Give Egg Salad 10X The Flavor By Adding This Tangy Mix-In

There's lots to love about egg salad. It can be everything from a reliable sandwich filling to an elegant appetizer, lets you call a mélange of hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise a "salad" with a straight face, and practically begs for creative additions and upgrades. That's why, the next time you're mixing up a batch of egg salad, you should give it 10 times the flavor by mixing in some tangy capers.

If you've followed Tasting Table's prior advice, you know that you should always have a jar of capers in your pantry. But if you only ever pull it out when making well-known, caper-centric dishes like chicken piccata or spaghetti puttanesca, you may be underestimating the full range of applications the briny little delights possess. Capers are the immature flower buds of the Capparis spinosa bush, and the pickled variety you'll find at the store brings both vinegary piquancy and some subtle but noticeable textural contrast to the soft, creamy richness of your average egg salad. 

Because of their small size, capers need only be roughly chopped before being incorporated. However, these little beauties do pack a big punch when it comes to saltiness (that's what some of us love about them), so bear that in mind when seasoning your salad. Like anchovies or olives, the amount of capers you use will depend on how much of a fiend you are for their taste, but two tablespoons of drained capers per eight eggs is a reasonable ratio. Ideally, opt for the smallest capers known as nonpareil capers – these will be more expensive, as capers need to be harvested by hand, but they're worth it, as their texture will be firmer. That said, opinions vary over whether nonpareils are more powerful in flavor.

While the addition of capers to egg salad is a game-changer on its own, part of what makes capers so wonderful is the versatile manner in which they interact with other strong flavors and textures. Additional popular ingredients for a caper-boosted egg salad include mustard, diced onion or shallot, and fresh dill. As in any piccata recipe, capers go well with lemon, so lemon juice or zest would bring a welcome citrusy element. Capers also make an excellent pesto, so you can add some herby flavor notes to your egg salad with a dollop.

If you are a lover of umami, the fifth taste that is quite different from savory, you could go in a more Mediterranean direction by eschewing the traditional mayonnaise in favor of olive oil and tossing in some diced anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes. If you are looking to turn this classic side dish into a meal in itself, however, you could include all of the aforementioned ingredients along with carrot, peas, tuna, and potatoes in a particularly elaborate Ensaladilla Rusa, the Spanish twist that allows you to change up a basic potato salad, and serve it up with some crusty bread.