Forget Bland Egg Salad: This Crunchy Addition Brings Next Level Flavor

When made well, egg salad is a wonderful sandwich filling. The ingredients are inexpensive and its rich, creamy texture has a delightful decadence to it. The trouble with egg salad, though, is that if you aren't careful, it can come out pretty bland — eggs and mayonnaise aren't quite enough to make a delicious sandwich on their own. But if you do end up with a bowl of boring egg salad, all it takes to perk things up is a spoonful of pickled red onions.

Those brilliant pink brined alliums are a perfect addition to egg salad for several reasons. The first reason, of course, is the flavor. A bland egg salad is instantly lifted by the aromatic onions, but the brine is an important aspect as well. Salt and sugar balance the seasoning, but it's the acidity that has the biggest impact, cutting through the richness of the egg salad and delivering a delightful zing. Beyond the flavor, pickled red onions also add a vibrant contrasting color. The pale yellow hue of egg salad is pleasant enough, but when set against the green of fresh lettuce with pops of pink, it really catches the eye. Then there is the crunch of the onions that will add a nice contrast to the creaminess of egg salad.

Once you start adding pickled onions to your sandwiches — egg salad and otherwise — you'll understand just how good this combination is. Not quite so pungent as fresh red onion, you'll start finding all sorts of uses for pickled onions around the kitchen. You'll be happy to know that pickled onions are quite easy to make as well, requiring no more than a bit of chopping, a simple brine, and a few hours' wait.

Once you have a jar of pickled red onions in the refrigerator, it's easy enough to toss a few on top of an egg salad sandwich, or you can try dicing them up and mixing them right into the salad itself. But while you're getting into that, it's worth thinking about other ingredients you can use to elevate your egg salad. If you like the crunchy tang of pickled red onions but don't have any on hand, a simple swap would be to try mixing chopped cornichons into your egg salad, or perhaps even pickled jalapeños. Capers are another favorite egg salad addition that also introduce delightful bursts of flavor.

As it turns out, there are actually many egg salad dishes from all around the world that can inspire a bit of culinary creativity. German eiersalat doesn't just add pickles, but also finely chopped apple, adding an interesting sweet element to the dish. You can take inspiration from it and try adding some apples along with pickled red onions to your egg salad. In Sweden, on the other hand, gubbröra brings a briny taste of the sea with ingredients like sprat fillets, anchovies, and cod roe. Or, for another interesting twist, try making a batch of za'atar egg salad sandwiches flavored with sumac, sesame, and herbs, then pop pickled red onions into the mix.

At its core, egg salad is a very simple dish. It is, in fact, often too simple. Fortunately, simplicity in this case also means versatility. This rich, mild-flavored sandwich filling takes well to all manner of interesting additions. If you want one that goes with everything, however, start with crunchy, salty, sweet, and tangy pickled onions.