This perfect egg salad isn’t mushy, has just the right amount of mayonnaise, is seasoned a little bit and has some lemon juice to brighten everything up.
Egg salad is probably my favorite sandwich to make at home. It’s a real comfort food to me. Over the years, I’ve made egg salad in a variety of ways. This is my favorite by far.
The key to a great egg salad is, first, great hard boiled eggs. My favorite method is to steam them. You can learn how and why I like that here. The traditional method for boiling eggs is here, if you prefer that. If you’re in a hurry, you can buy already cooked hard boiled eggs at the grocery store. At my store they’re refrigerated near the deli section.
Second, try not to over mash it. I like the egg whites to still have some texture and not be all mushy. I mean, if you like mushy, go and mash away. But I’m telling you, it’s not better that way.
The third key is to get the amount of mayonnaise right. Too much and you don’t taste the egg and the mixture is sloppy. Not enough and it’s dry, even pasty. I’ve got the perfect amount in the recipe below.
Finally, you need to season egg salad. You really do. That means salt, pepper and a tiny bit of acidity. I use lemon juice. Not so much lemon juice that your egg salad tastes like lemon. Just a tiny bit to brighten everything up and cut through the richness of the egg and mayonnaise.
Feel free to add finely minced celery and/or green onion if you have them and if you like them. I love green onion in my egg salad but I’m less fond of celery. I like the flavor of celery but I don’t like it’s crunch in egg salad. Everything else is so smooth and creamy. Honestly, I’m not sure why I don’t like the crunch since I like crunching on other things in other kinds of sandwiches. One of my favorites is ham and cheese with potato chips in there. But I don’t seem to like the small bits of crunch in egg salad. If you like it, go for it. I’m not going to judge you. Promise.
Egg Salad
This perfect egg salad isn’t mushy, has just the right amount of mayonnaise, is seasoned a little bit and has some lemon juice to brighten everything up. This recipe makes enough for two very full sandwiches or 3-4 more modest ones.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
- 7 hard boiled or steamed eggs
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions (optional)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery (optional)
Instructions
- Put the eggs into a medium bowl. Use butter knife to cut them each into quarters.
- Add the mayonnaise, salt, pepper and lemon juice.
- Use a fork to mash everything together to the desired texture, ideally keeping lots of pieces of egg white that are about 1/4 inch in size intact. The yolks and mayonnaise will combine as the binder around the whites.
- Taste. Add more salt and pepper if desired.
- Gently stir in the green onions and celery, if using.
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