Egg Salad Sandwich

This receipe sound delicious but i would suggest you to add Coriander(cilantro) leaves to this so it gives some essence out of the sandwich

I made this the other night. This was awesome!

Beautiful sandwich, mouthwatering photo! I love egg salad and this recipe sounds wonderful.

Curry powder can transform egg salad. I’m a recent convert.

Don’t freak out, but my egg salad uses eggs and a mango relish. Yup, that’s it. After assembling and before adding the second piece of bread, a shot of fresh cracked pepper and all of 5 grains of salt 🙂

Heidi, I’m so glad you came over to the other side…..
As with everything else, made fast and cheap could turn any food into something repugnant. Yours looks, of course, fantastic.
It’s cracking me up (oh god, no pun intended) that people are asking you for substitutions. People, experiment and play!

hi! what do you say to this one? i mash the eggs with a potato-masher, then add very finely chopped onions, small celery pieces, cilantro, salt, pepper, cumin, and just a little miracle whip to make it moist. i usually serve it open-faced on a baguette. yum!

Just made egg salad for a sandwich for lunch today but found my family had eaten all the bread. I took it to work with celery sticks and ate it that way! Have you ever tried it with salad shrimp mixed in? I love it also with chopped green olives. A little chopped jalepeno is good, too.

I love egg salad sandwhiches but I’ve never made them with the yolk…. I’ll have to try it!
Maybe I’ll be able to get the kids to eat it with me then!

Hi Heidi,
I adore your site. The other trick to really yellow yolks is to use eggs from happy chickens that have been eating greens. We raise our own meat birds (sorry, I know your a veg – I was too until I got a piece of land to raise my own meat) and laying hens. Our yolks are positively golden in the spring when the hens have lots of greens on which to graze. As summer heats up and our pasture dries to a golden brown our hens are only given the greens that are leftovers and whatever we dig up from the garden and their yolks pale considerably. The taste of the spring eggs is incomparable to any I’ve tasted. One may purchase pasture raised eggs from Taxiera farms in Bolinas and Marin Sun Farms in Point Reyes Station. It’s worth the drive, believe me….One may also bulk up and buy a few dozen at a time – these eggs are so fresh they keep for nearly a month in the fridge. Happy eating! I’m one of those folks that likes chopped egg sandies any way she can get them!

hey…im a teenager who loves to eat egg sandwiches…i love to make them too…but i guess mine were a little drowned in mayo…thanks for your recipe and thanks for the technique in boiling eggs…that was my major problem in creating egg sandwiches…next time i create a batch of egg sandwiches…i’LL consider your recipe! tnx again!…ciAo!

I was craving egg salad and came across your post. Coincidence? I think not. 😉

I just made some delicious Japanese flavored egg salad with homemade wasabi mayo. For the mayo I used two egg yolks, 500 mL of olive oil, and two tsp of rice wine vinegar. After the yolk had accepted all of the oil I added fresh dill, lemon juice, salt & pepper, and a sizable squirt of wasabi paste. For those of you who like a little crunch I suggest chopped water chestnuts drained and briefly pan fried. Eat it on bread as dark as pumpernickel or as white as wonder; it’s all about the mayonnaise.

These recipes sounds delious. Gotta give the Egg sandwich another try. Yum on sourdough with baccon and chopped onion.

Get some really good fresh bread, a local bakery of mine serves this wonderful salty farm bread (kinda inbetween a croissant and french bread) You take a slice of that and put it in the pan with real butter and sauteed onion and chives and pepper. Then take the mayo egg mix and get some truly great cheese and when the bread is all golden on both sides you put the cheese in the middle mix in the peepers, onion, chives, and put it all together.
so good 🙂

My mother makes a wonderful egg salad recipe. She pushes the eggs through a collander (so they become more of a paste) and adds olive oil instead of mayonaise (since mayo is already egg based). It’s terribly good!!

I’m like Elise – one of my favorite egg-salads has curry powder, Chinese crunchy noodles, celery and peas.
My other alternative is one with capers or a real favorate, tons of fresh tarragon.

