The Best Egg Salad Sandwich
Perfectly cooked boiled eggs, homemade mayo, bright lemon juice, crunchy celery, and some fresh parsley make for a near-perfect egg salad.
- Total time
- 5 min
- Active time
- 5 min
- Yield
- Serves 3 to 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Equipment
- 1 required
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Ingredients and Constraints
Ingredients
- Preparation: Chilled and Peeled
- Preparation: And Thinly Sliced Radishes
Ingredient watchpoints3 watchpoints
Short requirements and tradeoffs to check while gathering ingredients; detailed source notes stay expandable.
Hard-Cooked Eggs
6 hard steamed eggs , chilled and peeled
The source row includes a form, size, temperature, or preparation detail.
Details and source
Source: The Best Egg Salad Sandwich
Mayonnaise
1/4 cup homemade or store-bought mayonnaise
The source ingredient row lists alternatives.
Details and source
Acceptable alternatives: store-bought mayonnaise
Source: The Best Egg Salad Sandwich
Fresh Parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves
The source row includes a form, size, temperature, or preparation detail.
Details and source
Source: The Best Egg Salad Sandwich
Additional ingredient notes
Required setup
Equipment
Source video
Source video
Method Timeline
Prep
ActivePrep
5 min
Source Recipe JSON-LD prepTime.
Finish
ActiveFinish
Not listed
Final serving step and finishing actions from the source directions.
Step 1
Combine eggs, mayonnaise, lemon juice, celery, scallions, and parsley in a medium bowl. Using your hands, squeeze eggs through your fingers, mixing contents of bowl until reduced to desired consistency; alternatively, smash and mix with a firm whisk. Season generously with salt and pepper. Serve as sandwiches with sliced radishes, lettuce, and bread, or as desired.
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Image details4 images, clockwise from top left: a pile of cooked, shredded egg next to a box grater; a chef's knife half-buried in a pile of cooked, chopped eggs; a bowl of cooked eggs being whipped together into a smooth mixture; a bowl of cooked eggs being roughly mashed up in a bowl with a whisk.Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt · The Best Egg Salad SandwichDev reference %3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%3Aformat(webp)%2Fthe-best-egg-salad-recipe-step-01-Collage-107cc36463ff47558086cee68c6c0caa.JPG&w=3840&q=75)
Image detailsA two-image collage. The top image shows the egg salad ingredients combined in a blue ceramic bowl. The bottom image shows the ingredients being crushed by a whisk and firmly mixed together.Serious Eats / Eric Kleinberg · The Best Egg Salad SandwichDev reference Visual cue
until reduced to desired consistency
Checks2
Visual cueInfoVisualuntil reduced to desired consistency
Expected state: until reduced to desired consistency
ServiceMain recipeSource service instruction
Combine eggs, mayonnaise, lemon juice, celery, scallions, and parsley in a medium bowl. Using your hands, squeeze eggs through your fingers, mixing contents of bowl until reduced to desired consistency; alternatively, smash and mix with a firm whisk. Season generously with salt and pepper. Serve as sandwiches with sliced radishes, lettuce, and bread, or as desired.
Inputs and tools12
Uses
- Bread, lettuce, and thinly sliced radishes, for serving
- 1/3 cup finely diced celery (about 1 small stalk)
- 1/2 teaspoon zest and 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh juice from 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup homemade or store-bought mayonnaise
- 6 hard steamed eggs , chilled and peeled
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves
- 1/4 cup finely sliced scallions, white and pale green parts only (about 2 scallions)
Equipment
Techniques
Why and source
This step has reviewed source-backed guidance.
- Source: The Best Egg Salad Sandwich
Handling and Storage
Reviewed hold, storage, make-ahead, and service-timing guidance.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Learn More
Extra cooking notes, tests, and source details kept out of the step-by-step method.
Why this works
Quick kitchen reasons behind the main choices.
May 2014
This recipe originally appeared as part of the column "The Food Lab Turbo.".
Testing notes
Useful tests and side-by-side notes after the method is clear.
Crushing It
The thin slivers are just off-putting.
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Fine Tuning Flavor
All we gotta do is season this thing up.
I generally choose red onions because I like the way the pretty red cubes intersperse with the yellow eggs, but I'd never really considered whether they were optimal in terms of flavor. I made a few batches of egg salad with a half dozen different types of onion (yellow, white, red, sweet, shallots, and scallions), and was surprised to find that the scallions were almost unanimously voted as the best of the bunch.
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Recipe structure
Components and intermediate outputs created by the method.
Main recipe
Recipe card ingredients and steps.
Serves 3 to 4
Recipe Utilities
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Source and Origin
Origin declaration
Adapted from source
Imported from the Serious Eats page for dev review.
Copy risk: Unchecked
The Best Egg Salad Sandwich
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