At the heart of a great egg sandwich is a creamy egg filling and essential to this are soft boiled, not hard boiled eggs! The creamy yolks practically makes its own mayonnaise sauce and the soft-set egg whites almost melt in your mouth.
Egg sandwich thoughts
You wouldn’t think that someone would have so many opinions about a simple egg sandwich, but as I sat down to write this recipe, it turns out I do! Here’s my egg sandwich thought-dump, roughly in care-factor order:
No rubbery bits of whites – I don’t like little firm bits of egg whites in what should be a creamy egg filling. So I use soft boiled eggs with soft just-set egg whites, rather than hard boiled eggs which is more common in standard egg sandwiches.
Semi homemade mayo – Soft boiled eggs = creamy yolk = practically makes its own semi-homemade mayonnaise. It’s so good! Better flavour and more luxurious with less mayonnaise required.
No celery. I know that might be an unpopular opinion but crunchy bits in a creamy egg filling, no matter how small or finely sliced, just don’t appeal to me. Goes in the same bucket as #1.
Soft bread is best. Too much filling oozes out when you bite the sandwich if you use chewy, crusty artisan bread like sourdough.
So, if all that sounds good to you, then let me introduce to the egg sandwich of your dreams!
Creamy egg sandwich filling
Here’s an up-close-and-personal look at the filling. The left photo is just soft boiled eggs mashed up. You can see that it’s already pretty creamy, even before adding the mayonnaise! Then the photo on the right is the finished filling after adding the mayonnaise and mustard.
What you need for my egg sandwich
As already emphasised a number of times (reeks of passion, right??!), the key ingredient here is soft boiled rather than hard boiled eggs! With creamy yolks, you only need a mere dab of mayonnaise and smidge of mustard for a creamy, luxurious filling.
If you don’t have chives, substitute with finely minced green onion.
Soft boiled eggs – The creamy yolk gives you a head start on the creamy sauce so we only need 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise for 6 eggs (4 sandwiches). So we’re sort of making a semi-homemade mayonnaise here!
Mayonnaise – Whole egg mayo is creamier and less tangy than normal mayo. My favourite brand is S&W (Australia), followed by Hellman’s and Kewpie (equal second).
Dijon mustard – For flavour and a touch of tang.
Chives – For freshness and nice green bits in our filling.
Salt – Just 1/8 teaspoon! Trust me on this. Egg is weirdly salt adverse. The opposite of potatoes which can take loads of salt!
Best bread for egg sandwiches
As for the bread, you can really use anything you want though for traditional tea-type sandwiches (like pictured), soft white sandwich bread is the go. My only tip is to avoid crusty, chewy artisan bread (like sourdough). Filling ooze issues. Stick with soft bread!
How to make egg sandwiches
And the making part:
Cook soft boiled eggs and peel (8 minutes in boiling water). For full directions see my boiled eggs recipe, but I’ve included abbreviated directions in the recipe card below.
Mash the eggs using a fork to get it started, then a potato masher. The finer you mash, the creamier your filling! Once well mashed, you’ll see your filling is already semi-creamy.
Filling – Stir in the mayo, mustard, chives, salt and pepper.
Spread butter on the bread.
Spread filling on bread, from edge to edge!
Crusts – If you’re going for quaint English tea sandwiches, trim the crusts off then cut to your desired shape. The sandwiches pictured in post have been cut into 3 rectangles (4 sandwiches cut into a total of 12 finger sandwiches).
TIP: For extra neat edges, refrigerate the sandwiches for 1 hour before cutting. This will set the filling so you can cut more neatly. But be sure to serve at room temperature!
And there you have it! My egg sandwich. I know there are recipes out there with more bells and whistles, using fancier ingredients like creme fraiche, perhaps a smidge of curry powder, and other add-ins.
But to me, all that is unnecessary if you use soft boiled eggs. This is one of those recipes where the end result is so much more than the sum of its parts. I hope you give it a go! Let me know what you think if you do. And also, you know I always love hearing your thoughts on my thoughts on matters of food. Do you disagree with my position on soft boiled eggs? Do you think celery is mandatory? Fancier bread? Bring on the egg sandwich debate! 😂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Egg sandwich
Ingredients
Egg sandwich filling:
- 6 soft boiled eggs , at room temperature (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp whole egg mayonnaise (S&W brand best, Note 2)
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 2 tsp finely chopped chives (sub green onion)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp cooking/kosher salt (yes really, that's all!)
Sandwich:
- 8 slices soft white sandwich bread (Note 3)
- Soft salted butter , for spreading on bread
Instructions
- Mash egg: Place the eggs in a bowl and crush with a fork. Once mostly broken up, use a potato masher to mash them up really well. Smaller egg white bits = creamier filling.
- Filling: Add remaining filling ingredients and gently stir to combine. Taste and add more salt if desired, but add with caution because it's bizarre how little salt eggs can take!
