The Best Deviled Eggs Recipe Ever

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Why is it that eggs are so hard to boil perfectly? Today I am going to share the secrets to how long to hard boil an egg and the best deviled eggs recipe.

I used to get so frustrated when I would boil a dozen eggs and when it came time to remove the shells, they took half of the egg with it. Fortunately, I finally figured out how to hard boil the perfect egg. Today I am sharing my exact, foolproof method to hard-boil eggs and I am sharing the Best Deviled Eggs Recipe which includes my secret ingredient!

The Best Deviled Eggs Recipe Ever
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The Best Deviled Eggs Recipe

I am sharing these recipes again because it’s almost Easter season and I love deviled eggs!

In our house, that deviled egg season begins before Easter and ends with Labor Day.

I made that up, but I think of deviled eggs as a spring/summer food. Of course, I love to serve them at brunches, picnics, BBQs, and all spring and summer events.

I wrote a post with tons of recipes for a BBQ. I love serving deviled eggs at a BBQ but I also like them as Spring nears and I might be making them this weekend.

One problem with my deviled eggs is that I have to make a ton of them! They literally fly off of the plate. I have one friend who routinely eats so many of them that she suffers from stomach pains the next day (but says that they are worth it!)

(Just so you know, I am not “that friend”. I recently found out I shouldn’t eat eggs so I don’t eat them as often and I am so sad!)

I was recently watching an episode of Magnolia Kitchen where Joanna Gaines was talking about when she first started her cooking show.

She described how her recipes were all in her head and she’d made them for so long, that she didn’t measure the ingredients, she just cooked by color, texture, and taste.

This is very much the way I cook. So when I decided to share this amazing deviled egg recipe, I had to figure out the measurements. I was pretty sure that you would not appreciate it if I told you to add a dash more of this than that. Or mix it until it felt like “this” and tasted like “that”.

Fortunately, I measured everything out for you so that I could share the recipe with you!

The Best Deviled Eggs Recipe Ever

Can I also say this is the cutest deviled egg plate ever? I love this White Ceramic Deviled Egg Plate (it’s new) and I got it on Amazon.

On this blog, I may sometimes use affiliate links, which means a small commission is earned if you purchase via the link. The price will be the same whether you use the affiliate link or go directly to the vendor’s website using a non-affiliate link.

The Best Method to Cook Hard-Boiled Eggs

A lot of people get frustrated with hard-boiling eggs. I think that is because there are a gazillion theories about the best way to hard-boil eggs so that the shells peel easily.

There are theories all over the internet debating fresh eggs vs. older eggs, steaming eggs vs. boiling eggs, peeling hot vs. peeling cold eggs, starting eggs in cold water and bring to a boil vs. adding eggs to boiling water. The list goes on and on.

After years and years of making deviled eggs, I have found a pretty foolproof method. 

When you cook eggs the right way and they peel easily, they will look like this! So when you fill them they will look great.

The Best Deviled Eggs Recipe

When you are adding the eggs to the water, be careful to gently lay the eggs in the bowl. If you drop them in they will likely crack!

Hard Boiled Eggs Time
Yield: 12 eggs

How to Cook Hard Boiled Eggs

Eggs Dyed Like Araucana Eggs

There are theories all over the internet debating fresh eggs vs. older eggs, steaming eggs vs. boiling eggs, peeling hot vs. peeling cold eggs, starting eggs in cold water and bring to a boil, the list goes on and on.

After years and years of making deviled eggs, I have found a method that is pretty foolproof. 

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 22 minutes

Ingredients

  • one dozen eggs

Instructions

  1. Start with a dozen eggs. It doesn’t matter if your eggs are fresh or older. Pull them out of the refrigerator and place on counter so that they will lose their chill;
  2. Fill a large stock pot with water; Bring the water to a boil (I don’t add anything to the water, no salt, etc);
  3. Once the water is boiling and the eggs have lost their chill, using a ladle, gently ladle the eggs, one at a time into the boiling water. Be careful not to crack the eggs. Eggs with cracks will spill their whites into the water, so inspect them for cracks prior to lowering into the boiling water; 
  4. Do not cook more than a dozen eggs at a time. The water to egg ratio is important for cooking the egg through to doneness; I may have made this up, but it makes sense to me. The reason this method delivers easily peeled eggs is this; as the egg is lowered into the boiling water, the shock of the heat creates a quick membrane inside the shell. This membrane is what makes the egg easily peelable.
  5. Boil eggs for approximately 12 minutes;
  6. Turn heat off and drain eggs into a colander in the sink (I use a colander insert in my stock pot so that I just remove the colander from the pot);
  7. Run cool water over the eggs to stop the cooking process;
  8. Once eggs are cooled, easily peel them.

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Deviled Eggs make the best snack, appetizer, lunch assortment, and kids snack! You are going to love this best Deviled Eggs recipe so much!

The Best Deviled Eggs Recipe

I love that these eggs look good and taste amazing.

