Forget Paprika: The Hands-Down Best Deviled Eggs Are Topped With A Spicier Ingredient

What's so devilish about deviled eggs? Well, the name comes from an old-fashioned term for food with a lot of hot spices in it (hot being "the devil's temperature," per Kenneth from "30 Rock"); that's why you'll sometimes see deviled ham, although if you ask us, you should avoid it. But we don't blame you if you taste deviled eggs and wish they had a bit more brimstone. That's why, in lieu of paprika (or perhaps in addition to paprika, if you're feeling really wild), you should include some jalapeño peppers.

What kind of jalapeño peppers? That's up to you. Maybe you want the nice crunch of fresh jalapeño to go with your creamy, savory appetizer. Maybe you want a bit of tangy brine, so you'll go for pickled jalapeños. (As an added bonus, having them pickled gives you more flavor, if you're frustrated by how jalapeños aren't as spicy anymore.) Maybe you want to get the best of both worlds, so you use a mixture of fresh and pickled. Whatever the case, they're going to give a de rigueur hors d'oeuvre the kick in the pants it needs. It may not scorch your tongue (even before they became less spicy, jalapeños were pretty low on the Scoville scale), but it will make it very happy indeed.

It's all well and good to know that you want to add jalapeño peppers to your deviled eggs, but there are still a few other questions to answer. How, exactly, should you add the peppers? Should they be minced into itty bitty pieces, perfect for speckling your egg-and-mayo conglomerate? Should they be diced into slightly larger but nonetheless sprinkle-able cubes? Or should you just cut them in half and give each deviled egg its own crunchy demi-slice? It all depends on whether you want a heartier bite or something a little more subtle. To paraphrase the legendary Chef John, you are the captain of what happens with your capsaicin. (Look, we couldn't come up with a direct rhyme — cut us some slack.)

You can add these peppers to your regular old deviled egg recipe and it'll come out wonderfully. But if you want, you can add some other ingredients to really bring out the best in your jalapeño. Assuming you don't have the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap, you can add it to your deviled egg mixture to lend some bright herbaceousness that plays nicely with the peppers. You can replace bog standard mayonnaise with sour cream, which will make every ingredient taste more fresh. And of course, there are few dishes that couldn't be improved with the addition of bacon bits. Make it for your next get-together and thank us later.