Hi –
My family begs for egg salad sandwiches, but I rarely have the time. Mine is fairly simple. I use Hain mayo made with safflower because I do not use soy products. I just keep adding mayo until I have that stiffness when mixing. Too much ruins it. Oh, I use the old time egg slicer – I slice it long ways and take it out and cut it the other way – makes a nice, neat appearance to the mixture. I add a very small amount of organic brown mustard – just about the size of a quarter for 10 eggs. If it is barely tasted, that was my goal. A small amount of celery seeds and now for the best items to complement the mix. We have what is called Vegen bread here in one of our healthfood stores. It is whole wheat and covered with pumpkin seeds – ymm – very nutty and good. No sog because the bread is tight textured. I use the butter lettuce or some may refer to it as Boston lettuce. The absolute ultimate to us is nice, fresh alfalfa sprouts. It gives it a nice, healthy taste. I make my tuna much the same way – no celery seeds, but fresh celery, red onion, green pepper, and those matchstick carrots. Boston lettuce and alfalfa sprouts, of course. I toast the bread now and again for variety. Organic eggs make me sick and I do not understand why. This is a wonderful site – thank you!

Egg on my face!
Fresh egg salad, chilled and on some dark rye Finnish bread is the best. Thanks your recipe gives me an excuse to re-explore my childhood party food… ie tiny little white triangles of egg sandwiches… now made healthy

The egg salad sandwich always played a major roll at the Dunn house. Five boys, ten eggs, and lots of mayo. If we were lucky, someone would think to chop up some onion for it. If we were luckier they wouldn’t make me responsible for boiling the eggs (always under or over done). To this day though they bring back wonderful memories of my childhood and family. The response in my home now to egg salad is similar to yours – “Why?!” – but perhaps this will help us ease it back in to the legion of acceptable edibles. Thanks!

I make my egg salad very much the way my mom made her tuna salad. Of course, I skip the tuna, but I use a light binding of mayo, dijon mustard, dill, fresh cracked pepper and salt, chopped dill pickle, chopped celery, and small chunks of apple. Now if only I could perfect her seed and nut bread she’d use for the sandwiches…

This recipe sounds good! I am not a huge fan of eggs, but when it came to egg salad and deviled eggs I was there! This recipe sounds good, though my dad always taught us to cook our hard boiled eggs for 10 minutes to get the yolks just right. 7 minutes seems too short of a time. As for mayo, I have recently found that I am in love with the Hellman’s brand AKA Best Foods on the West Coast. I found it to be more fluffy, tasty, and light. The flavor is amazing! No more Kraft for me! Too vinegary. I like chives, but they are hard to find here, so I will use green onions or leeks, they are the same only bigger. Thanks for the ideas!

Try using toasted sour-dough pumpernickel, if you can find it. The sour flavor adds a little punch (like adding pickles does), and the dark color of the bread contrasts beautifully with the yellow of the eggs.
And I’m all for the addition of a little mustard.

That sandwich looks incredible. Thanks for not using dill, I can’t stand it. I’m going to try this over the weekend.

Wow. You are only the third person I’ve ever known about who didn’t like egg salad sandwiches. I usually butter each piece of bread and find that really helps the “sog” factor. Plus it’s really delicious. I also read a newsletter once that suggested chopped cucumber (without any seeds) tossed with the eggs. I personally use celery and a small amount of diced sweet onion. Also, I think if you happen to make deviled eggs (I don’t), you could adapt whatever you put in the deviled eggs to work with eggs for salad (perhaps mustard, a little vinegar). The trick is to use a sparse amount of dressing. I particularly like to make egg salad tea sandwiches. For those I use thinly sliced whole wheat bread, butter the bread, and use a pretty lettuce leaf with a small amount of egg salad so the sandwiches are thin. But tea sandwiches are another topic altogether…..

Hi Heidi,
I simply love egg salad, and eat it at least once a week. I have learned a trick back in my day when I use to make salads such as egg salad in a little cafe. To make the yolk look more yellow and bright just add a small amount of yellow mustard. That way you won’t have to add any salt once you make the salad.
Also, my grandmother use to make her egg salad with chopped up green olives. It was fantastic!

My husband and I naturally dyed easter eggs a couple of years ago using different veggies. I just added the cooked beets used to extract the dye to the egg salad for a nice sweet addition and a bright pink color.