Yield: 24 deviled half eggs

The Best Deviled Eggs Recipe Ever

The Best Deviled Eggs

These really is the best deviled eggs recipe ever.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 dozen hard boiled eggs
  • ¾ cup Mayonnaise
  • 1 TBL Yellow Mustard
  • ½ cup Durkee Famous Sauce (this is the secret ingredient that makes these eggs so amazing!)

Instructions

  1. Hard boil one dozen eggs.
  2. Once eggs are peeled, cut each egg in half length-wise. Remove the egg yolks to a mixing bowl to mix with the other ingredients and place the egg whites onto the deviled egg platters. 
  3. Start with the mayonnaise. This is the condiment which leads to the creamy texture of the deviled egg.
  4. Add the yellow mustard and Durkee Famous Sauce to the bowl.
  5. Using a hand blender (fondly referred to in our family as the guacamole maker, you can turn even hard avocados into guacamole with a hand blender) or hand mixer, blend the eggs yolks, mayonnaise, mustard and Durkee Famous Sauce until smooth and lump free. The volume of the egg yolks will have increased substantially. 
  6. I use my cake decorating kit to pipe the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites so that it looks pretty. Start by fitting the bag onto the tip. Place the tip end of the bag into a medium sized mason jar or glass. This keeps the bag standing upright and any filling leakage in the jar/glass. Use a spatula to spoon the egg filling into the decorating bag. Start by filling the egg in a circular motion, gently squeezing the bag until the egg is filled. When filled, stop gently squeezing the bag and lift the tip away from the egg, moving to the next egg white. You can just use a teaspoon and spoon it in if you prefer.
  7. Fill all of the egg whites with the egg yolk mixture (you will probably have leftover egg yolk mixture, this is really good as a tea sandwich filling!)

Here is the secret ingredient. As I mentioned in the recipe, if you can’t find Durkee at your local grocery store, you can always get it on Amazon.

The Secret Ingredient to Deviled Eggs

In case you are wondering, I do not garnish my deviled eggs with paprika. Of course, you can if you like. I prefer to either serve mine plain, or garnish with crumbled bacon. Some serve deviled eggs with caviar or fish roe. Someday I might be grown up enough to like caviar, but today is not that day!

If you have clever garnish ideas, I’d love to know what they are. Honestly, these eggs sometimes don’t even make it to the platter, I hand them out as they get filled and poof, they are all gone.

The recipe is for 1 dozen eggs which yields 2 dozen deviled eggs. Depending on the number of people I am serving, I usually make 2 dozen hard-boiled eggs that yield 4 dozen deviled eggs. You may be laughing, thinking that there is a ridiculous amount of deviled eggs to make, but trust me, these go fast!

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do you boil an egg?

For a hard-boiled egg, the cooking time is 10-12 minutes. This timing depends on your altitude, the size of the eggs, and several eggs boiled at the same time, which impacts the ratio of water to eggs.


Why do they call eggs deviled eggs?

The term deviled egg comes from an 18th-century culinary term that is used to describe a highly seasoned dish. Over the years the term deviled has grown to include spicy, condiment-filled dishes, as well.

More Ideas From All of You

So many of you shared your cooking and recipe ideas for hard-boiled and deviled eggs. I wanted to share them here.

  • Jean: I have been using my Instant Pot to cook my eggs. The 5-5-5 method. 5 minutes using the steam function, 5 minutes reading LO5, and 5 minutes in an ice bath. They peel like a dream. It works foolproof every single time. And one thing I LOVE about this method is, you don’t end up with that dark ring around the yolk. The yolks are all beautifully yellow.
  • Steven: Leslie, another secret we’ve found is adding some vinegar to the water. The shells peel off so easily when we do this.
  • Paula: Yummy! Thank you! A favorite French restaurant of ours serves Truffle Deviled eggs! So good! Have not tried making those yet.
  • Darlene: The instant pot cured this problem for me!! Foolproof every time and easy!
  • Sally: We use a Dash Egg Cooker. Perfect eggs and easy to peel every time. It seemed crazy to buy something to cook eggs but it takes all of the guesswork out of cooking perfect, easy-to-peel eggs.
  • Marsha: I bought an Express egg cooker. You can boil 6 eggs at a time in a few minutes. Just plug it in with a little water. In a few minutes, you will have perfect boiled eggs. The shells just fall off. $15
  • Beth: My husband and 3 sons devour my deviled eggs too! Love all the tips and tricks. My secret ingredient is Mrs. Campbell’s Chow chow. Used to use sweet pickle relish and tried some Chow chow one time and wow, so good! I also top them with chives or a pinch of green onions.
  • Becky: A caterer told me this quirky tip years ago. It does help for centering the yolks…if you even care! I just have trouble remembering to do it. ~To center yolks perfectly in anticipation of making deviled eggs: place a rubber band around the carton of eggs, and set the carton on its side in the refrigerator for 24 hours before hard-boiling the eggs.
  • Tricia: My daughter is a chef at a restaurant in Dallas and she puts a tiny bit of jalapeño in her deviled eggs. They are so good.
  • Sonia: I make mine with mayo, ground mustard powder, and a pinch of Wasabi powder, or more for a kick. Make a lot of them too.

Some of my favorite egg plates and tools for making the best deviled eggs ever!

