Egg Salad Recipe with the Best Dressing (2024)

FAQs

Why does my egg salad taste bland? ›

Spices can elevate a dull, bland egg salad to extraordinary, and many seasonings can be used to spice up egg salad. Let's start with an obvious one: salt. It's an essential seasoning in cooking, especially for egg-based dishes, as salt intensifies an egg's rich, savory flavor.

The reason is simply that instead of binding your eggs together with oil and egg yolks — the components of regular mayonnaise — you're instead doing so with a diluted version. Adding more water in the form of light or fat-free mayonnaise necessarily means that more water will seep out of your egg salad.

Place the eggs in a mixing bowl and use a co*cktail muddler, potato masher, or even a large fork to break them up into uneven, irregular chunks. You can also use a potato masher, or press the hard boiled eggs through the wires on a cooling rack to chop them up.

Egg salad is always better fresh, but you can certainly store it for up to 4 days in the fridge for quick lunches or for potlucks and picnics.

Food intolerance happens when the body is unable to digest certain components in food. People who have an egg intolerance may not be able to digest the egg whites or yolks, or both. With an intolerance, a person may experience digestive problems hours after consuming the offending food item.

If the egg salad has been properly stored—in a sealed container in the refrigerator—it is safe to eat it within five days. This rule also applies to similar mayonnaise-based salads like chicken, tuna, ham, and macaroni salads.

To prevent that, don't add the mayo until right before you serve it. Or you can add a very small amount of mashed potato to keep the texture thick and creamy. There are also things sometimes added to egg salad that might drain that are high in water content like tomato or cucumber.

If your egg salad looks good but has a sour or bitter taste, it's best to throw it away. In some cases, you might notice small bubbles or fizzing when stirring the salad. These are telltale signs of microbial growth. Refrain from tasting the salad, and discard it immediately.

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.

Recipe developer and cookbook author Sheri Castle suggests that "for a salad with hearty texture that won't turn gummy or pasty, use your hands to crumble the eggs instead of chopping the whites and mashing the yolks with a fork." You will, of course, want to wait until the boiled eggs are cool enough to handle, but ...

What can I use to thicken up egg salad? ›

Add Greek yogurt: Mixing in some Greek yogurt can provide a creamy texture and help thicken the egg salad. It also adds a tangy flavor.

Consider a leafy green salad, potato chips, French fries, or coleslaw.

If you must freeze egg salad, make sure to use an airtight container and remove as much of the air as possible to minimize freezer burn. It's best to consume egg salad within one to two months for the best results.

Every ingredient that goes into egg salad has water in it. Salt and sugar in the dressing draw the water out of the ingredients as they sit, and they make your egg salad watery regardless of whether it's in the fridge or in a sandwich.

It's also important to note that seasoning your eggs is key for maximizing flavor, but don't season your eggs as soon as they hit the pan. Instead, once your eggs are nearly cooked, sprinkle some flaky sea salt and add some fresh cracked pepper throughout.

Herbs, fruits, peppers, change your olive oil or try sesame, hazelnut or other traditional nut oils. Also try our variety of basils: Large Green, lemon-basil, spicy Thai, etc.