Egg Puff Recipe

These bakery style Egg Puffs are a perfect anytime snack popular all-over South India. Crispy and flaky puff pastry is filled with spicy caramelized onions and a sliced boiled egg. One bite into this crackly goodness & you are instantly transported to flavor heaven! In this post I share how to make excellent Egg Puffs at home using store bought puff pastry sheets. My expert tips section will help you prevent all kinds of failures.

I love hosting guests and these Egg Puffs have been on our top list for many years because everyone loves them. They are very easy to make, even for a crowd. You can prep-up everything ahead, including the boiled eggs and caramelized onion filling. But bake them right before you serve.

Like most kids, my boys never liked caramelized onions much, so I would sub with seasoned paneer. Soft melt-in-the-mouth paneer with boiled egg won the kids’ hearts. I’ve also included that in the expert section below.

About Egg Puffs

Eggs Puff is one of the many fusion foods that was born in India during the colonial times. Indians soon adapted the French pastry techniques and localised the puffs with spicy caramelized onions and boiled eggs to suit the South Indian palate.

Also known as Mutta Puffs, it’s believed that these have strong roots associated to Kerala. Today, though these are made in many Indian bakeries, the best ones are those made in Kerala Style with caramelized onions, fennel & other spices (or Kerala garam masala). Like me, if you have grown-up in India or eaten in a lot of bakeries there, you know what I mean.

While Iyengar bakery is well-known for their Veg Puffs, Malayali/Kerala bakeries are popular for their Egg Puffs. These are great to eat on their own but usually served with tomato ketchup and chai.

Ingredient you need

• You need puff pastry sheets and not shortcrust pastry or fillo pastry. These are available in the frozen sections of supermarkets and grocery stores. They come in different forms – flat sheets & rolled sheets that are ready to use, some are precut to smaller sizes and some are also availabe in blocks which you need to thaw and roll out to the desired size and thickness. I prefer to use the flat sheets that are ready to cut and use.
• Red onions are the star ingredient. You may use small to medium sized onions. Very large onions will take longer to caramelise because their layers are much thicker. You may sub with yellow onions but they take too long to caramelize.
• Ginger, garlic and fresh curry leaves add so much flavor to the filling. You may replace garlic with half the amount of ginger but I love garlic here. Sub fresh curry leaves with coriander leaves if you want. Add them at the end.
• Green chilies add flavor and heat.
• Ground spices like red chili powder, garam masala, ground fennel and black pepper are crucial to get the great flavors in the filling.

Photo Guide

How to make Egg Puffs (Step by step)

Preparation

1. The first step is to boil the eggs while you prepare and make the filling. This recipe makes only 4 puffs, so you need 2 hard boiled eggs. I boil mine in a pot of water with 2 tbsps of vinegar for 10 mins. The timing varies depending on the kind of eggs.

2. Meanwhile prepare the follow:

• 2 cups onions (200 grams sliced & layers seperated, 1 medium or 4 small)
• 1 green chili chopped (deseed for low heat)
• 4 to 5 fresh curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste (or 2 large garlic cloves + ½ inch peeled ginger minced)
• ½ teaspoon salt – note that pastry is salted so start with less
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder (cut down for low heat, I use ¾ byadgi)
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon garam masala , I use ¾ homemade
• ½ teaspoon ground or crushed fennel seeds
• ¼ teaspoon crushed pepper

Make the filling

3. Pour oil to a wide pan and add onions, chilies, curry leaves and salt.

4. Saute until they are caramelized but not burnt. It makes me 13 mins – 5 mins on medium high and 5 mins on medium and 3 mins on low.

5. Add the ginger garlic and saute for a minute until aromatic.

6. Stir in the chili powder, fennel, garam masala and black pepper.

7. Immediately pour 2 tablespoons water to deglaze. This also helps the spices adhere to the onions.

8. Saute just for a minute or so until dry. You don’t want the onions to be soggy or don’t need to cook them jammy at this stage. After baking the puffs, the onions will turn jammy due to the steam. Cool them completely & remove the curry leaves. You may taste test to adjust salt.

Shape the Egg Puffs

9. Break and egg into a bowl and pour a tbsp milk. Beat until well combined and uniform.

10. While your filling is cooling, thaw the puff pastry sheets depending on your indoor temperature. I keep mine out of the freezer only for 6 to 7 mins. Meanwhile peel and slice each boiled egg vertically to 2 portions.

11. I prefer to work over a parchment paper directly so it is easier to pull it over the baking tray later. Cut the puff pastry sheet to 4 portions.

12. Place 1½ to 2 tbsps of filling in the center of each cut pastry. Place the egg, yolk touching the onions. If your pastry sheets are too dry you may brush the corners with little water. I don’t do that.

13. Place one of the corners over the egg. Bring the diagonally opposite corner over it & stick.

14. Repeat with the other 2 corners, leaving a little gap for the steam to escape.

15. Brush with beaten egg and pull the parchment gently over a baking tray. Place in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 mins. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 390 F/ 200 C for 15 to 20 mins.

16. Place in the center and bake for 18 to 20 mins or as instructed on the package, until golden, crisp & flaky. Mine are done at 20 mins mark. (Smaller ovens and toasters take much lesser time, around 15 mins).

17. Place the tray on a wired rack for at least 5 mins to cool down. Be cautious if you are serving it to young kids as the filling is extremely hot for the next 5 to 10 mins.

Serve Egg Puffs with ketchup & chai.

Expert Tips

• The slow and long roasting of onions, green chilies, ginger, garlic and curry leaves bring so much flavor to the filling. So don’t rush and cook them on a high heat or burn them. They may taste bitter if you cook them on a high heat.
• Make sure your onions are well sauted but not cooked in water. The little amount of water is just to deglaze the pan and help the spices stick to the onions. Cooking them in water makes them too soft and soggy. This excess moisture makes the puff base soft too soon while they are waiting to be served.
• Avoid using excess oil to saute the onions. Else the base of your egg puffs will soak up in excess grease and you will have a greasy mouthfeel.
• Bakery Egg puffs are one of the largest sources for stomach upset and that happens because the boiled eggs are left at room temperature for too long. I keep my fresh boiled eggs all the time in the refrigerator, use them directly from there while assembling. It is ideal to use them cold from the fridge.
• You need atleast half cup/50 grams red onions per egg puff. This will reduce to 1½ to 2 tbsps after sauteing. If you plan to make a super large batch use this as a base to calculate.
• To make these ahead, prep up the onion filling, boiled eggs and store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. But finish them within 2 hrs, on the day you bake.

No Onion Paneer Egg Puff (makes 8 fillings)

Add one tbsp oil to a pan and saute 1 tablespoon chopped garlic until aromatic, for a minute. Turn down the heat to low and add ½ tsp red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, half tsp to ¾ teaspoon garam masala & 1 teaspoon kasuri methi. Pour 1 tablespoon water and add 200 grams crumbled paneer. Cook until heated through, for 2 minute. Sprinkle half tsp chaat masala. Use 2 tbsps of this in each puff + half boiled egg.

I’ve also made this with a few varitions like adding 200 grams of chopped spinach or adding half a cup of peas or grated cheese.

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