My new favorite eggs

My new favorite eggs — in five minutes flat

How to make egg salad without peeling a single egg

By Kristen Miglore

eggs

 

This recipe started as a fix for faster — much, much faster — egg salad, without having to boil and peel and cool and, with maddening unpredictability, tweeze bits of eggshell.

As a happy result, we all get egg salad in even better, more customizable form — warm, with crispy bits of ham and buttery-soft yolks, if that's your thing. One former egg salad-phobe ate it for dinner four nights in a week. (Hi. I'm the phobe.)

And best of all, by frying the eggs, you get to make egg salad exactly as you want it. Aki likes her eggs really tender with runny yolks, with pops of crunchy onion and celery, on soft bread. Alex goes for a more traditional egg salad texture: firmer-but-not-chalky yolks, on toasted bread. He'll also happily eat it however Aki will cook it.

How will you make yours?

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Recipe: Fried Egg Salad From Ideas in Food

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients

  • Butter or olive oil
  • Sliced onions, chopped ham, or other tasty mix-ins (optional)
  • Eggs
  • Mayonnaise
  • Finely chopped onions and celery, or other cold, crunchy vegetables (optional)
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper, plus any other spices, herbs, or seasonings
  • Toast

Directions

  1. Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat (a 10-inch pan is perfect for 6 eggs, aka 2 servings). Have a lid or sheet pan nearby to cover the pan. Add a knob of butter or a glug of oil to the pan, then add your onions, ham, or other ingredients you'll be cooking along with the eggs. I like to make sure the onions get soft and translucent and the ham a little crispy.
  2. Meanwhile, crack your eggs into a bowl so you can pour them into the pan all at once. Turn down the heat to medium-low, gently pour your eggs in (aiming them evenly around the pan), and cover the pan to let them gently steam and fry. Peek occasionally so you can take the eggs off the stove when they're done to your liking. I like to jiggle the pan to make sure the yolks are a little runny and poke the whites with a spatula to make sure they're set. 
  3. Slide the eggs (and any bonuses like onions and ham) into a mixing bowl and chop them up with scissors. Add your mayo, other seasonings, and any cold, crunchy vegetables if using. Gently mix it all together.
  4. Serve it warm on toast for a treat, but any leftovers are delicious cold the next day, too.