Bring Gourmet Flavor To Egg Salad With This Zingy Add-In

Egg salad is something most of us have been eating since we were kids, but even the most classic recipes need a little shaking up from time to time. If you're feeling bored with the mild creaminess, try out this zingy add-in: pickled red onions. Either mixed in or sat on top, this condiment adds a tangy crunch that cuts right through the creaminess of egg salad. The bright color contrasting with the pale yellow is also great for presentation.

The first time I had pickled red onion with egg salad, it was actually not intentional. You see, I live in a country called Denmark, and Denmark is legitimately obsessed with pickled red onions. They're on top of every salad, every egg salad smørrebrød, and every sandwich, and they're always available as a condiment to pile on your plate. Honestly, I find it to be too much in a lot of cases, but with egg salad, it really works.

It's a versatile add-in too, working well with both plain recipes and those already spruced up with mustard, celery, scallions, spices, or whatever other ingredients you put in your egg salad. In Denmark, we also serve curried egg salad with pickled red onions, which results in a lot of flavor. If you want to try this zingy egg salad, you have three options: Buy some pickled red onions, prepare some make-ahead pickled red onions, or throw together the quick-pickled version. As long as you've got red onions, vinegar, sugar, and salt, you'll be able to manage something.

If you want to make your own pickled red onions, you'll need to heat vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a pan until the sugar dissolves. For slow-pickled onions, let the liquid cool before adding it to your jar of onions. For the quick-pickled variety, one method is to add the onions to the pan and heat them until they start to soften, then cool before putting everything into a jar. The other option is to skip the heating but cut the onions as thin as possible to help them tenderize and absorb as much flavor as they can in the limited time they've got.

Either way, once the mixture and onions are safely in the jar, you can add any desired mix-ins (such as garlic cloves, peppercorns, or chiles) and move it to the fridge. Quick-pickled onions will be ready to eat as soon as they've cooled. The slow-pickled version should be left overnight, and both can last for multiple weeks in the fridge when stored properly.

As for adding them to your egg salad, you can do it however you like, be it adding them to your sandwich at build time, chopping them up and mixing them directly into the egg salad, or mixing in bigger pieces. The only thing to watch out for is the pickling liquid — don't let too much get into your salad because it will mess with the taste and consistency. If you want to make things even more tangy, try making your egg salad with pickled eggs!