If you’ve ever wondered how to make egg salad that’s creamy, well-seasoned, and not boring, this is it. This Simple Egg Salad Recipe uses fresh herbs, crunchy celery, and simply the right amount of tang. I make it constantly for unfussy lunches – especially as an egg salad sandwich piled onto toasted bread!

Love a simple lunch style recipe? You need to try our Southwest Bean Salad as well as our Simple Vegetarian Sushi recipe and our viral Dense Bean Salad!

Why you’ll love this old-school egg salad!

A good egg salad recipe is one of those things that simply feels so nostalgic for me because my grandmother made it for lunches during the summer all the time when I was growing up. I’ve probably eaten my weight in egg salad and I never get sick of it!

I like to try different flavor variations and weird ingredients but I figured it was time that I share my Basic egg salad recipe with you!

Why This Is the Go-to Egg Salad Recipe:

Old-school, simple ingredients
Creamy with only the right amount of crunch
Unfussy to customize
Dependable for sandwiches, toast, or meal prep (seriously the go-to make-ahead lunches!)

ingredients need to make egg salad sandwiches including hard boiled eggs, mayo, chives, red onion, celery etc

Ingredients needed

The basic ingredients for this unfussy egg salad recipe are listed fully down in the recipe card but let’s briefly go over the pantry staples needed including a few substitutions you can make as desired!

Hard-boiled eggs – The base of this old-school egg salad recipe. Slightly jammy yolks = creamier texture.
Mayonnaise – Makes the egg salad rich and smooth. Worth keeping using my from-scratch mayo in this method!
Dijon mustard – Adds depth without overpowering the eggs.
Lemon juice – Brightens everything and balances the mayo.
Fresh dill – Gives this that old-school, deli-style flavor that Worth keeping so much! In the winter or in a pinch, dried dill works only fine.
Chives or green onions – Mild onion flavor that blends right in. I’ve made this with finely chopped green onion and it works well!
Celery – Adds crunch and freshness. I often leave this out when I’m feeling a little lazy.
Red onion – Simply enough bite for balance! You can leave it out as desired. Soaking the red onion for 20 minutes takes away a little bit of the strong onion taste if you prefer that.
Capers (optional but high recommended!) – A salty, briny upgrade.
Toasted bread & greens – A regular here adding this to bread for egg salad sandwiches or to lettuce wraps for an even lighter option!
Other ingredients Worth keeping – dill pickles or dill relish (because A regular here my egg salad a little pickle-y), greek yogurt in place of mayo, fresh parsley, dash of hot sauce for a hint of heat, and spicy brown mustard!

How to Make It

Only a reminder that you can find the full recipe down in the recipe card, but I want to quickly go over how to make them with visuals for you:)

hard boiled eggs half peeled on a cutting board

Start by hard boiling your eggs – place a pot of water over high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Lower the eggs into the hot water with a slotted spoon and cook for 7 minutes. Remove the eggs and then place them in a bowl of ice water to cool. Once full cooled, peel the shells off of the eggs.

chopped up hard boiled eggs on a wood cutting board

Place the hard boiled eggs on a cutting board and roughly chop them up into small pieces (the whole egg including the egg yolks). You can make the pieces as big or small as you prefer. Place the chopped eggs into a mixing bowl.

ingredients in large bowl to make from-scratch egg salad including hard boiled eggs chopped up, red onion, chives, mayo, and celery

Combine all of the remaining ingredients in a large bowl with the chopped eggs including the diced hard boiled eggs, dijon mustard, mayo, red onion, chives, celery, and fresh dill.

Mix everything together so that it’s well combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper and enjoy! This makes a great sandwich/ straightforward lunch!

the go-to egg salad sandwich with greens

Recipe Tips

Don’t overcook the eggs – slightly jammy yolks make the dependable egg salad in my opinion!
Chill for 20–30 minutes before serving for go-to flavor. This gets better if you let it sit for a bit! I always love having leftover egg salad in the fridge.
If using capers, start light on salt and adjust after mixing. Capers are PARTICULARLY salt and I’ve made the mistake of adding too many + too much salt before.