Add A Kick Of Spice To Egg Salad With Chili Crisp

Egg salad has many delicious qualities — richness and creaminess being just a couple — but if you're craving something spicy, this dish is rarely what you'll turn to. However, if you're a fiend for heat, there's no reason not to kick the spice level in your egg salad up a few notches. Even if you just like a touch of hot flavor, adding one ingredient to your bowl can make this backyard barbecue favorite a little more interesting. For an equal balance of flavor and heat, a dose of chili crisp delivers the perfect happy medium.

The ingredients in chili crisp vary widely by brand, but all types of this condiment will have some sort of balance of oil, fried ingredients, and spicy components. The latter can include peppercorns, red pepper flakes, and ancho chili, although you'll also get flavor-packed additions like ginger, scallions, star anise, or even anchovies. When it comes to your chili crisp, feel free to choose the flavors that best appeal to your preferences — but in general, you'll get a mix of heat and savory, umami tastes here. You'll also reap the condiment's textural benefits since in a classically creamy dish like egg salad, chili crisp will lend a subtle crunch to every bite.

If you want the biggest flavor and textural contrast, add your chili crisp to an ultra-creamy egg salad with minimal focus on briny ingredients. But really, any version of this dish makes an excellent base for this flavor-packed condiment. If deviled egg salad is the hottest you usually go (which isn't much, considering paprika is the spicy ingredient), chili crisp will only enhance that quality; and if you typically opt for lighter versions like a Greek yogurt or avocado egg salad, you can take the flavor in a different direction with a spoonful of spicy condiment. Maybe you're already a fan of adding punch to egg salad, for example, in our za'atar egg salad sandwich, in which case just layer in further flavor with a dollop of chili crisp.

As chili crisp is typically an Asian ingredient, feel free to add more complementary mix-ins. Swap out regular mayo for kewpie mayo, for instance, which only uses egg yolks and leaves out the whites. Or include sesame seeds, a little sesame oil, or rice wine vinegar. Then to add in some chili crisp, all you have to do is stir a spoonful in with everything else. The amount you add depends on how strong you want the flavor to be and how spicy your crisp is, but start with a couple of tablespoons and circle back if you want more. You'll never have to experience a bland egg salad again.