- Make sandwich: Butter the bread. Divide filling between 4 pieces of bread, spread evenly edge to edge. Trim crusts (optional), then cut as you wish. (Note 4 tips)
- Serve: Always serve at room temperature, for best flavour!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life’s too short for bland sandwiches!
Life of Dozer
No egg sandwiches for Dozer! 💨💨
Hi Nagi
I agree Bakers Delight is the best fresh bread especially the Hi fibre Low Gi loaf it lasts longer than “normal” white please try it next time !
Cant wait to smash some egg sangas 🙂
Hi Nagi. In today’s post the egg sandwich link brought me right here but the get the recipe button took me too roast leg of lamb. Oops. 😏
Yup me too, easy fix just type egg in search 🙂
Thanks Paul. I got it. I was just trying to help Nagi out. Turns out I’m about the millionth person to let her know. Sorry Nagi. 🙄
OMG I LOVE a good egg sandwich!!! This simple recipe looks fabulous. I’m inspired! These are going in my belly today! I’ll let you the result
Fabulous. I’d made this the other day (comments under how to boil an egg!) I am going to make again today to try it with some mustard. Would freeze-dried chives work?
Your book arrived yesterday (Mar 28) from Amazon. It is very heavy! Spent a couple of hours going over every page. No, there are not too many pics of Dozer. My favourite in the book is page 262 with him looking at the bones from the lamb shanks. He looks so young in that one 🙂
Loving you from Toronto.
I make mine like this, but with the addition of ‘mustard and cress’ – that tiny-leaved salad addition found in a plastic growing tub in the fresh veg section of a supermarket (uk) – just snip it off with scissors….it adds a certain something to the basic recipe. I would agree with the no celery rule!
Thanks for the tips I picked up – no idea why I’ve never shelled eggs under water….tried it yesterday and it really was life-changing!!
Hi Nagi & Dozer,
This looks great! My daughter loves egg salad sammies! We will give yours a try.
Just received my “DINNER” cookbook – finally! It’s beautiful! We’re here in Pennsylvania, USA. Hubby can’t wait for me to use it. I’m looking forward to it, too! Worth the wait!
Love to you both!
Just received my cookbook in US. Truly beautiful and well layed out! Can’t wait to start cooking. Seriously, outstanding job Nagi!!
This looks delicious! I just got your beautiful Dinner book from Amazon! I have been waiting for so long and now I finally have it in my hot little hands. It’s truly beautiful. Can’t wait to get started cooking from it.
Looks great.
I just received my cookbook and have spent the last hour turning pages and greedily eyeing all the recipes. There is only one problem … I don’t know what to try first!!
Best wishes to you and Dozer from North Carolina, USA.
forgot to add…this recipe looks fab. I’ll be giving it a try.
Your book arrived about 10 mins ago!!! I’m so excited 🙂
I got to watch a tour of your to-die-for kitchen over the weekend…and today I received The Book. It doesn’t get much better than this!!!!!!
We tried this recipe with fancy eggs from a friend with chickens, and we edited the ratio of mustard to mayonnaise a little, as the Dijon mustard we had was very powerful! But this was definitely the most wonderful egg sandwich I’ve ever tried; so flavoursome and tasty. Thank you, Nagi, for another super recipe 🙂
Looking forward to giving this a try. It’s similar to my own, although I use ¼ tsp dry mustard (to 4-5 eggs) rather than Dijon. I also add 1 tblspn cream — if I have it, half-and-half if I don’t. And I agree, no celery. I don’t like clumps of other stuff in my egg salad; I’m also suspicious of the chives, but I’ll try. Thanks. Very much enjoy your site and your recipes. Awaiting arrival of your cookbook here in the USA.
I’m having right now for breakfast. Definitely best egg filling I made. Egg sandwich on another level.
I bet the the first word you said when you worked that out wasn’t Dozer… 🙂
What I said would’ve made sailors blush 😂
As a web designer myself, I totally understand. 😆😆
I’m absolutely with you on no celery. An interesting add I love is pepper stuffed green olives. Just a few, sliced.
Love your posts, Nagi. And love Dozer of course!
Ruth Eileen in Maine, usa
Perfectamundo!
Hard boiled eggs don’t live in my house, neither does celery. My filling is almost identical to this and I like to have some on hand for toast in the morning 💐
I find mustard too assertive when making egg sandwiches so instead I add lemon juice for acidity. Sounds odd but really brings the egg alive without taking over. Love the addition of chives, have to try that next time. For a veg option – I either add a handful of sweetcorn or serve with lettuce and radish – team crunch! But I agree creamier egg filling without the grease from too much mayo is a beautiful thing! Oh and I love that egg filling works with all types of bread – white, oatmeal, wholemeal seeded, brown bread.
There seems to something wrong I touch the heart to bring up my saved recipes but nothing happens