The sweet and sour tomato scrambled eggs is healthy, tasty, and popular for good reasons. This Chinese comfort food dish comes together in less than 20 minutes. It’s perfect for a quick lunch or a busy weeknight dinner.
You can serve this tomato scrambled eggs as a side dish or make it a simple meal over rice. It’s guaranteed to please the whole family, especially kids and picky eaters due to its sweet taste. Watch the video below for how easy it is to make the tomato scrambled eggs.
Popular Chinese Comfort Food
If I were to make a list of Chinese comfort food, it would definitely include this tomato scrambled eggs. I grew up in Beijing, and now I live in Canada. When I miss the food of my childhood, this tomato scrambled eggs is one of my go-to dishes to cook up to bring back memories. This is a classic homey dish in China, though it isn’t often on restaurant menus. Kids love the sweet and sour taste, while it being a nutritious dish using fresh tomatoes and eggs. Every family across the country serves this dish on the dinner table.
Tomato Scrambled Eggs Ingredients
What I love about this tomato scrambled eggs dish is that it uses minimal ingredients to achieve amazing flavours. Simple recipes are the best recipes sometimes! Other people’s version of this dish may call for more ingredients. But in my view, when using the least number of ingredients to make a balanced, flavourful and stunning dish, that’s a keeper recipe!
My version of the tomato scrambled eggs uses only 5 ingredients:
- Tomato: Any variety of tomato works in this recipe.
- Eggs
- Salt
- Sugar: I use organic cane sugar in this dish. You can use any granulated sugar.
- Cooking Oil: Chinese cooking typically uses peanut oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, or rapeseed (canola) oil. I use avocado oil because it’s healthier, and neutral in taste. If you would like to use an alternative oil, I recommend choosing a neutral oil to not overpower the flavour of this dish.
How to Remove Tomato Skins
Some people remove the tomato skins before making this dish, for a better mouth feel. It’s entirely up to you if you want to take the extra step! I don’t and it’s not commonly required for this dish. But if you do want to remove the tomato skin first, here is how:
Score a cross with a knife opposite of the stem side of the tomato. Blanch the tomato in boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds. Transfer the tomato into an ice bath immediately. Now you can peel off the tomato skins easily, from the cross mark, using a knife.
Serving Suggestion
In Chinese homes, it’s typical to serve multiple dishes for sharing on the dinner table. This tomato scrambled eggs is a great side dish to bring a sweet and sour flavour profile to a larger feast. You can also serve it over rice as a quick and simple meal, that is complete with vegetables and protein. In the video, I served it over my gaba rice for a healthy lunch.
Related: More Homey Chinese Dishes You Will Love
- Vegan Chinese Eggplant Recipe
- Moo Shu Pork (Keto, Low-Carb)
- Chinese Steamed Fish
- Stirfried Garlic Scapes with Pork
- Chinese Scallion Pancakes (葱油饼)
- Stir-Fried Sour Long Beans and Minced Pork (酸豇豆炒肉末）
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Tomato Scrambled Eggs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes
- 5 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar or to taste
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or neutral oil of your choice, divided
Instructions
- Remove the stem end of the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes into wedges.
- Crack the eggs into a medium mixing bowl. Use a fork or chopsticks to beat the eggs until the yolks and whites are blended together.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium high heat in a heavy bottom pan (I use a stainless steel skillet). When the oil is hot, pour the egg mixture into the pan, scramble until there is no more wet parts. Transfer the eggs back into the mixing bowl.
- Add remaining oil into the pan, and wait for the oil to heat up. Add tomatoes into the pan, then stir for 1 minute.
- Season the tomatoes with salt and sugar. Add the eggs back into the pan at this point. Stir to combine the tomatoes and eggs.
- Cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat down to medium, and simmer the tomatoes and eggs for about 5 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft.
- Turn off the heat, and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- The trick to scramble eggs in stainless steel frying pan without sticking, is to use sufficient oil and make sure the oil is hot before adding the eggs in. Then stir quickly to break the eggs apart.
- The variation of this dish is usually how sweet it is. You can adjust the sugar amount to your liking.
- For a better mouth feel, you can remove the tomato skins before cooking, although not required. See section "how to remove tomato skins" for more details.
Nutrition
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