This easy southern egg salad recipe is delicious, flexible, and so easy to make for a quick lunch, snack, or party appetizer. This is a classic egg salad, so you can make it as-is in this recipe or include some of your favorite add-ons.

I highly recommend reading this entire post before you begin preparing the recipe. However, if all you want is the list of ingredients with full directions, please either click on the jump-to-recipe button above or scroll to the bottom of this post.

What is Egg Salad?

If you’ve never had egg salad, you might wonder what it is. My answer is simple: Egg salad is a dish that combines chopped eggs and a few condiments to create a salad or sandwich filling that is out of this world delicious!

Most of the time, the condiments include mayonnaise, mustard, and something else that the cook enjoys adding. It can be chopped veggies, or it might simply be salt and pepper.

This is the egg salad recipe that my mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers passed down. So it’s my favorite way to make it.

We enjoy egg salad sandwiches for lunch, but you can certainly have it any time of day. It’s even good for supper if you don’t have the time or energy to prepare something that takes longer.

If you get tired of eating Easter eggs, use whatever is left to make this delicious egg salad. After all, there’s no point in wasting perfect good food.

Don’t be afraid to try different ways of eating egg salad. We typically have it between 2 slices of sandwich bread, a couple of slices of cloud bread, or in lettuce wraps.

Or you can forget the bread and plop a scoop of it in the middle of a lettuce salad.

Easy Recipe

My mother and grandmothers made egg salad this way. And since they were all from Mississippi, I’m calling this a southern recipe. 

That said, I know plenty of people who live in other parts of the country who make it. However, many of them add other ingredients I never would have thought of.

One lady I knew liked walnuts in hers, which is something that wouldn’t have dawned on me. But I bet it’s good. However, I think pecans would be better.

The thing about the way I do it is that you can make the basic easy egg salad recipe and add other ingredients to make it your own.

If you’re not sure you’ll like something, test it on a small amount of the egg salad. Just don’t be afraid to try something new.

Ingredients

The list of ingredients I have below are flexible. Take away anything you don’t care for and add more of what you like.

Here are the items I use in my egg salad:

• Hardboiled eggs
• Mayonnaise
• Yellow mustard
• Finely chopped celery
• Finely chopped onion (sweet or red onion)
• Salt and black pepper (fresh ground pepper is best)
• Paprika (regular or smoky)

For exact measurements of each ingredient and full directions, go to the recipe card at the bottom of the page. You can even print out the card by using the “print” button.

How to Make Egg Salad

I’ve learned the hard way to gather all of my ingredients before I begin a recipe. Otherwise, I might discover that I’m out of something essential to the recipe. So do that before you start.

First, cool your boiled eggs. I “boil” mine in an air fryer, which is super easy, and they’re easier to peel. In fact, I wind up with perfect hard boiled eggs when I use this method. See more about this farther down in the post.

There are so many different ways to cook eggs in my Instant Pot as well as the traditional way on the stovetop.

After you cool and peel the eggs, chop them up. I normally do this with a fork or knife … or both.

If you don’t have the patience to use a fork or knife, place eggs in a bowl and use a potato masher. That makes the process go very quickly. Regardless of how you choose to chop your eggs, it’s still a delicious recipe.

After the eggs are chopped, put them in a medium-size bowl. Make sure the bowl is big enough to hold the eggs and all of the remaining ingredients.

Now, add the chopped celery, chopped onion, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper, and optional paprika. If you’re not sure how much salt to add, just sprinkle a little bit into the mixture. Taste it before you add more.

You don’t have to add paprika. However, it sure does make the egg salad look prettier. I love colorful food, so I go through a lot of paprika and other colorful spices.

Finally, give the ingredients a good stir. Make sure it’s well mixed so the flavors can blend like they’re supposed to.

Cover and refrigerate the bowl of egg salad until you’re ready to serve it. This is one dish that needs to be served cold.

Different Ways to Make Egg Salad

You can also make this egg salad recipe without mayo if you want. However, if you don’t want it too dry, you’ll need to add something else, such as more mustard or even cream cheese. 

By the same token, there’s nothing wrong with making this egg salad recipe without mustard. The result will be creamier and less tangy. I’ve run out of mustard and made it this way before, and it’s delicious.

Or you can use dijon mustard for a little extra tangy flavor. The seasonings in dijon add a distinct flavor. So if you’re not sure about it, try just a little bit before adding it to the whole batch.

Another thing you can do is replace some or all of the mayonnaise with Greek yogurt for a protein boost.

For those who like a little bit of sweetness, make your egg salad recipe with sweet pickle relish. I alternate between adding sweet relish and adding onions.

