Egg salad in a bowl.

The Common Mistakes You Might Be Making With Egg Salad

NEWS

By MICHELLE BOTTALICO

Hard boiled eggs against a yellow background.

Cooking

Overcooking or undercooking your eggs can ruin your egg salad. To ensure even cooking, place eggs in a saucepan and fill the pan with cold water until it covers the eggs.
Eggs in a pot of boiling water.
Bring the water to a boil and wait 30 seconds. Then, immediately remove the pan from the heat, cover it, and let it sit for 9 to 14 minutes, depending on the size of your eggs.
Hands peeling a boiled egg.

Peeling

When boiling eggs, consider using eggs that are one to two weeks old to ensure easy peeling. Adding vinegar or vegetable oil to the cooking water can also help.
Egg shells.
Vinegar helps break down the porous eggshell as it cooks, while oil enters the shell and forms a layer between the egg white and the eggshell. Also, don't skip the ice bath.
A bowl of egg salad.

The Mixture

Failing to retain pieces of egg whites that don't blend in with the yolks and the dressing, will result in an unappealing dish that looks like a homogeneous yellow mush.
Chopped boiled eggs in a bowl.
Avoid this by not overworking your egg salad mixture. An easy way to do this is by not using a fork to mash the hard-boiled eggs; chop the eggs into pieces with a knife instead.