Pressure Cooker Scotch Eggs
If you’re wondering what to do with all those beautiful Easter Eggs you make, how about making Scotch eggs.
Recently in the Instant Pot Facebook Community Group, someone posted about using their pressure cooker hard boiled in Scotch eggs. I’d never eaten a Scotch egg, so I thought it would be fun to give them a try.
Making Scotch Eggs in an Instant Pot
Scotch eggs are a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage which is then typically breaded and deep fried or baked in the oven. Of course my Scotch Eggs had to be cooked in the pressure cooker.
My Pressure Cooker Scotch Eggs don’t have a crumb coating. Instead I browned them in the pressure cooking pot before pressure cooking them on a rack.
Sausage and eggs says breakfast food to me. But Wikipedia says Scotch eggs are a common picnic food in the UK.
When I asked in the FB group about serving Scotch Eggs for breakfast, someone said they’re traditionally served for lunch with a pickle. I was a little skeptical about the pickle with sausage, but now I’m a convert. I’d definitely eat it that way next time too.
Pressure Cooker Scotch Eggs
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 lb. country style ground sausage
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Instructions
Put a steamer basket* in the pressure cooker pot. Add 1 cup water and the eggs. Lock lid in place, cook on High Pressure for 6 minutes.**
When timer beeps, let the pressure release naturally for 6 minutes. Then turn off pressure cooker and do a quick pressure release. When the pressure is released, carefully remove the lid. Remove the steamer basket from the pressure cooking pot. Put eggs into ice cold water to cool.
When the eggs are cool remove the shells. Divide the sausage into four equal pieces. Flatten each piece into a flat round. Place the hard boiled egg in the center and gently wrap the sausage around the egg.
Heat the pressure cooking pot on saute or browning. When the pot is hot, add oil and brown the Scotch eggs on four sides. Remove the Scotch Eggs from the pressure cooker and add 1 cup water. Put a rack in the pressure cooking pot and place the Scotch Eggs on the rack.
Lock the lid in place and pressure cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. When timer beeps, do a quick pressure release. When the pressure is released, carefully remove the lid.
Notes
*You can put the eggs on a rack or trivet as well, but I prefer the basket so the eggs are easier to remove from the pressure cooking pot.
**While 6 minutes on high pressure with a 6 minute natural release works for most people, everyone likes their eggs a little bit different. Timing could vary based on the size of your eggs, what material your steamer basket is made of, etc. If it’s your first time hard boiling eggs in the pressure, you may want to just cook 1 egg until you find out the sweet spot for you. If you like a soft yolk, reduce the initial cook time for your eggs.
For some time now I have had difficulty (read disaster!) getting the shells off my instant pot “hard boiled” eggs. I have tried adding salt, baking soda and ice water baths to get the inner shell lining to pull away from my free range, fresh chicken eggs. HELP ME to keep from destroying my beautiful fresh eggs from another shelling mess.
Hi Bill – are you putting them in ice water immediately after cooking? https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/pressure-cooker-hard-boiled-eggs/ Have you tried aging the eggs in the fridge for a bit so they’re easier to peel?
I was hesitant to try this when I saw that there was only sausage in the coating of the eggs and when I tried to brown them, I had the same problem as several others where the sausage stuck to the bottom of my IP. The taste was great, but I think next time I’ll use breadcrumbs and an egg to act as a binder. It’s how I’ve done these in the oven before and they turned out great. Thanks for sharing since scotch eggs are a favorite!
Thanks Angie – let us know how it gives if you try it the other way.
Nice post! thank you so much! Thank you for sharing this amazing post. Your blogs are more interesting and impressive. I think there are many people like and visit it regularly, including me.
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I love these. To cut calories, Air Fry at 400°F for 15 minutes, turning once at about 7 minutes, until golden brown. My guests love these!
Great – thanks for sharing Mateo!
Hello! I’m excited to try these, but I have a question…
Do you think it would be possible to steam the eggs (wrapped in sausage) first, and then sauté afterwards to make the outside crunchy (more like the original)? I have the silicon egg bite mold so I was thinking steam them in this first and then sauté?
Hi Nicole – I haven’t tried it, but it seems like it would work. Let me know if you give it a try.
I’ve always wanted to try scotch eggs and this is the perfect way to cook them! Thanks for posting 🙂 love your blog
That’s so nice – thanks Jackie! Enjoy 🙂
How do you adjust the time for it to be a soft boiled scotch egg? Had one at a restaurant and it was soooo good!
I don’t know if you’d be able to do soft boiled eggs using this method, but you could try cooking the eggs for just 2 minutes initially. Let me know how it goes.
what if you made a shell in a ramikin and dropped the raw egg in and gently sealed. I don’t know about browning maybe under broiler
A tip I have found useful is you should let your pot heat up until the display say “hot” and then add oil for cooking. This makes the stainless nonstick. Also, I use lean turkey sausage for my scotch eggs. Great to cook 4 or 5 at a time for the week 🙂
Hi Katie – it definitely makes a difference if you let your pot heat up before cooking.
I love scotch eggs. I make my own seasoning up and use ground turkey or ground beef. I wanted to try the Instantpot vs the oven. I made them with ground turkey 4 in the IP and 4 for the oven. The IP ones turned out and were ok, I think the pressure/steam caused them to lose some flavor. I salted the meat but had to salt again to eat. The ones that baked in the oven had a deeper richer flavor, you could taste the herbs and seasoning. The IP was quicker of course, the oven takes about 35 minutes.
Thank you for sharing this method, its a good option to turning on the oven in the hot summer when a craving for scotch eggs hit!
