With Easter coming up on us fast, this is obviously the perfect time for deviled eggs. The recipe that I’m sharing today is one that began its journey when I was teenager. It has been tweaked on and off throughout the years to what it is today. And it must taste good, because whenever there is an Easter celebration, a picnic, or a barbecue, people ask me to make my deviled eggs. Now that the recipe is out there, anyone can do it and maybe I’ll get a break? Hmmm…(just kidding, I don’t mind making them).
Garnishing the Deviled Eggs
Something unique about my deviled eggs is that I opt to NOT use paprika on them. They would taste great with paprika, but I like the look, taste, and different-ness that dried dill weed give the deviled eggs instead.
I started using dill weed on my deviled eggs when I was about twenty-three years old. I was working at Focus on the Family as a cook at the time and a co-worker and I decided to have a fun little deviled eggs contest at the food service summer picnic one year. I brought my A-game–including piping the yolk mixture with a 1M cake decorating tip and sprinkling it with dill weed. My effort worked because my boss chose my deviled eggs for the win.
Cooking Perfect Deviled Eggs
The recipe below copies the wording in my post on cooking the perfect deviled eggs. If deviled eggs have that strong sulfur smell or have a greenish-gray color on the yolk, they are over cooked. Properly prepared deviled eggs should have fully yellow yolks and smell like eggs, not sulfur!
In my cooking perfect deviled eggs article, I also share a tip on how to get the yolks more or less centered. This prevents the egg white portion from having such thin walls that they tear or fall apart before you can even fill them.
Peeling Hard Boiled Fast and Easy
By now, you may notice I am writing stuff to get this recipe article’s length long enough to please search engines. But, hey, it’s still helpful (I hope)!
You can crackle hard boiled eggs and carefully peel off the shell like you might normally do, but I like to use this trick to peel them quickly and easily. All you need is a small mason jar, its lid, some water (I usually scoop the water the eggs boiled in), and, of course, hard boiled eggs.
Helpful Articles
TJ’s Classic Deviled Eggs
Ingredients
- 1 dozen eggs, cold
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard (you can use dijon or honey, but I prefer regular yellow mustard)
- 1 tablespoon bacon fat, butter, or ghee, softened
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon
Gentle Sweet or equivalent sweetener - ½ teaspoon mineral salt (more or less to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper (more or less to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 2 or 3 dashes Tabasco sauce (optional)
- dried dill weed for garnish
Instructions
Hard Boil the Eggs
- Put the cold eggs in a single layer in the bottom of a pot.
- Pour cold water over the eggs until they’re just covered.
- Put the pot on the stove and turn the heat to high.
- As soon as the water barely reaches a hard rolling boil, put the lid on the pot and turn the heat down to low. Set a timer for exactly 12 minutes (14 if you live at high altitude).
- Once the timer goes off, immediately remove the pan from the heat. Put it in the sink and begin running cold tap water into the pan, allowing it to overflow. Keep the water running for about 5 minutes. Or, to save on water, fill the sink half full with cold water, add some ice, then remove the eggs from the hot water with a slotted spoon and lower them into the ice water, allowing them to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
- After the eggs have cooled completely, peel them (directions on how to peel eggs quickly and easily).
Prepare Yolk Mixture
- Cut all the eggs in half lengthwise. Empty the yolk into a medium bowl and arrange the emptied whites on a plate.
- Using a fork or a potato ricer, thoroughly mash down the egg yolks until tiny crumbles result.
- Thoroughly mix in all of the ingredients except the dill.
Fill the Egg Whites
- This can be done in one of several ways:Method #1: Fill a gallon size zippy baggy with the yolk mixture, snip off a corner, and use the baggy like a piping bag to "pipe" the mixture into the egg whites.Method #2: Insert a 1M size piping tip into a gallon size zippy baggy or a 12 inch or larger piping bag. Snip a corner/the tip just enough that the cutout on the tip fits in the hole. Then pipe the icing into the egg whites (this is what I did for the photos).Method #3: Get a spoon and scoop the yolk mixture into the egg whites.
Garnish
- Sprinkle the completed deviled eggs with a little dried dill weed and serve.
Made these for the 4th. They were a hit!