Who eats egg salad without a lot of mayo?I think that is what makes it taste good. Mayo,salt & pepper. That is the best way to eat an egg salad sandwich. Oh, it has to be on warm, fresh, homemade bread as well. Eat with honey barbecue chips. Who could ask for a better lunch?!!

I also love my egg salad, and not even always in sandwich form–sometimes we just bust out a big bowl and sliced baguette. I would also heavily encourage the use of fresh dill. Fresh dill makes egg salad into something else entirely.

Hi Heidi! I agree with you, there is nothing more unappealing than a soggy egg-salad sandwich. When I’m in the mood for something a little different I’ll use a tablespoon or two of my homemade pesto mayo – it’s such a treat!

i like to add red bell peppers for both crunch and colors. if you get a really good pepper, it’ll add some sweetness to the egg salad too!

I happen to LOVE egg salad. Cold, warm, soggy, over-mayoed, under-mayoed, with leftover Easter eggs, eggs that have been sitting in the fridge for six months, fresh eggs, overboiled eggs (but NEVER underdone eggs), mustard, celery or celery seed, mayo, cheese or no cheese, tunafish added, crispy iceberg lettuce with no nutritional value whatsoever, bacon crumbles or sliced green olives, scallions, chives… Egg salad is just a high-protein base for hundreds of combinations, and it wears well on day-old Wonderbread, or Portugese rolls or French loves with the middles hollowed out to make room for all of the veggies you add. I just made a HUGE tray of deviled eggs using all the leftover Easter eggs (who on *earth* THROWS AWAY dozens of colored eggs?… actually, who on earth lets them sit in the sun for hours? We hide ours indoors, right before the kids get up, and they find them within thirty minutes — plenty of time to go back in the fridge to be used for food.)
Seriously, though, egg salad is a lovely, /lovely/ thing, and it’s great that you’ve found a way to enjoy it.
Try salted sunflower seeds — it’s a surprisingly good surprise in egg salad.
My favorite ‘egg salad’ recipe started out as a joke, like ‘who can come up with the grossest food combination’?
Pumpernickel bread, mushed hardboiled eggs, honey mustard…. and peanut butter. I know it sounds horrifying, but I promise, it’s *actually* *delicious*.

I vote for the capers – Pain Quotidian makes a splendid open face egg salad sandwich, and tops it with a few salted capers. Heaven.

Soooooo…
Here I am, just minding my business when I stumbled onto this website. Lo and behold, Ithere’s a passle of people writing about eggsalad sandwiches. I thought, “What the heck is this all about?”
I read the posts and now I have a hankerin’ for an eggsalad sandwich (it’s 4:10 pm here in Kansas). Not the typical kind, but the wonderfully experimental varieties I just discovered.
Thank you!
BTW, “hankerin’ ” is just a phrase I use once in a blue moon. Not everyone in Kansas talks that way.

I use cucumbers in mine for the crunch factor, and a dash of Tony Chachere’s in place of salt and pepper. I need to try adding lemon juice…mmm…

I was always the pickiest eater in my huge family. But I could never get enough of egg salad sandwiches, always on grainy, nutty bread. But mine had to be PLAIN. No SWEET RELISH, no onions, no mustard, no olives, capers etc… nothing but light mayo (as in not much), salt and pepper.
When I got into my teens and twenties, my taste buds graduated. I suddenly LOVED mustard, ginger, onions (only cooked, still can’t stand the raw crunchiness of them), asparagus… etc.
However, I still like my egg salad sandwiches PLAIN.
After reading your recipe and some of the comments, I’m tempted to add some gruyere and fried shallots, maybe some curry powder or paste (eliminate the mayo altogether – i never liked the taste, smell and texture of it, so thanks for that suggestion!)…
La la la… off to the kitchen!

I’m with Amber(not the peanut butter thing though) love that egg salad I use some fine diced onion and drained sweet pickle relish. But what really does it for me is …. MIRACLE WHIP a sandwhich just isn’t a sandwhich….. My fiancee’ is a mayo girl so when it’s for the whole family I use mayo with a teaspoon or less of cider vinegar gives the zest I want without the M-WHIP she does not.

I had the best egg sald sandwich ever in Boston last summer made with avocado and capers, topped with tomato and bean sprouts. Delicious!

