Salted Egg Yolk Squid Recipe (Is Salted Egg Yolk Healthy?)

This deliciously salty and comforting salted egg yolk squid recipe is such a comforting and flavorful dish -- I first encountered it during my month abroad in Phuket and was immediately hooked. Made with tender squid mixed with the umami salted egg yolk sauce, this dish is undeniably tasty. But is salted egg yolk squid healthy?

The salted egg yolk squid can be a very healthy dish, consisting of 363 calories, with 41 grams of protein, 16 grams of fat, and 17 grams of carbs.

As you can see, the dish has a very impressive nutrition profile predominantly consisting of proteins, making it a great, protein-packed meal. You can easily pair it with a side of rice to make it a well-balanced meal. This makes a great weekday meal for those trying to stay fit. However, the key to making this dish help rather than hinder progress towards your fitness goals is portioning each ingredient mindfully.

Jump to:

• 🍎 Calories and Nutrition – Is Salted Egg Yolk Healthy?
• 🍏 How to Make It Healthy – The Fitsian Method
• 💡Tips and Tricks
• 📋 Ingredient Notes
• 🔪 Step by Step Instructions
• 🍳 Recipe

🍎 Calories and Nutrition – Is Salted Egg Yolk Healthy?

To understand the calorie and nutrition content of salted egg yolk squid, it’s useful to look at the core ingredients that make up the recipe. The dish is made of two main components: the squid and the salted egg yolk sauce.

• Squid:  Squid, similar to most seafoods, has a very impressive nutrition profile, with a 4 oz serving of squid containing only 104 calories with 18 grams of protein, 2 grams of fat, and 3 grams of carbs. This makes it a great lean protein source and a great addition to any recipe for those trying to stay fit. Some recipes often deep fry the squid in batter, but for purposes of keeping the recipe healthy and low calorie, I would recommend skipping this step.
• Salted Egg Yolk sauce: The sauce is relatively simple here and consists of a mixture of fish sauce, garlic, shallots, chicken stock, salted egg yolks, and regular eggs. The salted egg yolks and eggs add about 45 calories and 70 calories respectively, and each come with 5-6 grams of protein. Although this may not be the lowest calorie sauce, it's packed with protein and complements the squid well. Given the low calories in the squid and the great protein content the two have together, the sauce is a great addition to the dish.

Looking at each component, it’s easy to see that while the salted egg yolk squid consists of a number of healthy ingredients, it can be made into a high calorie dish if the ingredients are not portioned correctly, making it less than ideal for dieting purposes. This salted egg yolk squid recipe will show you some tweaks that will make it low calorie and delicious.

🍏 How to Make It Healthy – The Fitsian Method

While the ingredients that go into the dish are naturally pretty healthy and don't have any calorie bomb culprits, it's still important to portion carefully and keep calorie and protein content in mind. Here's how I portioned the recipe to be only 363 calories with 43 grams of protein:

• Use 4 ounces of squid and stir-fried instead of deep frying, saving 100-200 calories that would have came from largely fats and carbs
• Portioned out sauce ingredients mindfully, using 2 eggs, 2 salted egg yolks, 2 tablespoons of chicken stock, and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce -- this made the sauce about 260 calories with 22 grams of protein -- more than half the protein in this dish comes from the sauce!
• Used cooking spray instead of oil to minimize adding calories

For a detailed breakdown of each ingredients, their portioning, and how they make up the nutrition profile of this salted egg yolk squid recipe, you may refer to the table below:

💡Tips and Tricks

Is salted egg yolk healthy?

Each salted egg yolk has about 44 calories, with 6 grams of protein, so salted egg yolk has a very impressive nutrition profile with an amazing flavor to compliment.

How do I portion each ingredients accurately?

Here are some key tools I would recommend for portioning ingredients:

• A kitchen scale is an essential tool in meal prepping and portioning each ingredient as accurately as possible. Guesstimating is not recommended, as it more often than not will lead to inaccurate tracking of calories and/or macros. Therefore, you can very easily end up way more calories than you thought you did, or way less protein than you thought you did. Kitchen scales can easily be purchased via Amazon and are very inexpensive so it's definitely worth getting one!
• Measuring spoons and cups are very useful for measuring out liquid ingredients. If you don't have these, you can always measure out the equivalent amount using a bowl on a kitchen scale and pouring the ingredient(s) out until you reach the desired portion.

What do I serve with the salted egg yolk squid?

Given the saltier taste of the dash, the salted egg yolk squid would be great with a side of brown rice or lightly flavored vegetables. You can also eat it as is if you're looking to get a low carb meal.

What brand of fish sauce should I use?

I personally love the Three Crabs Brand fish sauce. For more information about the different fish sauce brands, check out this article about the Top Ranked Fish Sauce brands.

If you liked this recipe, check out the following:

• Shrimp and Scrambled Eggs: A similar dish with Chinese roots with shrimp and scrambled eggs
• Healthy Thai Curry: A guide teaching you how to make a healthier Thai curry
• Low calorie recipes that are still high in proteins are the number one more important recipes to consume when trying to stay fit. If you love Thai foods similar to this recipe, check out some of my favorite low calorie and protein packed Thai food recipes in my Low Calorie Thai Foods Guide
• For more protein packed recipes, check out my Protein Squared recipe collection

📋 Ingredient Notes

Squid and Marinade

• 4oz Squid rings
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Salted Egg Yolk Sauce

• 1 clove Garlic
• ¼ Yellow Onion
• 1-2 Thai chilis (Optional: Adjust based on spice preference)
• 2 Salted Egg Yolks
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tablespoon Chicken Stock

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🔪 Step by Step Instructions

1. Gather all the marinate ingredients. In a bowl, mix the squid with the fish sauce and salt and let marinade for about 5-10 minutes.
2. Mince the onion, garlic, and Thai chili of using. Spray pan with cooking spray and sauté the aromatics for about 1-2 minutes, or until the garlic begins to turn gold and the onion begins to soften.
3. Add in the squid rings, reserving the fish sauce marinade in the bowl, and cook for about 1-2 minutes each side. Slowly add the marinade into the pan. 
4. Break the salted egg yolks apart and begin to mix into the pan, using chicken stock and water if needed to help break it down further while cooking.
5. Turn the heat down to low, then break in the 2 eggs into the pan and mix thoroughly. The heat should be low enough so that the egg creates a liquid, creamy texture in the sauce. It's essential to keep the heat low here or the egg will end up solidifying. 
6. Remove the dish from the heat, garnish with cilantro, and enjoy your delicious protein packed salted egg yolk squid!

🍳 Recipe