Short answer
No. Balut is a fertilised duck egg incubated until a chick has formed, then boiled and eaten. The chick dies in the egg without being slaughtered, so it counts as carrion (maytah), which is haram in all four schools. Ordinary eggs, including fertile ones with no developed embryo, are halal.
Balut is haram because the developed embryo is an animal that died without slaughter. An egg is halal only while it is still an egg; once a chick has formed, it takes the ruling of the animal.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Balut is popular in the Philippines and parts of Southeast Asia, and Filipino and Vietnamese shops sell it in the US and Canada (the Vietnamese version is called trung vit lon). The egg is kept warm for around two to three weeks so that the duck embryo grows, with beak, feathers and bones, and is then boiled alive inside the shell.
The Quran forbids dead animals, meaning animals that die without a proper slaughter. Fish and locusts are the only exceptions. A developed duck embryo is an animal, and boiling it is not slaughter, so it is carrion. The four schools agree on this, so there is no difference of opinion to weigh.
Some related cases:
- Ordinary eggs from the shop are halal, even if some were fertile, because no chick has developed.
- A blood spot in an egg: remove it; the rest of the egg is fine.
- An egg with a partly formed chick found when cracking: do not eat it.
- Penoy, an incubated egg in which no embryo formed, is simply an egg and is halal.
For more on eggs, see are eggs halal, and for carrion in general, see non-halal meat.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:3
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْمَيْتَةُ وَٱلدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ ٱلْخِنزِيرِ وَمَآ أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ بِهِۦ وَٱلْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَٱلْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَٱلْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَٱلنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَآ أَكَلَ ٱلسَّبُعُ إِلَّا مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى ٱلنُّصُبِ وَأَن تَسْتَقْسِمُوا۟ بِٱلْأَزْلَٰمِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ ۗ ٱلْيَوْمَ يَئِسَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِن دِينِكُمْ فَلَا تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَٱخْشَوْنِ ۚ ٱلْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِى وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلْإِسْلَٰمَ دِينًۭا ۚ فَمَنِ ٱضْطُرَّ فِى مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍۢ لِّإِثْمٍۢ ۙ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ ﴿٣﴾
Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience. This day those who disbelieve have despaired of [defeating] your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. But whoever is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
Forbids animals that die without slaughter, which includes a boiled embryo.
Sunan Ibn Majah 3314
Graded sahih... أحلت لنا ميتتان ودمان ...
"Two dead things and two bloods have been made lawful for us."
Only fish and locusts are lawful without slaughter; a duck embryo is not among them.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Dhaba'ih. An animal that dies without slaughter is carrion.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Dhaba'ih. The rulings on eggs and what forms inside them.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.