Does the well bred cook disdain the automatic egg cookers? Why? My 4 year old McEgg produces up to 7 perfect hard or soft boiled eggs every time.
Your site is becoming addictive. The recipes combined with the comments are quite an education on being innovative.

I also have a texture-based aversion to regular egg salad and I agree that the mayo-to-egg ratio is key. To minimize the amount of mayo in the salad, I separate the boiled eggs, mashing the yolks first and adding a wee bit of mayo, just to make them creamy, and then coarsely mashing in the whites. The mayo gets evenly distributed and you avoid the mayo overload that is the death of a good egg salad. Re: spices and add-ins, I defer to the other egg salad experts in the field. Enjoy the eggs!

working in a kitchen for a living you begin to make up your own meals rather than ordering form the menu. I mean, day after day the same thing comes at you and after a little while you get bored. In the kitchen where I work, last Saturday we were knee deep in prep at 10am. All four of us hungry like bears and not a one of wanting to hault our task for fear of getting behind while someone fried an egg…
I took it upon myself to make egg salad. We had all the components on hand – shredded eggs, fresh herbs, good bread, HOUSE MADE TARRAGON AOLI and crispy bacon bits. I made three mounding sandwiches and fed them to my team mates, they were met with oohs and ahhs.
Egg salad is good. Get fancy with it – have you ever read what the owner of Lucques says about eggs? In short she is an egg lover… Just like all of us now.

I love the egg salad but the mayo wasn’t a good idea so i tried it with greek yogurt and it was the best thing ever.

Samovar Tea definitely has the best egg salad sandwich in SF. Curried, but just a tad. Still haven’t made one as tasty as theirs at home yet. Giving yours a try next week. Thanks.

Emily, yes – I added more clarification up above.

I’ve found the best tool for mashing up eggs for egg salad is a grid-style potato masher. Those square holes make the perfect sized bits of egg white. More consistant, yet chunkier than the results you get with a fork. I also like a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped red onion (perhaps as an alternative to your chives if you didn’t have them on hand) and lots of chopped fresh Italian parsley. I’m hungry.

I love egg salad on top of a salad in place of any dressing. It is a great light lunch! It also just occured to me that another way to fancy up egg salad would be to use a flavored mayo, like the chipotle mayo I have at home. Now I can’t wait to try it!

I’ve never been a fan of egg salad until recently. My husband kept asking for it, so I tried to make it in a way I would like too. I use just a little mayo, dijon mustard and chopped green onions. Also, I really like it on crackers or in baked wonton cups. I think the idea of mixing boiled eggs with butter sounds DIVINE, though – I may have to try that one!

I LOVE the strained yogurt idea! Brilliant.

I like putting ranch dressing instead of mayo…not that it’s better for you. but it gives a nice flavor kick. need to balance it with a celery mix-in or lettuce topper, but it’s yum

you forgot the mustard.

All of the above are wonderful! I add a pinch cumin, and bob’s your uncle, mmm…sometimes it doesn’t last long enough to make it on to the bread 🙂

This is how genius happens! Taking a more mundane recipe and making it into something memorable. I had not been very adventurous with my egg salad but you have encouraged me to think outside the box a bit in utilizing those leftover hadboiled eggs!

I use Greek yogurt instead of mayo; it’s a lot healthier and I personally like the taste better. I agree that a good egg salad needs a little crunch– I usually chop up some mild onions for that. And I’m chiming in with the others who said that curry powder is a nice addition!

I have always hated egg mayo until now, I’m pregnant and I can’t get enough of the stuff!!! You’re sandwich sounds amazing!

I am getting reallllllly hungry for an egg salad sandwich after reading your posts. I feel I must add one of my favorite egg sandwiches….add about 3 slices crisp, crumbled bacon to 4 hardboiled chopped eggs,salt, pepper. mayo, dash of curry powder, your choice of onions chopped…green or red or white…to taste. also maybe a little chopped celery.and a teaspoon of pickle relish…and a tsp of lemon juice…and here is the kicker…one can of tuna in oil…drain the oil….I just like its flavor better then the tuna in water….and serve on SOURDOUGH TOAST….it is absolutely deeeeeee lishous…..This was served to me 50 years ago while visiteng a friend by her mother…I have made it ever since……..

