It’s an egg-cellent time for these easy Easter appetizers!

The following easy Easter appetizer recipes are all based on the almighty, all-satisfying, versatile egg. Each recipe utilizes the power of the egg in a different way. Sometimes boiled, sometimes whisked, and sometimes mixed. Used as a binder, the main star, and as a coater. Easter celebrates egg hunts, but we’re celebrating with egg cracks as we get to mixing in the kitchen. As we pay homage to the dependable egg, keep in mind these easy Easter appetizers can be made year round – no need to eggs-plain your hankering for an egg app!

Easy Easter Appetizer #1

Scotch Quail Eggs

A classic Scotch egg begins with a soft boiled egg wrapped in ground pork, which is then breaded and deep fried. Yes, a fried meat wrapped egg. Welcome to your future, my dear, your new favorite easy Easter appetizer has arrived!

For a smaller bite, we’ve used quail eggs instead of chicken eggs for a daintier two-bite instead of four. Plus, they’re adorable and gives you a reason to try out a new egg! There are a few tricks to boiling an egg that you may not know about. The most important is adding a splash of vinegar to your pot of salted water to help the egg shells peel away from the egg white a little easier. Eggshells are made of calcium carbonate and when you add vinegar to the water the acid dissolves some of the shell. The difference you’ll see will be such a relief next time you go to peel eggs. For this easy Easter appetizer, you will boil the quail eggs for a mere 2 ½ minutes to achieve the soft boiled, jammy inerds we’re looking for. Then toss the eggs into a bowl of ice water to shock the eggs and prevent them from cooking any further. Peeling will be a breeze from there! You can do this step a few days ahead of time if needed. 

Once wrapped in the seasoned + herbed pork, the eggs prepare for a dunking. The standard breading process requires 3 parts: a separate bowl for flour, whisked eggs, and breadcrumbs all of which should be seasoned with salt and pepper. The pork wrapped egg will be rolled around in the flour, then bathed in the egg wash, and finished in a panko pit. 

Needing a technique demo? Check out this video of April Bloomfield grinding pork herself to make the classic Scotch egg.

Scotch Quail Eggs

(serves 2 to 4)

• 10 Quail eggs
• Splash of apple cider vinegar 
• 1 lb Ground pork sausage
• 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano 
• 1 ½ tbsp Thyme 
• 1 tbsp Chives
• ½ tsp Lemon zest
• 1 tsp Salt 
• 2-3 Pepper mill cranks

Breading

• 1 cup All Purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper

1. Bring a pot of salted water up to a rolling boil and add a splash of vinegar. With a slotted spoon, slowly add the quail eggs to the pot. Boil for 2 ½ minutes then, using the same slotted spoon, plunge eggs into a bowl of ice water. Let them chill for 10-15 minutes, then start peeling. Once peeled, set aside.
2. Combine pork sausage, Parmigiano, thyme, chives, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Roll into balls double the size of the quail eggs, then flatten into discs. Place the egg in the center of the patty and slowly start to fold the pork around the egg, sealing the top side.
3. Set up a separate bowl for each step in the breading process: flour, whisked eggs, and panko. Be sure to season each step with a pinch of salt and a crack of the pepper mill.
4. Roll the sausage covered eggs in the flour, dusting off the excess. Next, roll around in the egg. Lastly, toss in the panko until well coated. 
5. Bring a small pot of canola oil up to 350°F. Carefully, add two quail eggs at a time being sure to turn them around ensuring they are completely submerged in the oil. With a slotted spoon, remove and place onto a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle a touch more salt while they are still hot. 
6. Let cool slightly, then start popping those suckers like there’s no tomorrow!

Easy Easter Appetizer #2

Seared Romanesco Frittata with Hash Brown Crust

There’s nothing quite like an easy Easter appetizer that doubles as breakfast. Frittatas remain to be seen as the any time of day nibble champion. Easy to pick up, easy to package, and easy to eat hot or cold. They can be cut into wedges pie-style or into squares for simple serving. 

