめ
- Boiled egg - ゆで卵
- Soft-boiled egg - 半熟ゆで卵
- Hard-boiled egg - 固ゆで卵
- Ramen egg - 味玉
- Onsen egg - 温泉卵
- Black egg - 黒たまご
We shared about how to say fried egg in another article! Check it out if you are interested in it!⇓