3 Keys to a Great Egg Salad + How to Make Perfect Hard-boiled Eggs
I totally think egg salad doesn’t get enough credit or attention.
My theory is that it’s like brussel sprouts. People discovered that brussel sprouts actually are awesome, they just need to be cooked the right way (roasted, not boiled). In a similar way, egg salad needs to be prepared with certain essential techniques and ingredients, so I’d love to share my egg salad recipe with you, in hopes that you’ll fall in love with it! It is truly one of my favorite lunches and you can find some in my fridge pretty often.
There are three major keys to a good egg salad:
#1: A good egg salad should start with perfectly hard boiled eggs, where the yolks are creamy, instead of overcooked, chalky, and crumbly. So in the recipe and video below, you’ll see the method I use for perfectly hard-boiled eggs. It’s very easy!
#2: Fresh dill, crunchy celery, and mildly zingy scallions are the best flavors I have found to give the egg salad freshness and crunch. If you can find some, chervil is another delicate herb that goes beautifully with eggs.
#3: You want the egg salad to have enough creaminess to dress it, but I find that using all mayonnaise results in too fatty of a flavor (and a lot of calories), so I love doing half Greek yogurt and half mayonnaise. The Greek yogurt saves calories, adds a much needed tanginess, and adds creaminess.
You can make egg salad sandwiches with this, or put spoonfuls of egg salad on crackers for a snack.
You can watch the perfect hard-boiled eggs technique and how to put the egg salad together in today’s video:
Enjoy!
The Best Egg Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
- 8 large eggs
- 1 rib fresh celery, chopped
- 2 scallions, sliced
- 1 tbsp packed chopped fresh dill
- 2 tbsp greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2-3 tsp dijon mustard
- pinch of salt
- black pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Place the eggs in a single layer in the bottom of a saucepan, and cover them with enough cold water to rise an inch above the eggs. Place over high heat, and once the water has come to a boil, immediately remove the pan from the heat and cover with a lid. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes, then drain the eggs. Peel them under cold, running water.
- Roughly chop the eggs, then mix with the remaining ingredients. Chill the egg salad for a few hours, then serve on crackers or in sandwiches. Enjoy!
Thanks for the recipe. I’m inspired to try it today. I usually add celery, scallions, and sweet pickles and use only mayo. I think your recipe sounds much fresher, with the yogurt and dill.
Hope you enjoy it Nancy!!
Egg salad is one of my favorite snacks or easy lunches! I love adding pickle relish and celery for a bit of a crunch. I love the idea of adding greek yogurt. I also agree that mayo makes it a heavy dish.
YAY for people who love egg salad! haha. Your rendition sounds great =)
Perfection!
We adore egg salad here…adore. I’ve never put it on a Ritz before…great idea!!
This must be why we’re friends =)
Try adding sliced green olives. It is marvelous.
Great suggestion, thanks Tharon!
Your egg salad does look like it has the perfect consistency. Great tip removing the eggs from the heat at first boil, I’ll certainly try that next time as I’ve suffered enough hard, dry yolks for a lifetime :-).
It’s funny, for a long time I just thought that I hated egg yolks, because I really didn’t like the hard-boiled egg yolk! But that was only because the eggs were overcooked when I ate them growing up. Now I love the whole egg hard-boiled, the yolk is so creamy!
I’ve never added any add-ins to egg salad. This looks great! I agree about cutting the mayo with yogurt – saves calories and is tasty!
Thank you Katrina, hope you are doing awesome!
I totally agree about egg salad not getting enough credit. I love egg salad! Love your video too ๐
Thanks Kristen! Excited to see you do some videos too when you get your new camera =)
This is how I’ve always cooked my hard boiled eggs. I do corn on the cob in a similar way except I put them in the boiling water and when it comes back to the boil I take it off Always ready when dinner is.
Love these photos!
Thanks for the recipe! The video is very helpful and now I’m about to go make some hard boiled eggs ๐ And then the egg salad, course.
Wonderful Alison, I hope you enjoy the egg salad!
This sounds delicious!! I also like to add a bit of horseradish too. ๐
You and I are on point with egg salad. I never tried chervil, but will soon. I have been traveling and have not bee able to comment on your posts but have read them.
Hope you are having fun on your travels, Norma!
I love a good egg salad but I have always had the problem of getting the shell off of hard boiled eggs. The fresher the egg the harder it was to get the shell off. Peeling hot eggs is difficult and sometimes messy but peeling eggs that have cooled can be almost impossible at times. By accident, I found the solution. After you have steeped eggs for 10 minutes in the hot water, drain the water and crack the shells with a spoon, just once on each side, and then cover the hot eggs with ice and water to cool. You’ll find that eggs done this way are easily peeled and your egg salad is a breeze to make.
I love this tip! Thanks Mark.
Thanks..inspired!