Here, we’ve charred romanesco and shallots at a high heat in the oven to give you the well caramelized flavor and crisp ends we all hope for when roasting veggies. Let’s be frank – the tastiest part of cooking, well anything, is the crispy-outer-edge-bits that you snack on while the rest of the meal comes together. This frittata encompasses the savored crispy morsels and highlights what you know we all really want! Paired with the well rounded flavor of Parmigiano Reggiano, here’s a combo you just can’t beat. 

The illustrious frittata has probably inched onto many easy Easter appetizer menus, though, this one is something special. Not only are you getting the crispy bits inside the frittata, but also on the bottom from a golden potato layer. How many egg pies have you had with a hash brown crust? Yes, we repeat, hash brown crust. Genius! We know. 

Now stop ogling our frit-tatas and get to mixing your easy Easter recipe!

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Coat an 8-inch cast iron pan in butter. Press an even layer of hash browns in the pan. Pop in the oven for 15 minutes. Pull out at ~10 minutes and press the hash browns down, making sure no egg could seep through. Finish in the oven until the bottom layer is a nice golden brown. 
3. Cut romanesco into quarter-sized pieces. In a bowl, toss the romanesco in EVOO and a pinch of salt. Lay out on a baking sheet and roast for 10-12 minutes, until you see some nice caramelization happening (right before it turns too dark: that’s where the flavor lives!) Pull from the oven and let cool.
4. Reduce heat to 300°F.
5. In a small sauté pan, heat ½ tbsp butter. Sauté shallots at medium heat until they’ve lost a touch of structure and some strands start to get a little seared and golden. Then add the garlic and a small pinch of salt. After a few minutes, turn off the heat and add the shredded kale. Set aside to cool. 
6. Whisk eggs in a bowl until the yolks are broken and combined. Add milk, Parmigiano Reggiano, thyme, lemon zest, anchovy paste, about 1 tsp salt, and a few cranks of the pepper mill. Stir until well combined.
7. Combine the shallot mixture into the egg mixture. Pour over the hash brown crust and top with a hefty pinch of grated parm. Cook at 300° for about 25 minutes, until the eggs are set and the outer layer develops a thin crust. 
8. Let cool then slice as needed. Enjoy!

Easy Easter Appetizer #3

Hot Curry Deviled Eggs

It’s ideal to have a quick and easy appetizer out when guests start arriving, giving you the opportunity to relax and offer a quick intro bite. Make these ahead of time so you can focus on the other apps at hand. 

Instead of putting a store bought dip or hummus out and calling it a day, we’ve made a not so classic deviled egg using Obour’s Hot Curry Hummus, providing a touch of spice to the easy Easter recipe repertoire. Techniques follow traditional methods- boil eggs, remove cooked yolks, mix with other ingredients, and add back to egg whites. Garnishes can range from a radish slice to extra dill or chives; up to you!

Be advised, the Hot Curry hummus sprinkled with a kick of cayenne will surprise you – the heat and flavor develop as you chew leaving you with a comfortable warmth. You’ll struggle not to pop these all in your mouth before company arrives!

Hot Curry Deviled Eggs

(serves 2 to 4)

• 5 Eggs
• 3 tbsp Obour’s Hot Curry Hummus
• 1 tbsp Sour cream
• ½ tsp Lemon juice
• ¼ tsp Cayenne pepper
• ¼ tsp Salt

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat with a splash of vinegar. This helps the peeling of the eggs go a little bit smoother. Once the water is boiling, carefully add the eggs with a slotted spoon and cook for 13 minutes. Remove eggs and place in an ice bath. Peel egg shells after they’ve cooled down, 10-15 minutes in the ice bath. Rinse of fragments of shell.
2. Cut the hard boiled eggs in half and carefully add the crumbly yolks to a medium bowl. Set the whites aside on a plate. Mix the yolks with the hummus, sour cream, lemon juice, and salt.
3. For a presentation sake, take a zip lock bag and cut a corner off. Finagle a piping tip into the open corner of the bag. Then, spoon the bright yellow mixture into the bag and squeeze into the yolkless egg whites. 
4. Garnish with a light sprinkle of cayenne and a slice of radish, chives, dill, or any other fresh spring greenery!

