Recipe updated: April 4th, 2024
This is a delicious easy southern deviled eggs recipe that is super simple to make and tastes great. I love deviled eggs. To me, they taste like an egg salad sandwich without the bread and a bit more flavor with the relish, black pepper, and cayenne pepper added.
They go great as an appetizer during the holidays, especially before you eat your Thanksgiving turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie!
🥚 Key Ingredients
- 1 dozen eggs (large) (hard-boiled eggs)
- 1/3 cup of mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard
- 3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish (drained)
- 1/4 teaspoon of table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
👩🍳 How to Make Southern Deviled Eggs
These step-by-step instructions are accompanied by detailed photos for enhanced clarity and guidance.
Step 1. Hard Boil Some Eggs
Take 12 large eggs and make hard-boiled eggs with them. Our preferred method to hard-boil eggs is the easier way, in our oven. It is super easy to do, and the eggs are perfect hard-boiled eggs every time.
A short how to hard-boil eggs is to put 12 eggs in a muffin pan, then bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. After that, place the eggs in a bowl of cold water, preferably an ice bath, for about 10 minutes. Then, peel eggs, throw the shells in the garbage disposal, put the peeled eggs in the refrigerator for now, and we are ready to start making this perfect deviled egg recipe by following the detailed instructions starting with Step 2.
Note: If you prefer to use the water on the stove method to hard-boil eggs, simply put the uncooked eggs into a saucepan, cover the eggs with cold water, turn the burner on the stove to high, then as soon as the water starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook the eggs for about 12 minutes. After that, run cold water over the eggs, then peel them.
Step 2. Combine the Mayo, Relish, Mustard, and Seasonings
In a small bowl add 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard, 1/3 cup of mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons of sweet relish, 1/4 teaspoon of table salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, and then 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
Step 3. Mix the Mayo, Relish, Mustard, and Seasonings
With a spatula or spoon, stir the mayonnaise, relish, mustard, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper until completely blended. Then, put the mayonnaise mixture into the refrigerator for now.
Step 4. Cut the Hard-Boiled Eggs
After you have hard-boiled the eggs and peeled them, then slice eggs in half lengthwise. That would be cutting in the direction of the longest side. If you cut them in half the other way, then they won’t be able to stand up alone on a plate.
Step 5. Remove the Egg Yolks from the Egg Whites
It’s very easy to remove the egg yolks from the white halves of the eggs. They practically fall out on their own. If they don’t, turn them upside down and very lightly squeeze the hard-boiled egg white on the opposite side from the egg yolk until they pop out. Place the white egg halves into the refrigerator for now, and add the egg yolks to the bowl of mayonnaise mixture (we put in the refrigerator earlier) in the next step below.
Step 6. Add Egg Yolks to Mayonnaise Mixture
Get the bowl with the mayonnaise mixture out of the refrigerator as mentioned above. Add the egg yolks together with the mayonnaise mixture. With a fork, mash the egg yolks in the bowl with the mayonnaise mixture.
Step 7. Mash Yolks and Mix Until Creamy
Keep mashing the egg yolks and blending them in with the mayonnaise mixture until you have a creamy egg yolk mixture. This egg yolk mixture will be used to fill the egg whites in Step 8.
Step 8. Fill the Egg Whites with the Egg Yolk Mixture
There are a couple of ways to fill the egg whites with the egg yolk mixture. You can use a piping bag if you have one. Fill the piping bag with the egg yolk mixture, then squeeze the bag over each egg white to fill them up.
If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a plastic bag. Fill the plastic bag with the egg yolk mixture. Then hold the bag so you can move the egg yolk mixture toward the bottom left corner of the bag. Then hold the bag right above the egg yolk mixture, getting all the air out of it and twisting it at the same time, making sure all the egg yolk mixture stays pressed down in the lower part of the bag. When you have mastered all of that, take a pair of scissors, cut a small hole in the tip of the bottom corner of the bag, then proceed to use it just like a piping bag.
If you don’t want to use either one of the above-mentioned techniques, you can use the two-spoon method to fill each egg white. With the first spoon, scoop up some egg yolk mixture, then with the second spoon, slide the mixture off of the first spoon into the egg whites.
