At the heart of a great egg sandwich is a creamy egg filling and essential to this are soft boiled, not hard boiled eggs! The creamy yolks practically makes its own mayonnaise sauce and the soft-set egg whites almost melt in your mouth.
Egg sandwich thoughts
You wouldn’t think that someone would have so many opinions about a simple egg sandwich, but as I sat down to write this recipe, it turns out I do! Here’s my egg sandwich thought-dump, roughly in care-factor order:
No rubbery bits of whites – I don’t like little firm bits of egg whites in what should be a creamy egg filling. So I use soft boiled eggs with soft just-set egg whites, rather than hard boiled eggs which is more common in standard egg sandwiches.
Semi homemade mayo – Soft boiled eggs = creamy yolk = practically makes its own semi-homemade mayonnaise. It’s so good! Better flavour and more luxurious with less mayonnaise required.
No celery. I know that might be an unpopular opinion but crunchy bits in a creamy egg filling, no matter how small or finely sliced, just don’t appeal to me. Goes in the same bucket as #1.
Soft bread is best. Too much filling oozes out when you bite the sandwich if you use chewy, crusty artisan bread like sourdough.
So, if all that sounds good to you, then let me introduce to the egg sandwich of your dreams!
Creamy egg sandwich filling
Here’s an up-close-and-personal look at the filling. The left photo is just soft boiled eggs mashed up. You can see that it’s already pretty creamy, even before adding the mayonnaise! Then the photo on the right is the finished filling after adding the mayonnaise and mustard.
What you need for my egg sandwich
As already emphasised a number of times (reeks of passion, right??!), the key ingredient here is soft boiled rather than hard boiled eggs! With creamy yolks, you only need a mere dab of mayonnaise and smidge of mustard for a creamy, luxurious filling.
If you don’t have chives, substitute with finely minced green onion.
Soft boiled eggs – The creamy yolk gives you a head start on the creamy sauce so we only need 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise for 6 eggs (4 sandwiches). So we’re sort of making a semi-homemade mayonnaise here!
Mayonnaise – Whole egg mayo is creamier and less tangy than normal mayo. My favourite brand is S&W (Australia), followed by Hellman’s and Kewpie (equal second).
Dijon mustard – For flavour and a touch of tang.
Chives – For freshness and nice green bits in our filling.
Salt – Just 1/8 teaspoon! Trust me on this. Egg is weirdly salt adverse. The opposite of potatoes which can take loads of salt!
Best bread for egg sandwiches
As for the bread, you can really use anything you want though for traditional tea-type sandwiches (like pictured), soft white sandwich bread is the go. My only tip is to avoid crusty, chewy artisan bread (like sourdough). Filling ooze issues. Stick with soft bread!
How to make egg sandwiches
And the making part:
Cook soft boiled eggs and peel (8 minutes in boiling water). For full directions see my boiled eggs recipe, but I’ve included abbreviated directions in the recipe card below.
Mash the eggs using a fork to get it started, then a potato masher. The finer you mash, the creamier your filling! Once well mashed, you’ll see your filling is already semi-creamy.
Filling – Stir in the mayo, mustard, chives, salt and pepper.
Spread butter on the bread.
Spread filling on bread, from edge to edge!
Crusts – If you’re going for quaint English tea sandwiches, trim the crusts off then cut to your desired shape. The sandwiches pictured in post have been cut into 3 rectangles (4 sandwiches cut into a total of 12 finger sandwiches).
TIP: For extra neat edges, refrigerate the sandwiches for 1 hour before cutting. This will set the filling so you can cut more neatly. But be sure to serve at room temperature!
And there you have it! My egg sandwich. I know there are recipes out there with more bells and whistles, using fancier ingredients like creme fraiche, perhaps a smidge of curry powder, and other add-ins.
But to me, all that is unnecessary if you use soft boiled eggs. This is one of those recipes where the end result is so much more than the sum of its parts. I hope you give it a go! Let me know what you think if you do. And also, you know I always love hearing your thoughts on my thoughts on matters of food. Do you disagree with my position on soft boiled eggs? Do you think celery is mandatory? Fancier bread? Bring on the egg sandwich debate! 😂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Egg sandwich
Ingredients
Egg sandwich filling:
- 6 soft boiled eggs , at room temperature (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp whole egg mayonnaise (S&W brand best, Note 2)
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 2 tsp finely chopped chives (sub green onion)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp cooking/kosher salt (yes really, that's all!)
Sandwich:
- 8 slices soft white sandwich bread (Note 3)
- Soft salted butter , for spreading on bread
Instructions
- Mash egg: Place the eggs in a bowl and crush with a fork. Once mostly broken up, use a potato masher to mash them up really well. Smaller egg white bits = creamier filling.
