The 2 Popular Deli Salads That Are Even Better When Mixed Together

Deli salads are a versatile and delicious set of recipes that encompass numerous proteins and are as delicious as a sandwich as they are by themselves. While you might be used to eating one deli salad at a time, mixing two deli salads together has a textural and flavorful payoff. Two popular deli salads that are even better when mixed together are tuna salad and egg salad.

If you think about it, these two recipes have many overlapping ingredients. Of course, they both contain a foundation of mayonnaise, but they also benefit from the crunch and tang of pickled ingredients. Plus, eggs are savory, creamy, and one of the most versatile ingredients on earth, so you know they'll pair perfectly with the umami-richness of tuna. Since many of the foundational ingredients overlap, combining the two might be as simple as adding diced hard-boiled eggs to a tuna salad recipe or a can of drained tuna to an egg salad recipe. 

Egg salads can be creamier and goopier than a tuna salad, so how you elaborate the mix depends on the texture you're looking for. Adding chopped eggs to a tuna salad will make it a meatier, crunchier salad, while adding drained tuna to an egg salad recipe will make it a bit gloopier. You can also hand-pick classic ingredients from each recipe to make the mix more cohesive and texturally balanced.

Tasting Table has no shortage of tuna salad and egg salad recipes, with certain recipes that would work especially well when mixed together. For example, you can mix this recipe for creamy egg salad with this recipe for simple and refined tuna meant for a sandwich. Both recipes are super creamy and contain mayo, mustard, chives, and parsley. You can add dill and lemon juice from the tuna recipe to the egg salad recipe. This combo would be a great sandwich filler to spread over toasted, crusty bread, which will bring the crunchy element.

For a more complex flavor combination, this green goddess tuna salad packs an herbaceous, aromatic punch as well as plenty of crunch from celery and green bell pepper. You could add halved or quartered jammy eggs to the recipe without changing any ratios for a beautifully presented open-faced sandwich or fancy toast. Add a drained can of tuna to this za'atar egg salad recipe. The tangy lemony flavors of the sumac would complement the umami-richness of the tuna. You could serve the dish over a bed of saffron rice or wrap it in a soft pita to garnish with tomatoes, pickled onions, and diced cucumber. You could even draw the sweet and spicy flavors in this deviled egg salad recipe from the paprika and sweet relish to the sauce in this zippy tuna pasta salad recipe. Add the chopped hard-boiled eggs along with the tuna and cabbage to the pasta.