I couldn’t get the sausage to stick around the egg. I even dried it off. Any advice?
Hi Desra – my advice to Bill below should help.
There are a few things missing from this recipe. First, after peeling the eggs they need to be rolled in flour or gluten-free flour to make the sausage stick. Next, true Scotch eggs have a breading on the outside so roll the peeled egg in flour, form the sausage around the coated egg, then roll that in beaten egg, then roll that in bread crumbs. Now, you deep fry the egg. Using small or medium eggs works best as large eggs are harder to fully cook the sausage before the whole thing cracks. I’ve seen many, many of these Scotch egg recipes. They’re all missing these ingredients. Steaming the eggs in the shell may get you the soft-boil yolk, but the only way to get the crisp outside is to deep fry them.
Hi Angela – since this is a pressure cooking site, people are not looking for a deep fried recipe. They want a pressure cooker scotch egg recipe. However, flouring the egg to make the sausage stick is a helpful tip. Thanks!
I too wanted this to work for me since I am on a ketogenic diet and this is an excellent fit to a low carb lifestyle. But alas, I too had problems once I got to the browning stage for the sausage. Not sure what I could have done differently? Perhaps the sausage I chose was too greasy. But I had the same issues as other. Sausage wanted to stick to the pot, then when I would go to flip them, the eggs would leave their “nests”. L I just packed the sausage back on there as best possible. The taste was great! The presentation, not so great. Lol Keep up the excellent work. It’s very rare that I have a fail that still turns out tasty. ?
Hi Bill – glad you enjoyed it despite the trouble with the sausage. A couple things help – not wrapping the sausage tightly around the egg (because it shrinks as it cooks), having the pot preheated so it’s very hot when you put the sausage in and not turning the sausage until it removes easily from the bottom. The type of sausage you use probably makes a difference as well, a very greasy sausage may shrink to much?
I was so excited to do this in mt Instant Pot! Unfortunately, mine was an epic fail. The sausage came off the eggs while trying to flip. Oh well, I just took it all out, fried up the sausage on the stove, and ate it separately. Still tasted good!
Hi Michelle – so glad you enjoyed it. I found if I wrap the sausage too tightly around the egg, when the sausage cooks and shrinks it pulls away from the egg.
This looks really good! I wonder how it would work with seasoned ground beef in place of sausage? (I’m out of sausage right now)
Thanks Mary – I think you could just spice up the ground beef and it would work well.
How much water do you add?
Hi Barbara
I have just attempted the scotch eggs…disaster! Lol!
first problem was browning the eggs..they stuck in the pot removed them to a skillet but the sausage meat has more or less fallen off! Did you use small, med or large eggs.
they are under pressure now…….the eggs will be like bricks but at least I will know how the meat tastes.
I like the idea of the recipe and will try again but maybe you could give me some pointers of what I am doing wrong. Thanks! Great site!
Hi Ann – I saw your picture in the group. They still looked tasty. To help prevent sticking to the pot, make sure your IP says hot before you add the Scotch eggs and then patiently wait until they sear enough so they don’t stick to the bottom, especially with the first side. Once the sausage has released some grease, the other sides will be easier to turn. You can also add some oil to help jump start the process. I added the oil to the recipe. I also think it helps to not wrap the meat too tightly around the egg so when the sausage shrinks as it cooks, it doesn’t pull apart. Maybe try making your patties a little bit bigger. Let me know how it goes. Glad you’re enjoying my site!
Thank you Barbara! …will try your tips.
A pickle in the UK would be a pickled onion or something like Branston Pickle, so a chutney.
Yep. Or Major Grey’s Chutney. Not a gherkin so much.
Barbara, what a neat idea.
I thought you’d like to know that I am having trouble with the link for the Instant Pot Facebook Community Group. I keep getting “Server Not Found.”
Thanks Riita – I’ve updated it.
New subscriber and thank you for this fun and easy recipe (aren’t all PC recipes easy?!). I grew up in the Middle East where the pressure cooker, commonly known by popular-back-then brand name Presto, was the workhorse of the kitchen. I was surprised when we moved to America that so few folks had used one or were willing to. But the tide is turning. Glad I went to your site after my friend Alina mentioned it. Happy cooking!
Thanks for subscribing! I agree. It really is a great tool. Glad to have you here 🙂
ŪFortnum and Mason claim to have invented the scotch egg. Very popular in the UK, sadly from the shelves of supermarkets. Nothing like real homemade!
This recipe is a revelation. I usually wrap mine in 2 rashers of bacon and bake, healthier than bread crumb and deep frying.
I think I will love this version, may even try the bacon…….nicely seasoned meat is the key.
thank you for a great idea/recipe!
This is terrible but…oo… wrap the sausage with bacon! Though in IP maybe that would make it too limp. Hmmmm.
Bacon and sausage – I like the way you think 🙂
It seems to me that peeling the hard boiled eggs before wrapping them in the sausage would produce a much more pleasant final product.
Good point. I’ve updated the directions.
I hope you understand I was just having a little fun!
Of course 🙂 I thought you were probably the same Jim that likes to joke in the FB group?
Nope…this is my first post to your group. How amazing that there is another clever Jim Price out there…I hope he’s better looking!
Well I couldn’t really remember the last name. But maybe all Jim’s like to joke 🙂
Dill or sweet pickle?
Hi Fran – Mine was a dill pickle, but now you have me wondering which is truly proper 🙂
Branston pickle, major grey’s chutney or any chutney for that matter. These are the ‘pickles’ traditionally served with Scotch Egg.