Eli Zabar’s Egg Salad Sandwich

Recipe from E.A.T.

Adapted by Elaine Louie

Updated Sept. 12, 2025

Eli Zabar’s Egg Salad Sandwich
Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(2,540)
Comments
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In 1975, Eli Zabar, the owner of E.A.T., Eli's at the Vinegar Factory and numerous restaurants and markets throughout the city, invented what he calls the platonic ideal of an egg salad sandwich. He did it by eliminating half the egg whites. During this period, he was into simplicity, he said, and he wanted to get to the essential “egginess” of egg salad. The recipe remains unchanged more than 40 years later. But what of all the leftover hard-cooked egg whites? E.A.T. sells them as chopped egg white salad in two versions: plain, and dressed with mayonnaise and dill. Waste not, want not. —Elaine Louie

Featured in: Debate in an Eggshell: Yolks vs. Whites

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Ingredients

Yield:2 sandwiches
  • 8large eggs
  • ⅓cup mayonnaise
  • Salt
  • pepper
  • 1tablespoon chopped fresh dill
  • 4slices bread
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 servings)

714 calories; 51 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 15 grams monounsaturated fat; 23 grams polyunsaturated fat; 30 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 32 grams protein; 781 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Put the eggs in a medium pan and cover them with cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 10 minutes. Place pan in the sink under cold running water until the eggs are cool.

  2. Step 2

    Peel the eggs. Remove the yolks from 4 of them (save the whites for another use). Chop the 4 yolks with the 4 remaining whole eggs.

  3. Step 3

    In a medium bowl, gently and quickly mix the chopped eggs, mayonnaise, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the dill, mix the egg salad once more, and make into sandwiches.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
2,540 user ratings
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Comments

Alyce Mantia Price

Here in the Memphis area is a spread I've never encountered elsewhere: "Egg 'n' Olive." To the above recipe add a couple of tablespoons of chopped green olives, the pimiento stuffed kind, drained. Give it a try!

Joan Abnett

Here in Australia, we often add a good quality curry powder to this, quite nice actually. A little finely minced onion is also a nice addition

akc

Make the egg salad exactly as it is written. Just once, and then comment about how it could be better. I think it’s simply transcendent.

Nancy Lowell

As someone who doesn't like chunks of egg white this sounds great! When I make egg salad I grate rather than chop the eggs for a better blending of yolk and white.

Larry

I would butter the bread,and add celery to the mix..Actually going to make one right now!

Annie

Like the comment from the Kentuckian, I think the most traditional egg salad is made with sweet pickle relish or bread and butter pickles, but that said, if you're going with the dill version, why not just use dill pickles, chopped and incorporated or sliced on top of egg mixture. There are slightly sweet versions of egg salad and the dilly versions; both are good because egg salad is a great sandwich.

Richard X

Dill pickles are not a substitute for fresh dill. For my family, the "most traditional" egg salad is made with sliced black olives. Everyone has an idea of what is the "best" and the "most traditional."

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Credits

Adapted from E.A.T., Manhattan

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