I love what you did with a standby that is probably revered for its economical and nuitritous qualities.Why shouldn’t it be delicious too? While working at a great deli, I learned to add hot sauce and a smidge of cream cheese to egg salad. It really helps with the goo factor. In my personal opinion egg salad is far better “open faced” on bread or with some terrific crackers. Do you have some good cracker recomendations (sans hydrogenated fat & bleached flour) that might be available in more rural areas than lovely SF?

i make my egg salad with yougurt, i.e. strain the yougurt in a cheese cloth for a few hours until all water drains out. this should be of a thick consistency. at times i add either hot sauce or paprika powder + cumin and use it in place of mayo.

Heidi,
The fact that there are already 36 comments on something as seemingly mundane as an egg salad sandwich is a testament to your genius! And to the rippling effects on the community of readers who take the time to post comments & ideas. I love the suggestion of using softened butter mashed with the yolks. Now I’m thinking about trying arugalo in place of lettuce – or maybe making a homemade basil mayo to make it really special? There are probably so many possible variations you’d never have to eat the same sandwich twice, unless you wanted to! Another great post, thanks Heidi!

My “friend” and I were making deviled eggs one night – and we started adding a little of what seemed like everything – they were the BEST – but what was left over made the best egg salad sandwich I had ever eaten.
We added fresh bacon bits – a small amount, finely chopped peppers, onions, sour cream, mayo and just a little ranch dressing. Then we added chili powder, salt, pepper and peprica. The peppers that time were mild, but since we have added some hot peppers – they are GREAT.

A trip to Helsinki introduced me to the wonders of the Finnish egg sandwich: perfectly cooked eggs (with an extra yolk or two) mashed with perfectly softened butter and a little salt, spread on delicious wholegrain bread. This treatment goes down particularly well with little kids and is very comforting to egg-loving grown-ups, too.

You’ve done the (almost) impossible–made egg salad sound good enough to try again! It’s been too long around here.
In the past, I’ve always added either some chopped green olives or drained capers for a bit of zip, and perhaps a bit of shallots. A dusting of spicy cayenne or pimente d’Espelette is especially good too.
(Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I like to add a handful of sunflower seeds for crunch.)
Off to go boil some eggs!…

i like to add shredded carrot for extra nutrition and color. doesn’t add much to flavor though. chopped apples or pickle relish add a bit of sweetness and chopped walnuts add texture and nutrition. welcome to the love of egg salad : )

Curry powder is a definite must in egg salad. In Australia, we have a tradition of the curried egg sandwich with the chiffonade of lettuce. As scorned as iceberg is, it adds that counterpoint of crunch to the egg. Wholewheat bread, lots of grain also adds to the appeal of the curried egg sanger.

I agree that I am generally loathe to eat 95% of egg salad sandwiches out there (so much mayo! so little taste!) but yeah, there are totally ways to make it genius. My mom’s egg salad, also full of chives (I think chives are key), eggs cut up really finely so that the salad is more of a paste/spread, and the colour pink with paprika, has converted every single egg-salad naysayer I have ever met. So yes, it is possible! (And I totally recommend experimenting with paprika.)

my recipe is similar except i use finely chopped cucumbers instead of celery. Also, i like to add in a pinch of wasabi powder. the only mayonaise i use is Kewpie brand, which is imported from Japan and is found in a lot of asian supermarkets. it comes in a soft squeeze bottle and has a richer egg taste than american-style mayo, and is not as slimy and vinegar-y.

I am not a big fan of egg salad either and never have been. The smell of them cooking was enough to make me ill when I was younger.
Since then, I’ve had an aversion to it but I decided awhile back to try and make hard boiled eggs because i loved deviled eggs. I have seen so many recipes calling for different amounts of time to leave them in the pot with the water – from your amount to 16 minutes. I find if I leave them covered for 12 minutes they seem perfect to me. I don’t like them too soft. I am not a fan of the overly soft yolk. Are you sure that the yolks will cook enough in this amount of time? Seems too little IMHO.
Just curious how firm the yolks get. I have undercooked them in the past and gotten yolks that ran too much.