Easy Easter Appetizer #4

Okonomiyaki Bites

Quick background on this easy Easter appetizer: Okonomiyaki is a Japanese cabbage egg pancake topped with umami bomb garnishes. Consider it a Japanese-esque pizza with many more exciting toppings than pepperoni or peppers. For this easy Easter appetizer idea, we wanted to egg-spand our horizons as far as ingredients go..

Nagaimo, or Chinese yam, is the key ingredient that holds these easy Easter appetizer bites together. In Japan, it’s often eaten raw in salads and grated into sauces. A species of yam consumed all over Asia, nagaimo holds a thick mucus-like texture. Know that the sliminess dissipates when cooked, resulting in a creamy, dreamy batter that holds together beautifully when it hits a hot pan.

But to be frank, once grated it looks like a pile of white goop finger-swirled with snot. If you didn’t grow up eating it, it may take you a second to get comfortable, but have fun with it! The sliminess between your fingers will take you back to kindergarten, learning a new touch all over again. Anyone remember the slime days, before you aged to double digits? Ah, when the holidays were much simpler and somebody was making YOU the easy Easter appetizers. 

Enough daydreaming, back to work ‘ya hear!

When making this easy Easter appetizer, an important note is to mix the dry ingredients first  then incorporate the wet ingredients, being sure not to over mix. We’re looking for creamy cakes, not coasters we can frisbee. Also, when we say kimchi juice we simply mean pour the liquid from a jar of kimchi. We like Sinto Gourmet’s napa cabbage kimchi, but any quality kimchi will do. 

Okonomi is a way of saying “as you like it” or “your preference” and yaki translates to “all things grilled” in Japanese. You’ll see the toppings we chose, but feel free to play it up with whatever you already have in stock – the name of the dish tells you to!

Toppings: Okonomi sauce, Kewpie mayo, Maldon salt, Sliced scallions, Micro greens, Fried garlic, Bonito flakes, Black sesame seeds, White sesame seeds, Spring flower petals

1. Dice the bacon slices. In a sauté pan over low-medium heat, cook the bacon until the fat is rendered and released. Remove the crispy bacon and let drain on a paper towel. Reserve the bacon fat for later. 
2. Combine cabbage, scallions, bonito flakes, and a pinch of salt. Next, sift the flour over the dry ingredients and give it stir. 
3. Add the eggs, shredded nagaimo, and kimchi juice. Lightly toss then let it sit, careful to not overmix.
4. While the batter rests, go ahead and make the sauce. Whisk together ketchup, worcestershire, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and honey. Set aside. 
5. Heat a tablespoon of the bacon fat in the same pan from earlier. Scoop ⅛ cup of the batter into the pan. (We recommend doing 1 tester to get a feel for how they cook, then graduate to 2 or 3 at a time.) When the bottom is lightly browned, carefully flip and brown the other side. Slide onto a plate as they finish to cool. 
6. For serving, slather each okonomiyaki in okonomi sauce then squeeze the Kewpie mayo onto each pancake in a back and forth motion. Lightly sprinkle maldon salt, scallions, fried garlic, bonito flakes, sesame seeds, flower petals, and micro greens on each pancake. 
7. Wha lah – enjoy!

Easy Easter Appetizer #5

Carrot Fries with Spiced Hollandaise

Aside from the many easy easter appetizers, egg hunts, and egg-centric Easter activities rolling your way, the main star of this spring holiday tends to be the Easter Bunny. Bunnies do not lay eggs, but they do eat carrots! From our list of easy Easter appetizers, this one takes the cake (the carrot cake that is!) Sister to the good ole’ fashioned potato fries, sweet potato fries, and zucchini fries, these carrot fries offer something special. When roasting carrots, this sweet candy-like quality takes the stage. Matched with more caramelized crispy edges (our favorite!), this easy Easter appetizer puts all other carrot cooking techniques to shame. 

Here we’ll use the standard three part breading process again. Though, we’ll use more parmigiano reggiano than panko in the last step. If you happen to make these and the Scotch Quail Eggs, we suggest making these Carrot Fries first so you can reuse the flour, egg, and panko mixes (always veg first then raw meat, not the other way around). 

