Deviled Egg Pasta Salad

A rustic macaroni salad made with elbow noodles, chopped boiled eggs and a simple but perfectly seasoned dressing perfect for everything from burgers to Sunday dinner.

JUMP TO RECIPE

The first time I saw a recipe for this I skipped right by it and thought… yeah, OK, just because you stirred some macaroni noodles in with some egg salad and churched it up with a cutsie name doesn’t make it a thing.

Then I got to thinking about how good that might actually be. I LOVE boiled eggs. Well, I love boiled egg whites – I can’t get down with plain boiled egg yolks – and deviled eggs and egg salad.

And y’all might think this is weird but my favorite way to eat egg salad is on plain Lay’s potato chips like a chunky dip. So mixing egg salad with some well-seasoned pasta might be right up my alley!

I made this and sheepishly served it one night alongside some pan-fried burgers for a quick weeknight supper and waited to hear complaints… where’s the potato salad? what even is that? can we just have chips?

Everyone loved it! My middle even asked me to make it again with Sunday dinner a few days later. Well, I’ll be. I did not see that coming!

The recipes I’ve seen online are mostly macaroni with some boiled eggs added (probably 80% pasta, 20% boiled eggs). But when I’m eating classic Southern potato salad I find myself trying to navigate the serving spoon to get as many chopped boiled eggs as I can manage which made me decide to aim for about a 50/50 ratio of macaroni to eggs.

Plus, I figured it would be a way to beef up the protein in this (and subsequently reduce the carbs) which would make it a little bit healthier. Not to say this is healthy – it’s not – but cutting carbs and increasing protein is always something I try to do when I have the chance.

I’m pretty plain jane with my egg salad and deviled eggs – just mayo, a little mustard, salt and a hint of a few other spices so that’s how I made this recipe. If you enjoy pickle relish (sweet or dill), chopped celery or fresh herbs in your egg salad, then definitely add them!

The way I put things together in this is similar to my macaroni salad recipe in that you sorta "marinate" the cooked noodles with the seasonings to let them soak up some flavor before you add the mayo and other ingredients which I think makes it taste SO MUCH BETTER than regular ol' macaroni salad.

Now, it never once occurred to me that someone might need directions for it until a friend of mine was helping me cook supper one day and asked me how I wanted her to cut the eggs for the potato salad. I said, just chop ‘em up and she told me she didn’t really know how to do that.

I just stood there with my hands in the sink and stared at her for a minute. The only thing that broke me out of my trance was the sound of the running water I was washing up with. I opened my mouth to speak but just gaped like a fish out of water because I could not find my words.

She blushed first then squared up a little, flung her “looka here” finger my direction and told me not everyone grew up with a mama that cooked and taught them stuff like that and I ought to remember that the next time I want to pull a fish face on someone for not knowing how to do something.

Welp.

There you go.

Dang it, I hate when I’m in the wrong. I hate it I hate it I hate it! But I was and I felt about two inches tall. I told her she was absolutely right, that I was sorry and that I’d show her how I chop my eggs. Then I made a mental note to call Mama and tell her I loved her.

HOW TO CHOP BOILED EGGS WITHOUT AN EGG SLICER

1. Hold the egg in the palm of your hand on its side.
2. Using a paring knife, make one slice down the center of the egg lengthwise, cutting it in half but holding it together. Then cut two more slices on either side of (parallel to) the first cut.
3. Rotate the egg a quarter turn then repeat. What you have now is essentially an egg cut into 16 strips.
4. Still holding the egg together, start cutting it from the other direction which will chop the egg into small cubes.
5. Keep the egg cubes in your palm then roughly chop the egg a little more, focusing on the yolk so that it gets especially broken up.
6. Repeat with remaining eggs.

You’ll want gorgeous boiled eggs for this recipe so let me tell you how to get them and never have the dreaded green or grey yolks ever again! To ensure you have no discoloration in your egg yolks you want to add them to the water after it’s boiling and then shock them in ice water when they’re done.

Cooking eggs at too high of temperature and/or for too long is what causes the green/grey color in the yolks. The sulfur in the whites and the iron in the yolks do ugly (though harmless) things to each other when they’re too hot for too long in such a tiny, confined space.

HOW TO BOIL EGGS WITHOUT GREEN YOLKS

1. Bring a pot of water to a full, rolling boil. A wide shallow pan works best if you have it. You’ll want enough water in the pan to completely cover the eggs.
2. Once the water is boiling, gently lower each egg into the water using a slotted spoon. Work as quickly as you can without dropping the eggs to ensure they all cook the same amount of time.
3. Adding the eggs should bring the temperature down in the water – which is good. We want simmering, not boiling, water. Once water starts to boil again, reduce heat to prevent it from reaching a full, rolling boil.
4. Once all the eggs are in the pot, cook for 10-12 minutes (medium eggs – 10 mins, large eggs – 11 mins, jumbo eggs – 12 mins).
5. Drain the eggs then cover with ice.
6. Once all of the ice has melted and the eggs are cold, crack and peel.

To help the eggs peel easier, shock the hot eggs with ice water and the peel will come right off. Super fresh eggs are the hardest to peel regardless of cooking technique. When I know I’m going to be using a lot of boiled eggs, I try to buy them a couple weeks before I will need them to ensure they slide right out of the shells and look gorgeous.

Recipe for Deviled Egg Pasta Salad

deviled egg, devilled egg, macaroni salad, pasta salad, boiled eggs, side dish, how to chop boiled eggs, easy, best, southern, recipe, mayonnaise, pickle juice

side dish, salad

Yield: 8 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Deviled Egg Pasta Salad

A rustic macaroni salad made with elbow noodles, chopped boiled eggs and a simple but perfectly seasoned dressing that makes an easy, tasty side dish perfect for everything from burgers to Sunday dinner.

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 25 Min

Ingredients

• 2 cups macaroni noodles, uncooked
• 12 boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1/3 cups mayo, plus more if necessary
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar or pickle juice

Instructions

1. Cook macaroni per manufacturer’s instructions in liberally salted water. Drain noodles then rinse in cold water. Drain noodles well then add to a mixing bowl. Don’t leave noodles to set and dry out. You want them to be slightly moist to absorb the seasonings but not dripping water.
2. Add Dijon mustard, chives, salt, white pepper, onion powder and garlic powder to the macaroni then stir until well combined. Let pasta “marinate” in the seasonings for 15-20 minutes uncovered at room temperature. Doing this allows the pasta to soak up the flavors of the seasonings before adding the mayonnaise.
3. Add chopped boiled eggs to mixing bowl with macaroni noodles.
4. Combine mayonnaise and vinegar or pickle juice in a small bowl then mix well. Add mayo mixture to macaroni and eggs then gently stir until well combined.
5. Taste for seasoning then add more to taste if needed. Add more mayo if desired (I tend to like my pasta salads dressed lightly but feel free to add more).
6. Garnish with additional fresh chives if desired. I didn’t do it the day I took these photos but I often dust this with paprika and garnish with boiled egg slices.
7. Serve or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. If made the night before you will likely need to add more mayo before serving as the noodles will soak up the dressing overnight.

Notes

• Use sweet or dill pickle juice – whichever you type of pickle you enjoy in egg salad or deviled eggs. If you don’t use either, substitute white vinegar or skip this step. It just gives the salad a little zip.
• If you enjoy pickle relish (sweet or dill), chopped celery or other fresh herbs in your egg salad, then definitely add them!
• Substitute 1/2 teaspoon black pepper for the 1/4 teaspoon white pepper if needed.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2020/08/deviled-egg-pasta-salad.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2020

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