Level Up Your Deviled Eggs Game With One Spicy Ingredient

Deviled eggs are great party snacks that typically offer a delicious combination of creamy, salty, and slightly tangy flavors. If you love the light kick that the mustard gives your deviled eggs, you might want to try ramping up the heat even more by adding a new kind of spice into the yolk mixture – harissa.

If you're not familiar, harissa is a type of chili paste that hails from North Africa. This condiment contains not only dried and fresh chili peppers that give it a hearty bit of fire but also several spices, such as caraway, coriander, and cumin seeds, that contribute to its unique flavor. Harissa paste typically tastes spicy, smoky, and sweet, making it a versatile ingredient in the kitchen.

The fiery, smoky, and sweet elements combine to put a new spin on deviled eggs when you use harissa. Plus, the paste turns the yolk mixture into a deep orange color, which offers a new look to classic deviled eggs.

Besides adding heat to your deviled eggs, harissa also has a smokiness that complements the richness of the egg mixture. These smoky notes go particularly well with the paprika that's traditionally sprinkled on the appetizer as a garnish since paprika can also come in the smoked variety.

Another great reason to add harissa paste to your yolk mixture is that it comes in varying spice levels. That makes it a condiment that's easy to adjust according to your tolerance while still infusing your deviled eggs with the other complex flavors. Start by adding a little bit at a time, and taste the egg mixture to create a filling that has the level of heat you're looking for. 

Harissa also has citrusy notes from lemon, that give the deviled eggs a zestiness. This can brighten up your snack and give it a bit of a zing that balances out some of the rich, salty flavors typically found in deviled eggs. 

If you love the idea of adding heat to your deviled eggs using harissa, there are some other ways to add fire to this classic appetizer as well. One option is to make wasabi deviled eggs. Wasabi is a plant from the mustard family that has a strong, pungent flavor and a short-lived yet powerful spice that will clear your sinuses. Adding it to your deviled eggs gives them a dramatic kick.

Another choice is to go with a sriracha-infused spicy deviled egg recipe. Sriracha has notes of sweetness while still adding considerable spice to your eggs. This sauce also tends to be fairly garlicky and slightly milder than other hot sauces, which is perfect for those who want to bring on some heat but don't want to burn their mouth off.

Finally, you could also make green jalapeño deviled eggs. For this recipe, you'll add fiery green jalapeño hot sauce to the yolk mixture then complete the dish by topping each egg with a slice of fresh jalapeño. So, whether it's harissa, sriracha, wasabi, or jalapeños, there are plenty of ways for spice lovers to upgrade the usual creamy deviled eggs for their next get-together.