- Filling: Add remaining filling ingredients and gently stir to combine. Taste and add more salt if desired, but add with caution because it's bizarre how little salt eggs can take!
- Make sandwich: Butter the bread. Divide filling between 4 pieces of bread, spread evenly edge to edge. Trim crusts (optional), then cut as you wish. (Note 4 tips)
- Serve: Always serve at room temperature, for best flavour!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life’s too short for bland sandwiches!
Life of Dozer
No egg sandwiches for Dozer! 💨💨
Hi Nagi. Great idea to soft boil the eggs; thank you. If you were to medium to hard boil eggs, best way other than fork, is to use a ricer! So quick. Regards, Sandra 10 Feb 2024
I grate my eggs rather than chop them – helping to achieve the texture you speak off in your recipe.
So tasty! I’m not a sliced bread gal, so I used long rolls split down the middle and hollowed out some of the bread. Husband grew up on egg and lettuce so I had to make sure I included it. Didn’t squish out and was perfect for our picnic enjoying the carnival of flowers. Thanks Nagi!
They were a hit at friends birthday morning-tea! OMG disappeared before I got to them. Wish I’d doubled recipe.
Eggs were perfect at 8mins
I like the egg Recipe could tell how to make banna pudding
A home cook who relies too much on a recipe is sort of like a pilot who reads the plane’s instruction manual while flying.
Checkout ItzRecipes
You’re the best Nagi. I absolutely love your recipes. Made me fall in love with cooking! Thanks 🙂
The filling is so delicious and creamy. It’s almost like eating soft scrambled eggs, but without the eggy flavour that can have. I made two sandwiches for myself and 3 eggs really goes a long way. I was already full after 3 sandwich halves. That was easy, fool proof, and yum!
I’ve never had egg sandwiches anywhere like I had in Japan – but now I can make them at home. Fabulous sandwich. So happy I found this recipe.
Hi Nagi
I agree Bakers Delight is the best fresh bread especially the Hi fibre Low Gi loaf it lasts longer than “normal” white please try it next time !
Cant wait to smash some egg sangas 🙂
Hi Nagi. In today’s post the egg sandwich link brought me right here but the get the recipe button took me too roast leg of lamb. Oops. 😏
Yup me too, easy fix just type egg in search 🙂
Thanks Paul. I got it. I was just trying to help Nagi out. Turns out I’m about the millionth person to let her know. Sorry Nagi. 🙄
OMG I LOVE a good egg sandwich!!! This simple recipe looks fabulous. I’m inspired! These are going in my belly today! I’ll let you the result
Fabulous. I’d made this the other day (comments under how to boil an egg!) I am going to make again today to try it with some mustard. Would freeze-dried chives work?
Your book arrived yesterday (Mar 28) from Amazon. It is very heavy! Spent a couple of hours going over every page. No, there are not too many pics of Dozer. My favourite in the book is page 262 with him looking at the bones from the lamb shanks. He looks so young in that one 🙂
Loving you from Toronto.
Yes, freeze-dried work just fine. I always keep some on hand in case I can’t get fresh. I use them for mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, egg salad, tuna salad, baked salmon, baked potatoes, etc..
I make mine like this, but with the addition of ‘mustard and cress’ – that tiny-leaved salad addition found in a plastic growing tub in the fresh veg section of a supermarket (uk) – just snip it off with scissors….it adds a certain something to the basic recipe. I would agree with the no celery rule!
Thanks for the tips I picked up – no idea why I’ve never shelled eggs under water….tried it yesterday and it really was life-changing!!
Hi Nagi & Dozer,
This looks great! My daughter loves egg salad sammies! We will give yours a try.
Just received my “DINNER” cookbook – finally! It’s beautiful! We’re here in Pennsylvania, USA. Hubby can’t wait for me to use it. I’m looking forward to it, too! Worth the wait!
Love to you both!
Just received my cookbook in US. Truly beautiful and well layed out! Can’t wait to start cooking. Seriously, outstanding job Nagi!!
This looks delicious! I just got your beautiful Dinner book from Amazon! I have been waiting for so long and now I finally have it in my hot little hands. It’s truly beautiful. Can’t wait to get started cooking from it.
Looks great.
I just received my cookbook and have spent the last hour turning pages and greedily eyeing all the recipes. There is only one problem … I don’t know what to try first!!
Best wishes to you and Dozer from North Carolina, USA.
forgot to add…this recipe looks fab. I’ll be giving it a try.
Your book arrived about 10 mins ago!!! I’m so excited 🙂
I got to watch a tour of your to-die-for kitchen over the weekend…and today I received The Book. It doesn’t get much better than this!!!!!!