When I make deviled eggs, just like when I make potato salad or egg salad, it is never quite the same as the last time. SO here is the non recipe recipe with my favorite additions and garnishes.

I have included a deviled egg recipe with my favorites like pickle brine for the vinegar and a fresh herb and bacon garnish. If you’ve got a lot of eggs and don’t mind extra dished do multiple flavors.
eggs
You start with eggs, which I steam, I don’t boil. This was a game changer for me. A revelation. We get our eggs farm fresh and so hard boiling was an exercise in torture. I tried adding stuff to the water, the ice bath, etc. etc. And then I discovered steaming (I’m guessing the instantpot method works in a similar but pressurized fashion) and OMG. They aren’t all perfect but most of them are and none are mangled beyond recognition. At this point I could link to an overly detailed step by step of how to steam eggs but the short of it is-
hard steamed eggs
- one inch of water at full boil in a pot that fits your steamer
- eggs in the steamer, steamer in the pot, lid on the pot
- 6 minutes soft boiled, 12 minutes hard (or approximately how long you would normally boil it)
- ice bath
- peel
mayo- or not
I like, nay I love mayo. So that’s what I use. But some of my favorite people don’t. If you are some of my favorite people you could go with greek yogurt or sour cream or labneh or a combo of all of the above. I’ve done some mayo with a touch of labneh and a glug of extra virgin olive oil.
vinegar
If you look through my recipes you might notice that I like to put pickle brine in so many things…
- and fried chicken (coming someday)
- add deviled eggs to that list. This is my favorite but apple cider vinegar or white vinegar or white balsamic or malt vinegar or champagne vinegar are all going to do the job just fine. Lemon juice can also work. OR as with the mayo or not, use a combination.
mustard or spice
Dijon is the classic here and for good reason. But feel free to sub a mellower yellow mustard or something spicier. Harissa hits all the notes. (I make my own which has a good amount of preserved lemon)
the extras inside
a splash of hot sauce, fresh herbs or an herb mix like sunny paris from Penzeys or ranch dressing seasoning.
the extras on top
paprika if your feeling classic. bacon. more pickles! more herbs. blue cheese (i’ve never tried this but I bet it’s good)

no recipe deviled eggs- the recipe
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 1/4 cup mayo or sub creamy thing of choice
- 1-2 tsps Dijon Mustard or sub hot thing of choice
- 1-2 tsps pickle brine or sub vinegar of choice
- a dash of hot sauce optional
- salt and pepper to taste
- paprika optional, for garnish
- bacon bits for garnish optional, for garnish
- diced pickle dill or sweet- optional, for garnish
- minced chives or parsley or dill optional, for garnish
Instructions
- hard boil – or steam, see the eggs section above- the eggs. peel, cut in half, remove the yolks
- In a medium bowl or a food processor- combine the yolks with the mayo, mustard, and brine (start with one teaspoon of mustard and brine and add more to reach desire consistency) and mash it up
- add hot sauce and salt and pepper to taste after- this will vary wildly depending on what you use for the vinegar bit and the spicy bit
- spoon or scoop or pipe the yolk mixture into the egg whites
- garnish as desired
- optional step- make one, test it. madd more of this or that as necessary. repeat until full
Yummmmm!!! I’m making these right now! Imma gonna STEAM eggs for the first time!!! Yay me! Yay, you too, Melindalina!!!! Mmmmmm….
Yayyyy!! I hope that it’s as much a “I can’t believe I just found out about this” moment for you as it was for me 🙂