Steak Sauce Is Your Must-Have Ingredient For An Elevated Egg Salad

Egg salad might be a popular choice for spring or summer get-togethers, but not everyone is a fan. The dish is made from eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, and often vegetables like celery; except for the mustard, none of those have especially strong flavors on their own. If you don't add the right spices or herbs to the mixture, the result is a salad that's filling but not too flavorful. But if you're at a barbecue and you borrow the steak sauce meant for the brisket, you can punch up your egg salad in a really unique way.

Unlike scrambled eggs or chopped, hard-boiled eggs, which taste fairly mild, steak sauce has a signature sharp flavor. Many brands are made with pungent ingredients like vinegar, tomatoes, and raisins, and others commonly use Worcestershirer or soy sauce. This makes the condiment salty, sweet, and a little sour all at once, and egg salad — whether it's on crackers or in a sandwich — benefits from all of these.

You can be the ultimate judge of how much steak sauce is too much for your egg salad, but tossing in a teaspoon for every few eggs can give the dish a pronounced flavor that isn't overpowering. The amount of mayonnaise and mustard should still be higher than that of the steak sauce, as these are more crucial ingredients for the final product (although the common egg salad mistake of adding too much mayo can make the dish runny). If the salad still isn't strong enough for your taste, then hot sauce is a popular way to make eggs more interesting.

Alternatively, adding some of the individual ingredients in steak sauce can help add flavor. Many egg salads around the world include some kind of vinegar, whether it's white, apple cider, or tarragon. Worcestershire sauce is more concentrated than steak sauce and has a stronger vinegar flavor, and a little can go a long way when paired with eggs and mayonnaise. Straightforward ketchup is a more blunt solution, but it's sweet and savory, and it's a familiar taste for many picky eaters.

Whether or not you add steak sauce, herbs are the classic way to add flavor to egg salad, and there are plenty of options for how you can go about this. Dill adds grassy flavors to the eggs, parsley is a bit more peppery, and chives add flavor reminiscent of onions or garlic. Celery is most often used in egg salad for its crunchy texture rather than its mildly bitter taste, but if you're seeking a different kind of crunch, bits of bacon can also add texture while being more savory.

If you're looking for something unusual that's more filling, some celebrity chefs amp up their egg salad with avocados. This addition is healthy while still providing substance, and unlike extra mayo, it can make your salad creamier without making it runny. On the contrary, it's a chunky addition to mix in alongside the eggs. If you prefer your egg salad chunky, remember to chop — not mash — the eggs so they match the avocados' consistency.