More ingredients to add to your egg salad:

• Green onions
• Lemon juice
• Pinch of sugar
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Fresh or dried dill weed
• Cinnamon
• Cayenne pepper
• Your favorite hot sauce
• Your favorite fresh herbs
• Chopped nuts
• Dill pickles

Most of the time, I make the classic egg salad recipe without any add-ons. However, I often want something extra, so I make a spicy egg salad by adding a couple of the ingredients listed above.

Experiment and try different things from your spice cabinet. You never know when you’ll discover your new favorite way of enjoying this delicious treat. The best way to make this easy recipe is by adding the ingredients you know you’ll like.

How to Boil Eggs

There are many different methods of boiling eggs. Most cooks know how to boil eggs the old fashioned way. Simply put the eggs in a pot of water, boil it for 10-12 minutes, and then remove them from the hot water.

That’s exactly how I used to boil eggs, but they were often so messy and difficult to peel I found myself dreading it.

Then along came my air fryer. As soon as I discovered that I could get the same effect as boiling by “air frying” them, I was delighted.

This recipe for air fryer boiled eggs has made my egg game so much stronger. Follow the directions in the recipe and then put the eggs in a cold water (or ice water) bath for a few minutes. The peelings pop right off … no trouble at all.

You can also use an Instant Pot or any other brand of electric pressure cooker. Choose whatever cooking process you’re the most comfortable with.

How Long Does Egg Salad Last?

Egg salad is fine at room temperature for 2 hours. Any time beyond that, you risk having it go bad.

If you’re not able to eat all of the salad on the day you make it, put it in an airtight container and put it in the refrigerator. Store it properly in plastic wrap or a sealed container, and the egg salad should be good for several days. 

I’ve eaten it two days later, and it’s still good. But that’s only happened once because we typically finish it within a day.

You can also freeze egg salad. Follow these directions here for the best results: How to Freeze Egg Salad.

Easy Egg Salad

If you’re looking for a way to take protein-packed eggs to lunch, you really need to try this delicious egg salad recipe! It’s perfect for a light lunch or snack.

Make an egg salad sandwich or place it on a bed of lettuce. It’s good on whole wheat, gluten-free, or white bread. If you’re watching carbs, make a lettuce wrap.

Egg salad is easy to make and doesn’t require any fancy ingredients. in fact, you only need a few simple ingredients So why not give it a try today?

What to Serve with Egg Salad

You don’t have to serve anything with egg salad because it’s delicious all by itself. However, there are some delicious additions that will elevate the meal. And they’re all easy!

You can enjoy this salad all by itself or serve other delicious foods on the side. I also like to tuck a leaf of lettuce and slice of tomato into a sandwich to add texture and even more delicious flavor.

There are so many different things you can serve with it, whether you enjoy it in a salad, as a wrap, or in sandwich form.

Here are some wonderful soups to serve with egg salad:

Creamy Homemade Tomato Soup – This colorful and healthy soup is so delicious and comforting!

Homemade Bean Soup – Filling and absolutely yummy, this homemade bean soup is filling and oh-so satisfying.

Lentil Soup – Packed with protein and lots of deliciousness, your family will want you to make this often.

Butternut Squash Soup – Serve this elegant but down-to-earth soup with anything else, and you’ll impress everyone at the table.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus – After all, who doesn’t like bacon wrapped anything? Plus the asparagus adds color, texture, nutrition, and flavor to the meal.

Air Fried Sweet Potatoes – These fried sweet potatoes are super tasty, and they’re packed with lots of vitamins.

Zucchini Parmesan Chips – The crunch from these zucchini chips adds a delicious balance to the creaminess of the egg salad.

If you want to add your egg salad to an all-salad meal, here are some you might want to try:

Watermelon Cucumber Salad – When you need something refreshing yet nutritious, serve this flavorful salad.

Tomato Cucumber Corn Salad – There’s a lot of nutrition to go with the wonderful flavor in this one!

Easy Chickpea Salad – Enjoy this salad with any meal, and you can rest assured that you’re getting a hefty dose of nutrients along with great flavor.

More Southern Recipes

If you like southern-style cooking, you’ll probably enjoy this delicious potato salad. It’s my mother’s recipe, and I guarantee it’ll be a hit. When she brought it to gatherings, it was one of the first things to disappear.

Another southern-style food is this pimento cheese. We usually eat it on sandwiches, but you can also stuff celery with it. Mmm, so delicious!

If you like my egg salad recipe, then you should try this ham salad from Julia’s Simply Southern blog. Julia has quite a few delicious recipes that are so delicious.

Something else we enjoy here in the South is cornbread. In fact, I have several ways of cooking it and taking it from being crumbly to being moist. I actually like the traditional southern-style cornbread, but my husband prefers the moist version of it.

Some southerners only eat these black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. However, most of us appreciate them year round. They’re really good with whatever type of cornbread you like.

Please feel free to share!