I am SO making that tomorrow 🙂
Thanks for a lovely & inspiring blog!

Wow, I’ve never been a fan of egg salad sandwiches mostly due to the fact that they’re always messy and soggy. I just might change my perceptions now . . . 🙂

I thought I was odd for disliking egg salad as much as I do… so I tried making it with scrambled eggs… better… and now with the hints from some about adding curry… I think I’m on my way to many happy egg “salad” moments! Thank you all.

I’m with you on the granary bread. My little one is a white bread fiend who has to be bribed to eat brown, but when it comes to egg salad even for her only granary, nutty seeds and all, will do. We use either chives or finely sliced spring onions and shredded little gem lettuces. Although we go just a little heavier on the mayo!
From a relatively new non-meat eating fan.

that looks absolutely divine! i have always been an egg salad sandwich fan…but this one…looks like the kind that can turn a “hater” into an instant “lover.”

Capers, what a brilliant idea! But it didn’t make its way into your recipe. I use mayo, mustard, dill, paprika, and green onions to good ole hard-boiled eggs. Yum yum.

I used celery seed to season my egg salad–a tip passed on to me by a good friend. No I won’t make egg salad without celery seed on hand.

This sounds good – I’ll have to try it though I must admit it tends to be the smell rather than the appearance that puts me off egg butties! Celery salt is great with quails egg so the celery idea makes a lot of sense to me.

I love egg salad sandwiches. Ate a lot of them growing up. We added dill pickle, celery, spicy mustard and mayonnaise. I also like to put a slice of pepper jack cheese.
Donna A.

Yeah, sandwiches really need to get smaller and more defined. My friend used to order this egg salad/tunasalad/bacon/cheddar sandwich bomb from Eisenberg’s lunch counter in NY. The thing was maybe 8 inches tall. But I bet if it got the 101 cookbooks treatment, it might stand a chance.

Question re: eggs.
Should they be room temp or right from fridge when boiling for your luscious-sounding recipe?

CHEESE on an egg salad sandwich?! sacrilege! (i may try the capers, tho…)

I’ve found the key to the egg salad texture is to first separate the hardboiled white and yolk, mash the yolk with the mayo and other ingredients, and then fold in the chopped egg whites. I always add some spicy mustard for some tang.

I’m one of those egg salad haters too, but this looks delicious. The short boiling time for the eggs is a big part of that, as the texture of over-cooked eggs is part of my aversion to most egg salad sandwiches. I plan on trying this recipe soon!

I make my egg salad in a similar, but less healthy way. I toast Pepperidge Farm white bread and use more mayo and sometimes add a slice of tomato. Chives and celery are very key. Happy Easter, Heidi!

I usually add finely chopped pickles to my egg salad, with celery of course…gives the crunch and the tang 🙂

OMG! I just finished mixing up the typical egg salad sandwich for my 2 young boys. While mixing I was thinking there has to be something better than this. Eggs are great food, why am I drowning them in Mayo and sweet relish?
I sat down at the computer and BAM, you have answered my telepathic request. You are the good angel sitting on my right shoulder telling me I can do more with food. Thank you. My lunch will be infinitely better than my children’s.

you should try the curry egg salad sandwich at Samovar — it’s amazing.

I grew up with my grandmother’s egg salad which had celery, bacon, grated carrot and scallion in it on whole wheat bread. My grandmother would pack as many sandwiches as necessary and send us off with hearty oatmeal breakfast with all of the garnishes.All of my friends looked forward to stopping at Nana’s! I still make this egg salad and will be celebrating “Egg Salad week” with my egg salad lover friends!

Hi Heidi,
I found that adding a pinch of curry powder to egg salad does wonders.

You will never guess what I was doing?? Making egg salad and decided to take a coffee break. Now I’m off to the kitchen to finish it your way..how timely….Thanks Heidi, you did it again.

I love an egg salad sandwich, especially with some chopped green olive added. I may make your recipe and add a bit of olive. Or capers. Yum.

I once worked at a “bakery” that made egg salad sandwiches. We did not hard-boil the eggs ourselves. The eggs we used were already hard-boiled and preserved in a smelly, sulfuric brine in a big, plastic bucket. Moreover, the eggs were tinted grey. Ew.