Broken Egg Salad

By Hetty Lui McKinnon

Published April 9, 2025

  • Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
20 minutes
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Rating
5(783)
Comments
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This dish has all the elements of a classic egg salad — eggs, mayonnaise and mustard — with one radical change: The cooked eggs are simply torn into deliciously irregular chunks of whites and yolks in a more laid-back approach. Egg salad recipes usually call for hard-boiled eggs, but since they stay largely intact here, this recipe calls for just-set yolks that are golden and jammy at their core. When cooking eggs, every second counts, so make sure you set a timer as soon as the eggs hit the water to avoid overcooking. Eat this egg salad as you would the classic: with bread as a sandwich or tartine, tossed with some chickpeas or grains, or served alongside roasted veggies. 

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 8 large eggs

  • Ice, as needed

  • ½ cup mayonnaise

  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced, plus extra for topping

  • ¼ cup chopped pickles (from 1 medium pickle)

  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

  • Salt and pepper 

  • Toasted sourdough or crusty bread, to serve

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add the eggs and set a timer for 8 minutes. (There is no need to bring the eggs to room temperature; the timing provided is for eggs straight from the fridge.)

  2. Step 2

    While the eggs cook, set up a large bowl of water and add lots of ice cubes. As soon as the timer sounds, drain the eggs and add them to the ice bath. Leave to cool for 2 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Add the mayonnaise, scallions, pickles and Dijon mustard to a large bowl; stir to combine.

  4. Step 4

    Crack the eggs and then place them back into the ice bath and peel them underwater (this helps the shell come off easily). Tear each egg into 2 to 3 pieces and add them to the bowl with the mayonnaise mixture. When all the eggs have been added, gently stir the eggs to coat. Season with salt and pepper.

  5. Step 5

    To serve, pile the broken eggs onto the bread, top with additional scallions and serve.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
783 user ratings
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Comments

BreadEveryWeekend

Why do we always suggest boiling the eggs? Steaming takes the same time and a fraction of the water. I find they peel better when steamed. Most folks have a steamer basket so it’s not ridiculous to suggest.

esbredin

When boiling eggs, I drain the cooked eggs, add ice cubes to the cooking pot, plus tap water to cover. No need for a separate ice bath.

Barbara Civitillo

@Me Put cold eggs into a pot of cold water. Bring to a rolling boil. Cover pot and turn off heat, leaving pot on burner. Three minutes makes soft-boiled, 10 makes perfect hard boiled. Experiment with timing for this recipe. At any rate, when time is up, flood pot with cold water and proceed.

BB

A really simple and delicious recipe. I cook my eggs by boiling a pot of hot water—bringing it to a rapid boil, placing eggs in, and cooking for 7-8 minutes (7=-1 minute 7 minutes very jammy egg, 8 for a firmer jammy egg). I’ve been halving the recipe for a 1-2 day lunch portion, yielding about 2 cups (almost filling a small Pyrex container). I follow most of the halved measurements but adjust the pickles (I use 4 pickle chips), Dijon (1 1/2 tsp), keep the 1/4 cup mayo, add some fresh dill, a light sprinkle of salt (my pickles are already brined in salt) and a heaping amount of fresh cracked pepper. Eat with crackers, spread on toast, or make a full sandwich.

Amber

There are a lot of comments about water temperature, but what you need to know is that there's too much mayonnaise in this.

SFOeater

This recipe is a keeper for sure. I cheated a little and used sweet pickle relish plus whole-grain mustard because I love the little pop and texture from the mustard seeds. I also left the eggs mostly whole sitting in the dressing so I could scoop out 1–2 eggs at a time for a snack or toast instead of making one giant bowl of egg salad. Such a smart, simple recipe.

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