A Southerner reveals her finest deviled egg techniques and recipes, from primary flavors to guacamole-inspired variations of your wildest deviled egg fantasies.
A plate of these fellas is almost always on the table at any Southern celebration, whether it’s a baby shower, tailgate, breakfast, or potluck. Easter deviled eggs are a thing: we always make many of them, using the dozen or two eggs we colored to greet the Easter bunny.
While I adore eating deviled eggs, I don’t necessarily enjoy making them. It used to take a long time to hard-boil, peel, and fill them. And, as a professional food stylist, I was distraught with the ones that refused to cooperate during peeling, with the shells adhering to the cooked egg white like glue.
Over the years, I tried every method in the book for easy-peel eggs:
- Adding baking soda or vinegar to the water.
- Starting with room-temperature eggs.
- Using older eggs, the list goes on.
While I noticed that older eggs peel easier than new eggs, the game changer was an incredible technique I read about in a Yummly article.
What’s the catch? Steaming fresh-from-the-fridge eggs rather than hard-boiling them. When I tried it, a lightbulb went off, and peeling has been a breeze ever since.
When I create deviled eggs now, I can focus on the enjoyable bits, like making inventive fillings and decorating them to my heart’s content.
How to make deviled eggs the easy way
As previously said, we will begin by steaming the eggs rather than boiling them. This guarantees that the membrane and shell do not fuse during cooking.
1. Steam the eggs; don’t boil them
Fill a wide saucepan with one inch of water and a steamer basket. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, covered. When steam appears, carefully add large cold eggs. Cover the kettle and bring the water back to a spot. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook the eggs for 13-14 minutes.
2. Plunge the eggs into an ice water bath
Transfer the eggs to an ice water bath as soon as they are done steaming to stop the cooking and avoid a gray-green ring from forming around the yolks.
3. Peel the hard-cooked eggs
Take the eggs out of the ice water and lightly tap or roll them on a surface. Remove the shells from the egg whites with care.
4. Halve the eggs and mash the yolks
Cut the eggs in half lengthwise with a sharp paring knife. Mash the cooked yolks with a pastry blender or fork in a bowl.
5. How to make deviled egg filling
Mix in your chosen filling ingredients (mayo, creative seasonings, etc.). See the recipes below for ideas!). Fill a piping bag with a star tip with the filling. Alternatively, cut a corner off a large zip-top plastic bag. Fill the egg white halves with the packing and decorate as desired.
The total time for basic deviled eggs is roughly 50 minutes, although only half is spent preparing them. The rest is chilling and steaming.
Read more: How to Prepare Yakisoba