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Let me explain: the best baked eggs are made without baking. When testing these recipes, discovering that covering the pan generates steam to cook the top of the eggs, yielding tender soft-cooked egg featuring set whites plus liquid yolk. The harsh, arid temperature in conventional ovens proves harsher versus moist heat, and has a tendency to dry everything out and harden the yolk. Here are two sauce options as inspiration, but get creative. One is a super-simple golden coconut sauce, and the second offers a merguez ragu reimagines traditional spicy eggs, or simply put, eggs baked in spicy tomato sauce.

Golden Coconut Sauce Steamed Eggs (pictured above)

Prep 10 minutes
Cook Just under an hour
Yields Two servings

Olive oil
One medium onion, skinned and diced
Fine sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
10g fresh ginger, minced ginger
Golden spice
½ tbsp cumin seeds
Aromatic leaves
Coconut milk
Canned chickpeas
Basil leaves, with more for garnish
Fresh eggs
Green chilies, thinly cut, as garnish

Use a heavy skillet on a medium-high heat. Pour in some oil, add the chopped onion with some salt, sauté for several minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds and curry leaves, allow to cook, mixing now and then for a few minutes, pour in creamy liquid and the chickpeas and their tin liquid. Let it bubble, reduce to a simmer, and leave it to tick over for 30-35 minutes, when sauce is rich and yellow. Adjust seasoning, incorporate basil.

Use the back of a spoon forming small wells in the sauce, add eggs individually. Dust each egg with a little salt, cover the skillet, and cook on a low heat for two to three minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks just warm. Remove from heat, finish with a few extra basil leaves plus chili slices, and serve.

Merguez Ragu and Pickled Peppers Baked Eggs

Preparation 10 min
Cooking time Under an hour
Serves Two portions

Olive oil
Merguez sausages
Spicy paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
Garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
400g good-quality tinned tomatoes
Fine sea salt
4 eggs
Tangy peppers, diced
Fresh parsley, diced
Greek yogurt
Fresh lemon, wedge-cut, as garnish

Use a heavy pan on a medium heat. Drizzle olive oil and, once it’s warm, take off sausage casings forming small bits of the meat into the pan, like mini balls. Turn down the heat, cook until golden, extracting spicy fats. Stir merguez while cooking, to brown evenly.

Once browned, mix in spices and garlic into the skillet, adjust to moderate flame and cook, stirring, for three to four minutes, when fragrant, and garlic softens. Add tomatoes, salt to taste let it bubble. Reduce to low heat and leave to blip away for twenty minutes. The ragu will reduce, thicken and deepen in colour, with oils separating and surfacing.

Employ utensil making indentations within sauce, add eggs individually. Sprinkle the top of each egg lightly salted, cover skillet. Cook for two to three minutes gently, when eggs set with yolks runny.

Remove from heat, top with pickled peppers, parsley, a blob of yoghurt, and oil splash, and serve with lemon wedges.