A sweet and short story of French cookery, we explain hollandaise. In French cuisine, there are five mother sauces, one of which being hollandaise, an emulsified butter sauce you’ve probably seen on eggs benedict on a brunch menu or two. Clarified butter and egg yolks are emulsified by white wine vinegar and lemon juice to make this creamy, tangy, richness. Emulsification is the process of evenly dispersing one liquid into another within which it cannot stabilly mix on its own, using an emulsifier. A perfect example is a basic vinaigrette of oil and vinegar. The ingredients are semi-permanently combined within each other by an emulsifier, such as dijon mustard, thus stabilizing the two together as one finished product.

When starting the hollandaise sauce, make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. Cold egg yolks or butter could set the emulsion off into no man’s land of wasted buttery yolks. We don’t want that for you. As you add an ingredient into another, make sure it’s warm first – we want butter on low heat on the stove the whole time. Have an extra yolk out warming up just in case you need it later to fix a broken emulsion.

To see the process in action, here is a demo by Jamie Oliver to give you an idea. He makes it look easier than it actually is, so don’t be fooled. Now, this will require your full attention to make it right and prevent the emulsion from breaking so focus up ladies and gents! If this does happen, a quick fix is to grab a clean bowl with a splash of water or another room temp egg yolk. Slowly incorporate the broken sauce into the new bowl and watch it thicken and come back to life. Additionally, if the sauce gets too thick add a splash of water. Too thin? Keep whisking in clarified butter. 

Let’s learn a classic sauce and snack on some extra tasty carrots in the spirit of the Easter Bunny – an easy Easter appetizer even he could make!

Carrot Fries with Spiced Hollandaise

(serves 2 to 4)

• 7-8 Carrots, cut into 4 inch long sticks
• 2 Eggs + splash of water 
• 1 ½  cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper

Spiced Hollandaise

• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• ¼ tsp black peppercorns
• 1 Egg yolk
• 2-3 tbsp Garlic ghee/clarified butter 
• 1 tsp Lemon juice
• ½ tsp Cayenne 
• A double pinch of salt

• ½ Bunch chives, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375°F 
2. Set up your breading station: a bowl for flour, eggs, and panko/parm. Be sure to season each step with a pinch of salt and a crank of the pepper mill. 
3. Using the standard breading procedure, roll the carrots in flour, dip in the egg wash, and finish in the panko/parm mix. 
4. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast the carrots for 25 minutes until golden and crispy, shaking the pan halfway through. 
5. While the carrots are caramelizing, start the hollandaise sauce. 
6. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, add white wine vinegar and black peppercorns. Reduce by ½ then strain into a small bowl. 
7. Have your clarified butter in a small sauce pot on the stove, keeping warm at about 135°F. In a separate pot, go ahead a fill ⅓ way with water and bring to a light simmer. 
8. In a medium metal bowl, whisk the egg yolk with the reduction off the heat until well combined. Place the bowl on top of a pot of barely simmering water while continuing to rapidly whisk. You’re looking for the mixture to turn pale yellow in color, become aerated, and thicken up a bit, leaving trails as the whisk drags through. 
9. Remove from the heat and place on a kitchen towel. Slowly, we repeat, slowly pour the clarified butter in a steady stream or in small stages until it turns from watery to saucy. If it gets too thick, add a splash of water from the simmering pot. When desired texture is achieved, whisk in lemon juice, cayenne, and a pinch of salt. 
10. Serve ASAP when the Carrot Fries come out hot. Be sure to garnish with some chives to add touch of color and freshness. Easy Easter appetizer: complete!

Love Stretchy Pants?

Easter is a time to be spent with loved ones, ringing in the beauty and fresh blooms of spring. Enjoy the seasonal treats with our easy Easter appetizers too! We picture Easter baskets full of chocolate bunnies, Peeps, Jelly Belly jelly beans, Cadbury creme eggs, and Whopper’s Mini Robin Eggs to name a few. You need a snack to snack on while making your snack, amirite?

From Stretchy Pants to you, we hope you have a lovely holiday full of pastels, spring flowers, and easy Easter appetizers to keep you full of glee and cheer.

Head to Chinatown on San Francisco food tour with Stretchy Pants to see many more eggs-amples of ways to prepare eggs. Ever tried a tea soaked egg? Another egg venture you haven’t explored awaits – sign up today for our Chinatown Food Tour!

~Created and written by Chandler Henry