Egg salad with avocado, jalapeño and lime

After you've eaten your way through all of the sweets and Peeps of the holiday season, you probably have a few leftover hard-boiled eggs languishing in the refrigerator. It doesn't take much to turn those eggs into a truly peppy egg salad, one that absolutely will not remind you of what you found in your grade school lunch box.

Here's an egg salad for grown-ups. It's filled with tangy little bites of jalapeño pepper, creamy avocado, and bursts of lime. Fill a roll-up, top some crackers, or serve it in a lettuce leaf. I used a low-carb flatbread one day, and romaine lettuce the next day, and both were equally delicious. Okay, maybe not as delicious as a chocolate bunny, but much healthier, and a fine way to use leftovers. I like to use my egg slicer rather than a knife to make a first pass at the eggs; the eggs won't roll around, and it makes them easier to chop and smoosh with the avocado.

Egg salad with avocado, jalapeño and lime {vegetarian}

From the pantry, you'll need: eggs, mayonnaise, jalapeño pepper, lime, kosher salt, fresh black pepper, parsley.

Serves 2-3; can be multiplied.

Ingredients

4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped or sliced with an egg slicer
1 small avocado, chopped
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp minced red bell pepper
1/4 tsp minced jalapeño pepper, or more to taste
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper

Directions

In a mixing bowl, use a rubber spatula to combine all ingredients, smashing the egg and avocado a little bit here and there.

Taste, and adjust seasoning with more jalapeño, lime, salt or pepper.

Serve chilled or at room temperature, on toast, in a roll-up, or in lettuce leaves.

[Printer-friendly recipe.]

More hard-boiled eggs:
Lemon-dill egg salad, from The Perfect Pantry
Bacon and egg tartine, from The Perfect Pantry
Curried egg salad, from 101 Cookbooks
Egg salad in pita with green olives, green onions, and Dijon, from Kalyn's Kitchen

Egg salad with avocado, jalapeño and lime {vegetarian}

From the pantry, you'll need: eggs, mayonnaise, jalapeño pepper, lime, kosher salt, fresh black pepper, parsley.

Serves 2-3; can be multiplied.

Ingredients

4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped or sliced with an egg slicer
1 small avocado, chopped
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp minced red bell pepper
1/4 tsp minced jalapeño pepper, or more to taste
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper

Directions

In a mixing bowl, use a rubber spatula to combine all ingredients, smashing the egg and avocado a little bit here and there.

Taste, and adjust seasoning with more jalapeño, lime, salt or pepper.

Serve chilled or at room temperature, on toast, in a roll-up, or in lettuce leaves.

[Printer-friendly recipe.]

More hard-boiled eggs:
Lemon-dill egg salad, from The Perfect Pantry
Bacon and egg tartine, from The Perfect Pantry
Curried egg salad, from 101 Cookbooks
Egg salad in pita with green olives, green onions, and Dijon, from Kalyn's Kitchen

Comments

YUM! I don't have any leftover eggs, but will hardboil a few to make this!

Renee, you won't be sorry! I couldn't stop eating this egg salad -- after I took the photo, I ate the whole prop plate for lunch!

My school lunch had egg salad sandwiches for years, and I'm still happy to have a basic fork mixed/mayo version. When we had a little cafe, it was a customer favorite - with lettuce, tomato and sprouts, since it was the '80s. The secret ingredient was more mayo! This version would have blown them away.

Susan, I never would have eaten an egg salad like this when I was a kid, or until maybe 10 years ago. But now I find it totally irresistible. Egg salad was a mainstay of my school lunch boxes, with tuna salad as the alternative.

So, my mother was packing your lunch too?

Susan, did she sneak in a bologna and cheese sandwich every now and then? Mine did. Because I never did like PB&J, the other detault lunch.