The egg hunt is over, the Easter dresses are all scuffed with grass stains—now, what to do with all those hard boiled eggs?
Personally, I love the taste of deviled eggs. But it’s too fussy and time consuming to make them. Plus, if you use super-fresh organic eggs like I do, it’s real trouble to peel them without totally demolishing their shape. (Sometimes, I put a dozen aside to let them “age” in the fridge just so I can get them peeled easily).
So I often make this egg salad—even when it’s not Easter—to capture the taste of deviled eggs in an easy-to-make-and-use salad form. It’s yummy on white bread, whole wheat bread, crackers, and even potato chips or cucumber slices. It’s also devilishly easy to make!
Depending on your circumstances and your mood and how you serve it, you can make either a cheap and hearty lunch or sandwich, or a delicate and tasteful appetizer.
Deviled (Easter) Egg Salad
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon Miracle Whip or other “inferior” mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- salt to taste
Directions:
1. Hard boil the eggs. I put a splash of vinegar in the pot when I cook them, but I have no idea why, it’s just the way I’ve always seen it done. (If you know the reason for doing this, post it below!) If you’re using leftover Easter eggs, you can of course skip this step.
2. Peel the eggs; chop with a knife and fork.
3. Add the Miracle Whip and mustard and stir.
4. Add salt to taste.
Variations: Oh, there are so many. The classic is to add cut-up celery. But I like adding green olives, cornichons (those little sour pickles), fresh ground pepper, smoked paprika, a tiny bit of sliced purple onions, chives, or any chopped herb like parsley or basil. By the way, if you need more ideas for using up extra Easter eggs, see 5 Recipes Using Leftover Hard-Boiled Eggs on RodalesOrganicLife.com.
Enjoy! And here’s to resurrection.
I always heard that vinegar helps to peel the eggs! But hard as I tried to find an “easy to shell” remedy…nothing has worked on very fresh eggs! And believe me I tried everything over the years! The only thing that has ever worked was…like you said…aging them.
Nice thing about egg salad is you don’t have to worry if your eggs don’t peel perfectly! Sometimes I use a spoon to get them out of the shell, but they still don’t come out “just right”.
Have fun!
Delicious! I can’t wait to try this recipe. Try placing the hard boiled eggs in ice cold water — my mom always did this and they peeled beautifully.
I wouldn’t let Miracle Whip anywhere near my egg salad. Real mayo or nothing!
I always add a little cider vinegar, pinch of sugar and a squirt of Dijon along with mayo, celery seed, salt and pepper….YUM!
I think the vinegar is to keep the eggs from breaking while they’re simmering.
I must agree. Egg salad with Miracle Whip would be an insult to the chicken.
MARK is right. Ice water bath helps them to peel more easy. If you still want to eat the eggs warm, then just give them a guick rinse in cold running water for a few seconds after pouring off the hot water. O You must remember, after you crack the egg, and remove a piece of the shell, make sure to peel a piece of the membrane off with it, otherwise the shell will not come off as easily. It is a very delicate situation but if you have a little bit of fingernail, you can gingerly get the membrane with the shell, then it peels easily. If you give them a little cold running water while you are peeling the eggs, the water will seep under the broken shell and you can get the membrane with the shell, which is even better.
Make your own mayo. It’s very uncomplicated. If not, use Hellmann’s mayo. I am fortunate to have in my health food market, freshly made mayonnaise from France,(I suppose it’s not so fresh anymore after traveling that distance) just for those days when I am lazy in the kitchen. Granted, traveling so far is not good for the environment, but it sure beats Miracle Whip and off-named products and it does taste fresher than the supermarket kind.
Well, Maria, I also use Miracle Whip (light) and think it works great for making deviled eggs! I use dill pickle juice (along with the Miracle Whip and regular yellow mustard). I’ll certainly try your Deviled Egg Salad recipe — I nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to keep the hardboiled eggs pristine while peeling them and ejecting the yolks to make regular deviled eggs on Easter! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m assuming you’re talking about “prepared” yellow mustard (which usually contains some vinegar btw). My girlfriend’s Mom always used dry mustard and I do it now… very tasty. If you’re using organic eggs, why not buy some organic mayo??? I only eat organic and don’t see the point in using Miracle Whip. I’m sure MW tastes good, but heroin or rat poisin might taste good, too, if you know what I mean…
…for the inquiring mind…just out of curiosity…I had to find out why vinegar or salt in the water when boiling an egg. Here’s the answer: It helps to coagulate the white if there is a small crack in the egg, so it won’t leak out…however, it also helps to make the peeling easier for the same reason. So, now we know! 🙂
Awesome Cindie, Thanks! I love the answer to a good mystery. But here’s another question. I won’t eat any eggs that crack when they are hard boiled…do you? Again, not sure why — maybe fear of salmonella or something? Superstition?
Hmmm….well, the USDA would say definitely do not! But. I personally have eaten cracked hard boiled eggs…..however, I will not eat a cracked egg if it was purchased like that or if I gathered it myself straight from the chicken and it was cracked.
I think the cooking process will help to eliminate some of that problem though.
btw…..the USDA would probably like to eliminate eggs from our diets completely if they had their way!
just wanted to follow up in all fairness….The USDA has been working diligently to solve the Salmonella problem in regulating the resale of eggs…. farm to table… they believe the regulations are good and save alot of people from getting sick…and perhaps they do!
…….and all this from an egg salad recipe….which I made yesterday and was delicious!
Here’s something to try with your egg salad if you want to jazz it up: add chopped stuffed green olives (to taste). My mother made them this way and they are really good. The other thing she did was toss in a little bit of dehydrated onions.
I’m so thrilled to come across a recipe for deviled easter egg salad! I just boiled two dozen eggs at the request of my step daughter in preparation for the easter egg hunt at our house this Sunday. This is my official first Easter celebration. Then I got to thinking, what happens to all those hard boiled eggs? Clearly they won’t eat them all….easter egg salad it is!!!
I always make deviled eggs and egg salad with our Easter Eggs! The kids love them and I feel comfortable hard boiling lots of them knowing the kids will have plenty of fun decorating and I will have no trouble making them into something for the family pot luck!
I have had awesome luck steaming my eggs (about 25 minutes) and they slip right out of the shell, even the fresh ones! 🙂
I raise chickens so I am used to dealing with really fresh eggs. The only time I put vinegar in the water is if I am going to color them. It helps the coloring process. As far as peeling really fresh eggs there are a couple steps you can take that will make it easier. First you need to put a lot of salt in the water like a quarter or half a cup. (This will not change the flavor of the egg inside th3e shell) Second once the eggs are done you need to shock them in ice water. Have a big bowl of ice water ready and fish the eggs out of the hot water and immediately place them in the ice water to cool. These two tricks together make it easy to peel the fresh eggs. In the event there is a stubborn one peeling it under running cool water may help.
I have always put a bit of vinegar in the water because it keeps the minerals in my very hard water in suspension, and prevents them from settling onto the pot. This also works for the water under a double boiler or in a steamer. Makes clean up easier when there is no mineral residue left behind in the pot. And if you forget, a quick soak with vinegar will dissolve minerals rather than trying to scrub them off.