This Is The Egg Salad Recipe Martha Stewart Swears By

Egg salad can cause quite the debate. People have strong opinions about this economical and high-protein sandwich filling, and their feelings can be pretty extreme; just check out this Reddit thread. Posters either love it or hate it. 

Egg salad in sandwiches formally made their debut in 1910 in a New York Times article that discussed two actors on a set eating fried egg salad sandwiches (via ifoodtv). The idea really took flight as deviled eggs soared in popularity. If you could boil an egg, slice it, and mix it up with mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper, why not put that same mixture in a sandwich? 

Today, egg salad is enjoyed on its own, with lettuce, or piled high on top a piece of toast. But leave it to Martha Stewart, the lifestyle queen and media mogul, to step up the egg salad game and create a recipe that will turn even the most ardent hater into, well, at least a liker egg salad. After all, Stewart is well-known for sharing tips and tricks to make homemaking easier and better, which is why you might want to give her egg salad recipe a chance. 

What's so great about Stewart's recipe? 

The genius of Stewart's recipe is really its simplicity, coupled with the opportunity to put your own mark on the salad, and customize it to your own taste. The recipe is pretty basic, which is kind of the idea. It's more of a road map. The recipe starts with 8 peeled, hard boiled eggs that are coarsely chopped.

Next, chop up some celery, add the eggs, some mayo, Dijon mustard, hot sauce for a bit of a kick, salt and pepper, and start mashing. Stewart uses a pastry cutter to mash up her eggs and blend the salad all together, but if you don't have one of those on hand, you can simply slice up your eggs with a knife and use a fork to mash all the ingredients together (via The Spruce Eats). Meanwhile, one point of contention among egg salad eaters is how small you slice or mash up your eggs. This is completely up to the eater (via The Kitchn).

While some might like egg salad no matter what the texture, others find it unappealing when it's too runny. In fact, it's a common egg salad complaint. Of course, adding too much mayo is an easy problem to solve — just add more egg. But egg salad just gets watery the longer it sits, and Oregon Live says that one way to combat that is to make sure the eggs aren't overcooked to begin with, to chill them well prior to chopping, and to add in 1 tablespoon of very fine bread crumbs to the mix to soak up some of that liquid. It shouldn't affect the taste, but it will definitely help the textue.

Looking to jazz up your egg salad a little more, and show off your own food personality? Stewart recommends adding in sliced black olives, chopped fresh parsley, chopped fresh chives, walnut pieces, chopped dill pickles, or capers to keep it interesting, and to add to the texture and flavor of the salad.