🔆 Serve & Storage Tips
Serve
- A sprinkle of paprika over the top of each of the eggs is a perfect way to add the final touch to your amazing deviled eggs right before you are ready to serve them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, parties, or special occasions.
- You can serve your deviled eggs on a plate, fancy serving platter, or egg plate made especially for deviled eggs.
Storage
- Leftover deviled eggs can be covered with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or an airtight container. Then put them into the refrigerator.
- It is not a good idea to leave deviled eggs sitting on the countertop.
✨ Recipe Variations
There are a few different ingredients you can add to these delicious creamy deviled eggs if you prefer to do so. Here are just a few ideas:
Mix with the Yellow Egg Yolk Mixture
- Dijon mustard
- Dill relish
- Dill pickles
- White vinegar
- Sour cream
- Lemon juice
Sprinkle on Top of the Deviled Eggs
- Hot sauce
- Parsley flakes
- Bacon bits
- Diced green onions
- Smoked paprika
🙋 FAQs
You can freeze a lot of food, but deviled eggs should not be one of them. Let me rephrase that, yes you can freeze deviled eggs, but they won’t taste as good when they thaw. The hard-boiled egg whites will be rubbery.
But, the deviled eggs’ creamy filling can be put into the freezer in an airtight container without the hard-boiled egg whites, but why would anyone want to do that? But, if you do have leftover deviled eggs and don’t want to throw them out with the trash, remove the creamy filling from each egg white, put the filling into a freezer-safe container, and then for later use, you can make an egg salad sandwich or the like.
The best way is to make only the amount of Southern deviled eggs you know will be eaten within a couple of days. After that, they lose their quality, texture, taste, and looks on the 3rd day. We had a few leftovers on the third day after Thanksgiving dinner, and the white part was slimy and wasn’t as firm. A good guesstimate is to make one or two Southern deviled eggs per person.
💭 Final Thoughts
The great thing about this recipe is, first and foremost, making deviled eggs is super easy to do. Second, deviled eggs make the perfect appetizer, snack, or side dish, especially when you are in a hurry. Deviled eggs are a great choice to serve at family gatherings, holiday dinners, or special occasions such as birthday parties and baby showers. And last but not least, they taste terrific! Enjoy!
📄 Recipe Card
Southern Deviled Eggs Recipe
🫕 Equipment
- 1 Mixing bowl (small)
🧂 Ingredients
- 12 hard-boiled eggs (large)
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 3 tbsp sweet pickle relish (drained)
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
👩🍳 Instructions
- Make the hard-boiled eggs. Peel them. Cut them in half lengthwise.
- In the meantime, in a small bowl, add the mayonnaise, yellow mustard, sweet pickle relish, table salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Mix well.
- Take the yellow egg yolks out of the egg whites. Add the egg yolks to the mayonnaise mixture.
- Put the egg white halves on a place for now.
- With a fork, mash the yellow egg yolks and mix well with the mayonnaise mixture.
- Fill each egg white half with the yellow egg yolk mixture.
- Sprinkle paprika on top of each deviled egg.
- Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
*️⃣ Recipe Notes
- Deviled eggs are good for about two days in the refrigerator.
- You can add any of your favorite seasonings to the deviled eggs mixture.
🥰 More Egg Recipes You Will Love
- Potato Salad with Eggs and Mustard – Full of delicious old-fashioned flavors. Made with potatoes, salt, hard-boiled eggs, celery, onions, sweet pickle relish, black pepper, mayonnaise, and yellow mustard. So good!
- Olive Oil Scrambled Eggs (Without Milk) – Made without milk or butter, but with olive oil instead. Only takes just a few minutes to make and they are so delicious.
- Noodles with Scrambled Eggs – Small pasta noodles are cooked in water, then fried with scrambled eggs. Can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
A wife, a mother to a son and a daughter, and a grandmother to three granddaughters. Flo loves sharing recipes passed down from her own mother, her mother-in-law, and her grandmother as well as new recipes created with her daughter, Tamara Ray.
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