All My Favorite Deviled Egg Trays!

SHOP HERE

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Two dozen hard boiled eggs in egg plates using the best recipe ever!

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73 Comments

  1. I use the same method as you do to boil my eggs except that I use a large bowl filled with ice to lay the eggs on and then cover them with cold water to cool. Works perfect for fresh eggs. No more chunky peeled eggs ! When making deviled eggs, I add parsley and imitation bacon bits to my mashed up egg yolks, stirring it all together with Miracle Whip. A little sprinkle of paprika on the top and they are done. I don’t measure either I just throw it in and stir. 😊

  2. Now I have to look for the “Famous Sauce”! Have heard all the tricks for perfectly peeled eggs but had a really wonderful cook tell me to crack the cooled, hard boiled eggs on both ends before peeling. It really does help!

    1. It is such a timesaver! You can find the “Famous Sauce” on Amazon if it’s not at your local grocery store!

  3. I’ve never heard of that famous sauce. i’ll have to look for some. I make mine in an instant pot. It works perfect every time and the shells just slip off. Even when using fresh eggs!

      1. Thank you for the time and effort you put into your blog.

        Rolling a boiled egg on the counter to crack the shell in very tiny pieces all over insures that the shell almost falls off in one piece, unless the eggs are extremely fresh.

        I love Durkee’s too. Adding it to mayo and curry powder makes a wonderful dipping sauce for steamed broccoli.

  4. Excellent recipe for deviled eggs. I usually add a slice of pimento stuffed olive on top
    To increase presentation. Love your beautiful site..

  5. Hi Leslie,
    I watch my inbox everyday for your emails. I love your creativity and your energy! I have no skills at crafting at all but I do love to cook. I believe I have exhausted every avenue to procure some Durkee Famous Sauce up here in Toronto. I am holding on to your recipe in the hopes that I will some day find that missing key ingredient.
    Louise
    PS I especially love your tips/recipes re. entertaining. Your Christmas parties are inspiring!

    1. Oh my gosh, this note really made my day thank you! Could you find some on Amazon? I am so glad you enjoy everything, thank you!

  6. Ok Leslie, I have NEVER commented on anything on Pinterest. You are the first. My deviled eggs turned out phenomenal following your method. These were brand new, fresh eggs from the grocery!!!!

  7. I think this is the very first time I have seen my favorite secret sauce in a recipe on the internet. I thought I was the only one who knew about this! Glad to know I was wrong! I use this as a topping for potato salad. I can’t wait to try it in my deviled eggs. I’m also going to try your egg cooking method. Mine works very well but yours makes complete sense about shocking the membrane to release it. Thanks for these helpful tips and the yummy sounding recipe.

  8. Oh my goodness!!! I can not wait to use your recipe for boiled eggs!!! Like us all I’ve been trying to perfect the cooking process but mostly the easy peel process! Thank you for sharing!!!

    Can’t wait to try your deviled egg recipe with the secret Durkee Famous Sauce. Through the years I’ve seasoned mine with celery salt, or added finely chopped green olives (my cousins recipe) the green olives in mixture can get a bit overpowering.

    Thank you Leslie, you are such a dear!! So enjoy your blog, and posts!

  9. I’ve never heard of this sauce I’ll have to look online fir it. I use lime juice & lime salt, mayo & desonaise in my recipe & garnish with paprika & my family likes this version. I always used just a potato masher to mash the yolks before adding the ingredients. I’ll have to try the hand mixer sounds like it doubles the size of the filling so, thanks for the tip.

  10. My mom always told me to start the eggs in cold water and I have always had trouble peeling them. I can’t wait to try your method. I use Miracle Whip, a dash of mustard, a dash of salt, a dash of sugar and Horsey Sauce ( Horseradish sauce like Arby’s uses. I use just a little to give it a kick. Yummy!

  11. I did not receive your deviled eggs recipe on Saturday, so I subscribed again. I don’t know why I have so much trouble getting your blogs. I certainly every blog every.

  12. I sometimes put a small amount of creamy peanut butter in deviled eggs. Can’t taste it but it makes them more creamy. Also I cook them in an egg cooker and plunge them in ice water till cold the shells come off very easily. Glad to hear trick of turning egg cartons on their sides to get yolks centered

  13. I love traditional deviled eggs, but recently was introduced to Ranch Deviled eggs. Hard boil your eggs and then add mayonnaise and Ranch dry seasoning dressing mix to taste. Mix well and fill your eggs! A nice delicious change. And these fly off the plate too. Especially with kids, cause everything’s better with Ranch on it 😉

  14. This is my fool-proof method:
    Put eggs in saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Turn burner off and let eggs sit with lid on for 12 minutes. Drain off water. Add cold water. Peel after a few minutes.

  15. I also cook my eggs in the instant pot with perfectly cooked, easy peel eggs!
    I’m Scandinavian in heritage and we love pickled herring or gravlox ( cured salmon) topping our deviled eggs!!

  16. Great post. At a Virginia workshop you served us salmon marinated with soy and maple syrup. Could you please send me the recipe or is it published on your blog? I’ve searched but couldn’t find it.. thanks Nancy

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