Quick & Easy Deviled Eggs

Aside from Christmas Cookies (which, let’s face it, are the end-all-be-all of holiday food), my favorite holiday-slash-party-food treat is deviled eggs.

You know what’s funny? It was only just this year that I realized that I could make deviled eggs any time I wanted to. I’m slow that way.

Whether you make them for special occasions or just whenever, they’re easy, delicious and fun to customize. Here’s how I make the most basic, easy, five minute deviled egg. There’s no specific measurements here, deviled eggs are a “go with the flow” kind of food. But you pretty much can’t mess them up, so don’t worry!

First, you need hard-boiled eggs. You can make as many or as few as you want. In this example, I’m making just one egg. Cut the eggs in half longwise and pop the yolks out into a bowl. Save the whites for later.

Then add about as much mayonnaise as there is egg yolks, more or less:

And a bit of seasoning. For the basic, simple deviled egg, you would use just a bit of yellow mustard, but this is really your chance to have fun. You could use a different mustard (Dijon or Stone Ground or Spicy Brown), or even get crazy and add pesto, curry powder, garlic, whatever you want. I usually add a pinch of garlic powder even if I’m doing the basic recipe.

Next, using a spoon, bash the yolks up and mix in the mayo and seasoning. You can smash the yolks against the side of the bowl to break up the clumps and incorporate everything.

Mixing, mixing, mixing… if you are going to serve these to guests, you might keep going until it’s all perfect, or even break out the whisk. When it’s just me, I don’t bother — this is about as good as it gets:

Use your spoon to get an even portion of the mixture…

…and spoon it into your empty egg whites. You can use another spoon to push the yolk mixture off the spoon. Or, let’s be honest here, I use my finger if I’m not serving to other people.

For a last little bit of color, sprinkle on some paprika. Or, again, you can add the seasoning of your choice. Chives, chopped onion, chili powder, seasoning salt… whatever you like.

And there you have it! Deviled eggs! Wasn’t that easy?

Here’s the recipe proper:

Basic (Easy) Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

Hard-boiled eggs Mayonnaise Mustard Paprika Or other seasonings of your choice (see commentary above).

Method

1. Peel your eggs, rinse off any shell bits and pat dry

2. Cut in half and pop yolks into a bowl, set whites aside

3. Add mayonnaise in nearly as much quantity as egg yolks

4. Add a dollop of mustard to taste

5. Using a spoon, smash the yolk mixture into the side of the bowl to break up clumps

6. Continue mixing until creamy

7. Spoon evenly into empty egg whites

8. Sprinkle with paprika

Try not to scarf them all down at once! Ha! 🙂

This post is part of my Christmas Parade series of Christmas blog posts for 2012. To see the entire post schedule and all the linky parties and other fun, check out the Christmas Parade Welcome post.

Linking up to: Domestic Fashionista’s Christmas Parade Recipes