This tomato egg stir fry is a savory, sweet, and tangy. It's the ultimate comfort food in every Chinese household, every family with their unique touch. It's perfect as quick meal over rice or a side dish you can throw together in less than 10 minutes.
In Chinese, there's this collection of dishes called jiฤ chรกng cร i (ๅฎถๅธธ่), meaning common home-cooked dishes. These are dishes like this tomato egg stir fry, a dish every Chinese family makes differently.
Today, we're showing you how we normally make our tomato egg stir fry. It's super easy to make and takes less than 10 minutes from prep to finish! We love to make this dish when we're busy and especially during the summer because it's minimal cooking and tastes sweet and tangy. Perfect for opening up our appetite!
If you're looking for more easy weekday recipes or comfort foods, you make also like our foil baked salmon with gochujang, kimchi chili oil ramen, BBQ mini sausage stir fry.
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Ingredients
Please scroll down to the recipe card for the ingredient quantities!
- Eggs - One of the two main ingredients for this recipe.
- Tomato - Any tomato works. We prefer using hothouse/beefsteak, roma, and vine tomatoes.
- Green onion (optional) - For adding color and more flavor to the tomato egg stir fry.
- Sugar and white vinegar - We prefer our tomato egg stir fry sweet and tangy. So sugar and vinegar is added to enhance that flavor. If you prefer, you could use ketchup instead. Start with 1 to 1 tablespoons.
- Salt - You could use chicken bouillon powder instead to add more savory, umami flavor.
- Toasted sesame oil (optional) - Sesame oil adds a bit of toasted, nutty flavor to the tomato stir fry.
- Oil - Any neutral cooking oil is fine.
How to make Chinese tomato egg stir fry
1. Cut the tomatoes into large chunks/wedges. If you prefer, you can also peel the tomato skin before chopping them up. Also, for saucier/soupy tomato egg stir fry, you can chop the tomatoes into smaller pieces so they cook faster.
2. In a large pan over medium high heat, add about 2 tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is hot, pour in the eggs and scramble until 80 to 90 percent cooked. Remove from the pan and set aside.
๐ Pro tip: The earlier and the more you stir the eggs while scrambling, the smaller pieces the eggs will be. So if you prefer chunky, large pieces of eggs, let the egg cook in the pan for a little then stir here and there.
3. In the same pan over medium high heat, another tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes have softened, about 2 to 4 minutes, depending on how hearty the tomatoes are. If you prefer a saucier/soupy tomato egg stir fry, cook the tomatoes longer.
4. Add the scrambled eggs to the tomatoes and stir fry for 20 to 30 seconds.
5. Reduce the heat to medium and add the sliced green onion and season with sugar, salt, white vinegar, and sesame oil. Sautรฉ everything for another 30 seconds to 1 minute so that the eggs absorb all the yummy flavors.
๐ Pro tip: Tomato egg stir fry can taste different from home to home, so season to your preference! Let the stir fry cook for a little bit after seasoning it, then taste the dish to see if you want to add a bit more salt, sugar, or vinegar, depending on your preference.
6. Serve with or over rice and garnish with some green onion if you want. Enjoy!
Recipe tips
- If you prefer soupy/saucier tomato egg stir fry, cook in a pan or pot with less cooking surface. This is so that the tomatoes can stew and make more sauce. Likewise, use a large pan with wide cooking surface so that the tomatoes don't collect juices and stew,
- Peel the tomato skin for softer texture. You can remove the tomato skin by blanching it. You can watch this process in our Ratatouille video (from 1:20 to 2:04).
- Use ketchup if you don't have sugar or white vinegar. You can omit the sugar and vinegar and add ketchup to taste. We recommend starting with 1 to 2 tablespoons of ketchup to start.
Storage
Once completely cooled, place the stir fry in an airtight container. Store it in the fridge and it'll be good for up to 3 to 4 days.
Reheating
You can easily reheat this tomato egg stir fry in the microwave or on the stovetop. For the microwave, place the stir fry in a microwavable container and keep it covered. Heat until hot. On the stovetop, add the leftover stir fry to a pan and heat on medium heat until hot.
FAQ
You can use any tomatoes you have. We prefer hothouse/beefsteak tomatoes, roma tomatoes, and any vine tomatoes.
Yes! If you prefer, you can use ketchup instead of sugar and vinegar. Just adjust to our taste.
If you prefer soupy/saucier tomato egg stir fry, you can cut the tomatoes into smaller chunks, cook the tomatoes longer, and cook in a pot/pan with smaller cooking surface, like a medium saucepan.
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๐ Recipe
Tomato Egg Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 1 pound tomato core removed and cut into large wedges
- 1 stalk green onion thinly sliced (optional; plus more for garnish if you want)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ยฝ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons oil or as much as needed for cooking (any neutral oil will do)
Instructions
- In a large nonstick pan over mediu high heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil and heat until hot. Once hot, pour the beaten egg into the pan and scramble the eggs until about 80 to 90 percent cooked.Remove the egg from the pan and set aside.*If you prefer larger pieces of scrambled eggs, stir the eggs less.*
- In the same pan over medium high heat, add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the tomatoes and stir fry until the tomatoes are softened, about 2 to 4 minutes, depending on how hearty your tomatoes are.
- Add the scrambled eggs and sliced green onions to the tomatoes and stir fry for 20 to 30 seconds.
- Lower the heat to medium and season the tomato and eggs with the sugar, salt, vinegar, and sesame oil. Then, sautรฉ for another 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Serve the tomato egg stir fry with or over some fluffy white rice. If you wish, garnish with some sliced green onions and enjoy!
Notes
- Tomatoes - You can use any tomatoes you want. Our go-to tomatoes are hothouse/beefsteak, roma, and tomatoes on the vine.
- Ketchup - Some families prefer seasoning with ketchup. Ketchup could substitute for the sugar and vinegar. You an always adjust the sweetness to you preference.
- Soupy vs chunky tomato egg stir fry - If you prefer your tomato egg stir fry saucier/soupy, cook the tomatoes for a bit longer before adding the scrambled eggs. You could also cut the tomatoes into smaller pieces for faster cooking. Cooking the tomatoes less will give you chunkier egg and tomato stir fry. It tends to also be less saucy.
Priscilla L says
Sooo goooood!! Brings back memories ๐
Mei says
Hi Priscilla! So glad you enjoyed it! One of my childhood favorites =)
Mei โค๏ธ