How to Make Egg Salad

Guide Note Egg salad is a timeless deli staple. It's also a budget-friendly dish that can be used in sandwiches or eaten on its own. You can't afford not to learn How to Make Egg Salad!

Table of Contents

Egg Salad Tips

  1. Put your egg salad on toasted bread to avoid soggy, floppy sandwiches.
  2. Use older eggs. They're easier to peel once they've been hard-boiled.
  3. Hide carrots, peppers or tomatoes in your egg salad to get vegetable-phobics to eat their veggies.
  4. Save time and dirty dishes by crumbling your hard-boiled eggs, rather than chopping them.
  5. Don't be concerned with measuring your ingredients precisely. Taste everything as you go, and add or subtract various ingredients until your egg salad is unique to your taste!

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Introduction

  • Egg salad is a dish that is friendly to both cooking novices and well-seasoned chefs. It's easy to prepare and can be made in under half an hour. Read on to learn How to Make Egg Salad.

What You'll Need

(Creative Commons photo by Nate Steiner)
(Creative Commons photo by Nate Steiner)
  • There's nothing worse than getting all excited to try your hand at a new recipe and finding out you don't have all the necessary ingredients and tools to follow through. Luckily, you don't need any fancy ingredients to make a great egg salad. In fact, most of the ingredients are kitchen staples.
  • These are the ingredients needed to make a basic egg salad:
  • Though most basic egg salad recipes include these ingredients, feel free to leave out whatever you don't like. All an egg salad really needs is hard-boiled eggs and a binding agent (like mayonnaise).
  • Small- to medium-sized pot with a tight-fitting lid
  • Sharpened chef's knife
  • Cutting board
  • Mixing bowl

Step 1: Prepare the Eggs

(Creative Commons photo by Jaye_Elle)
(Creative Commons photo by Jaye_Elle)
  • Egg salad is made with hard-boiled eggs, not soft-boiled eggs.1 A soft-boiled egg has a runny yolk inside the cooked white, while a hard-boiled egg has a hard yolk.
  1. Take the eggs out from the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature for about fifteen minutes.
  2. Place the eggs in the empty pot.
    • The pot you use should be small enough that the amount of eggs you are choosing to boil don't have too much room to move. If the pot is too large, the eggs could knock into each other while the water is boiling and crack their shells.
  3. Bring the water to a rolling boil.
  4. Remove the pot from the heat, and cover with a lid.
  5. Let the eggs sit in the covered pot for 13 minutes.
  6. Take the pot off the stove and set it in the sink, beneath the faucet.
  7. Run cool water into the pot until the eggs are cool enough to handle.
  8. Peel the eggs.
    • Using older eggs is an simple way to ensure an easy-peeling egg.2
  9. Chop the eggs.
    • There is no rule as to what size the chopped up hard-boiled eggs should be. A large, rough chop will result in a chunky sandwich. A small, precise dice will make your egg salad more of a spread than a filling. Ultimately, it's completely up to you and your taste buds!

Step 2: Prepare the Dressing

(Creative Commons photo by Rick Audet)
(Creative Commons photo by Rick Audet)
  1. Dice the vegetables.3
    • Though your eggs can be any size you like, it's best if the celery, onion and other vegetables are diced. This is egg salad, after all.
    • Make sure to clean the vegetables before cutting!4
  2. Mix the mayonnaise, mustard and lemon juice with the diced vegetables.
    • It's best to mix up your dressing in the bowl you'll be mixing your egg salad in. Get a bowl big enough to work in. Trying to mix up egg salad in a small bowl is difficult, and you'll probably end up spilling or knocking food out of the bowl.
  3. Once the wet ingredients and vegetables are completely mixed, add the herbs, salt and pepper to taste.

Step 3: Mix Together

  • Dump your eggs into the bowl in which you prepared the dressing. Using a large spoon, carefully mix the eggs and dressing together. Be gentle with your mixing, and try to use more of a folding technique.5 If you mix it vigorously, as you would a cake batter, your eggs will fall apart and the mixture will resemble a thick spread. (Of course, mix away if you're aiming for an egg salad spread!)

Step 4: Serve

  • Your egg salad is ready to serve! There are countless ways to eat egg salad.
  1. Spread your egg salad on a crusty bread with your favorite sandwich toppings, and enjoy it as a sandwich.
  2. If you're low-carbing, have your egg salad on a bed of lettuce.
  3. Dig in with a spoon!

Variations

  • The method above with give you a classic egg salad, just like the one you remember from your childhood. However, egg salad is an extremely versatile dish. Try these variations:
  1. Use bell peppers instead of celery and onion for a sweet crunch.
  2. Add curry or chili powder (or, if you're daring, both!) for a spicy, creamy salad.
  3. A classic variation is egg salad with sweet pickle relish mixed in.6
  4. Try egg salad with smoked salmon for your next brunch.2

Conclusion

  • Egg salad is simple to make, and you likely have all the ingredients handy already! Try it next time you're entertaining; it's pleasing to people on all types of diets and budget-friendly. It's always smart to have a recipe as versatile and as delicious as egg salad in your culinary repertoire.

References for How to Make Egg Salad

  1. ↑ Ask Mr. Breakfast: How do you boil an egg?
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Food Network: Shells and hard-boiled eggs  WARNING: Pop-ups
  3. ↑ eHow.com: How to Dice Vegetables
  4. ↑ About.com: Wash Fruits and Vegetables  WARNING: Pop-ups
  5. ↑ About.com: Fold Batter  WARNING: Pop-ups
  6. ↑ Epicurious.com: Egg Salad with Sweet Pickles and Celery  WARNING: Pop-ups

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