Chinese Tomato Egg Stir Fry

What is Chinese Tomato Egg Stir Fry?

This tomato egg recipe (西红柿炒蛋) is a simple Chinese stir fry that marries the brightness of fresh tomatoes with savory scrambled eggs. Typically served over a bowl of white rice, this is Chinese comfort food at its best.

Chinese Tomato Egg Ingredients

Scroll all the way down for the full recipe.

• Eggs: To make this Chinese egg stir fry, you’ll need 5 large eggs. If you can, try to use eggs that are rated as certified humane raised and handled. It makes a difference!
• Shaoxing Wine: Shaoxing wine is a Chinese cooking wine made of fermented rice. This amber colored liquid has a vinegary flavor – and can make all the difference when trying to make restaurant quality Chinese food at home. It’s pretty easy to track down at most Asian grocery stores these days – or grab shaoxing wine here on Amazon. A good alternative to shaoxing wine is dry sherry.
• Sugar, Salt and White Pepper: I use kosher salt almost exclusively in the kitchen. The larger salt crystals make it more difficult to over-salt your food (which is easy to do with inferior flavored iodized table salt). You’ll only need 1/4 tsp salt. White pepper is herbaceous, sharp and almost gingery.
• Tomato Paste: While we’re using fresh tomatoes in this tomato egg recipe, a tbsp of tomato paste adds that ultra concentrated tomato essence to the dish as a whole.
• Cornstarch and Water: You’ll use these (along with the tomato paste) to make a cornstarch slurry. The effect it creates is an overall thickening of the texture. This is the secret weapon restaurant chefs use to create those perfectly thick Chinese sauces.
• Cooking Oil: Any neutral flavored cooking oil will work. I prefer grapeseed oil.
• Tomatoes: Use ripe, fresh roma tomatoes for this recipe.
• Scallions: Chopped green onion adds an element of verdant crunch to the mix. A finely chopped spring onion would work as well.
• Sesame Oil: You’ll drizzle 1/2 tsp sesame oil at the very end to introduce an element of toasted nuttiness to the dish.

How to Make Chinese Tomato Egg Stir Fry

1. First, gather all of your cooking tools and ingredients.
2. Then add your eggs to a medium sized bowl and whisk them well.
3. Stir the shaoxing wine, sugar, salt and pepper into the whisked eggs and set the bowl aside.
4. Next – in a separate bowl – mix the tomato paste, cornstarch and water, and set that aside as well.
5. In the meantime, get a large pan or wok going over medium heat. Allow around 1 minute for the pan to heat up properly. When hot, add 2 tablespoons of the grapeseed oil to the pan and swirl it until the entire cooking surface is evenly coated.
6. Add your egg mixture to the pan and scramble quickly – until the eggs are almost fully cooked (stop when the eggs are still slightly runny). Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
7. Then add the last tablespoon of cooking oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Add the tomatoes and half of the chopped scallions. Cook for around 3 minutes, until the tomatoes have softened a bit. Season with a pinch of salt.
8. Re-stir the tomato paste cornstarch slurry and add to the tomatoes in the pan. Stir until fully incorporated – then add the scrambled eggs to the pan and stir again. Turn the heat off and drizzle with sesame oil.
9. Finally, transfer the tomato egg stir fry to a plate or bowl, top with the remaining scallions and serve immediately.

What to Serve With Chinese Tomato Eggs

My absolute favorite way to eat this Chinese egg and tomato recipe is the most simple of all: over a bowl of perfectly cooked white rice. It’s one of my favorite self contained all-in-one meals.

Learn how to prepare perfect rice on the stovetop or in a rice cooker with these links here:

• How to Cook Jasmine Rice
• How to Make Short Grain Japanese Rice

Or, if you’re feeling ambitious, you could make this easy stir fry recipe as part of a larger Chinese feast. Here are a few reader favorites:

• Chinese Broccoli With Garlic Sauce
• Shrimp Lo Mein – 虾捞面
• Szechuan Chicken – 辣子鸡
• Restaurant-Style Honey Walnut Shrimp
• Szechuan Potatoes With Vinegar and Chili

But it’s not just the Chinese that have perfected serving tomatoes with eggs. Eggs in purgatory is a famous Italian preparation. And for those of you that love ketchup on eggs (like me!) this Japanese omurice recipe will scratch that particular itch.