OK so I made it clear that I don’t like mayo. You know what’s weird? I kind of like egg salad. Totally bizarre since mayo makes up the base of a traditional egg salad, right? When I was a kid, my mom made really good egg salad sandwiches on toasted wheat bread (the only kind of bread we were ALLOWED to eat). There was definitely mayo in her rendition, but the trick was to eat a sandwich fast enough so I didn’t have a chance to think about the mayo part. It totally worked.
I wanted to make egg salad last weekend but there’s no way I am going to buy a jar of mayo. Hell to the no! I don’t EVER EVER EVER want to see a grocery receipt of mine with the word mayonnaise on it. So here we have an mayo-free egg salad with the help of creamy ricotta and Greek yogurt. I added some chopped red peppers to add color & texture and it turned out pretty good! Next time I might add a little bit of chopped onion… a squeeze of lemon or a few minced jalapenos to the mix because it needs a little kick. Other than that, I’m pretty stoked to find a recipe for a mayo-free egg salad.
And we’re off!
Make your hard boiled eggs first. Get them going!
Gather your ingredients for the salad.
Chop that chive!
Chop that pepper!
Add them both to a bowl with the mustard, ricotta & yogurt.
Mix!! Taste for salt & pepper. Season accordingly.
The eggs are done…rinse them in cold water.
Peel them & chop them up!
Toss your chopped eggs whites & crumbled yolks in. MIX!!
Put some on a slice of toasted whole wheat bread. Top with arugula.
You can have egg salad without mayo.
It’s totally possible!
Fantastic Mayo-Free Egg Salad Sandwiches
Makes 4
(recipe adapted slightly from Power Foods, from the editors of Whole Living )
- 8 large hard-boiled eggs
- 3 tablespoons part-skim ricotta cheese
- 3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons chives, finely chopped
- 1/4 red bell pepper, finely chopped
- coarse salt & pepper
- 2 cups arugula
- 8 thin slices whole grain bread
To hard boil eggs, place them in a saucepan; add enough water to cover them by 1 inch. Bring water to a simmer; remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 12 minutes. Drain and rinse eggs under cold water.
Whisk together ricotta, yogurt, mustard, chives, red pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a bowl; season with pepper. Peel eggs; cut in half and remove yolks. Crumble yolks into a bowl and finely chip egg whites, add them to the yogurt mixture. Stir to combine.
Arrange eggs salad on top a slice of toasted wheat bread. Add the arugula and top with another slice of bread. This recipe makes enough for 4 sandwiches.
If you think the recipe needs a kick (like I suggested) chopped onions, a few pickled jalapenos finely minced or a squeeze of fresh lemon juice would do the trick! Maybe even a little bit of hot sauce?
