The Deli Meat You Need For The Best Deviled Eggs Ever

At their core, deviled eggs are a blank slate waiting to be filled with loads of delicious flavor. There are tons of secret ingredients you can add to deviled eggs to amp them up, meaning the biggest challenge in elevating them is choosing your flavors. Prior to adding seasonings and binders, the boiled eggs themselves are relatively bland, so it's practically required that you choose add-ins that really pack a punch. If you're looking for something simple that fits this description, you can't go wrong with salami.

This aged, salt-cured, hard sausage is usually a main ingredient in deli-worthy Italian subs, but it's so much more versatile than that. The combination of ground pork with other ground meats (lamb, beef, and even duck aren't uncommon) gives salami a complexity that goes beyond just being salty and meaty. Minced and stirred into the filling or sprinkled on top as a garnish, it adds a burst of delightful umami that brings out the nuances of flavor hiding in the light, tender, and creamy egg yolks.

The main pitfall with salami deviled eggs is that you don't want to use too much. Even small cubes of cured meat would make it hard to fill your deviled eggs, requiring you to use a spoon it into the whites instead of using a piping bag. Additionally, too much salami turns your eggs into a salt bomb with no subtly. The key is adding a little salami at a time and tasting as you go.

If you'd like to use a piping bag to fill your deviled eggs with salami-infused filling, be sure to mince the meat small enough that it won't clog the bag tip. If it's cured hard enough, you can also try microplaning salami into your yolk mixture. This helps create a more evenly mixed flavor with no chunky bits that could ruin the shape of your piping, giving you the best of both worlds. However, the microplane only works with very hard cured salami, and will just tear softer varieties, so assess what you have on hand before trying this. 

As mentioned, balanced flavors are also important. Luckily, lots of delicious cheeses pair beautifully with salami, including provolone and parmesan, both of which would be perfect for shredding on top of deviled eggs. You can also whip Dijon mustard right into the yolks for a tangy contrast, along with black pepper, and maybe even a little brine from a jar of pickled banana peppers or giardiniera. Since the yolks and salami are both fairly rich, adding a tangy acid is an important contrast.

Two fun ideas for narrowing down your flavors are to create either charcuterie-inspired deviled eggs or muffuletta eggs. Charcuterie eggs might include finely chopped cornichons and even minced apple in addition to the salami, along with something crunchy like slivered almonds. A muffuletta deviled egg would include a variety of diced olives, along with briny capers and red pepper flakes.