This easy deviled egg recipe makes a perfect appetizer or side dish for your Easter meal.
We always had deviled eggs at our Easter dinner (something had to be done with all those colored eggs). But I remember Mom’s deviled eggs looking and tasting the same every year: Hard egg yolks were crumbled and mixed with plenty of mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish with a sprinkle of paprika for garnish. They were fine, although after so many years, it was hard to love that same platter of deviled eggs.
My friend Kelley makes great deviled eggs that include dry ranch dressing mix and bacon. But I’m ready to put these BLT Deviled Eggs up against anybody’s recipe because they’re that good. The sour cream adds a richness to the yolk mixture while the bacon provides the balancing saltiness to the sweet mayonnaise and tomatoes.
Eggs and Easter have gone together for centuries. In pagan traditions, eggs symbolize new life. Christians didn’t have a far leap to make with the egg as a representation of a resurrected Jesus emerging from his tomb. Decorating eggs at Easter goes back to the 13th century; some say it’s because eggs were forbidden to eat during Lent, so Christians painted and decorated eggs in celebration of their Lenten fast to enjoy on Easter.
Our Jewish friends include eggs in their Passover celebration. One egg is placed on the Seder plate each year to represent spring and the circle of life.
No matter what your religious affiliation (or lack thereof), if you’re an American, you eat 279 eggs a year. So, chances are, whether it’s for Passover or Easter or just a picnic this summer, you’re going to make deviled eggs, and when you do, try these tasty BLT Deviled Eggs instead of your old recipe.
To make my BLT Deviled Eggs, you’ll need these ingredients:
1 dozen eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup diced, seeded tomatoes
6 slices bacon or 3 slices thick-cut bacon
3 to 4 leaves Romaine lettuce
Option garnish of dried thyme
You will have leftover egg yolk mixture after stuffing your cooked egg whites, but it’s wonderful the next day spread on toast. However, feel free to cut the quantities to suit your needs (I recommend maybe ¼ cup less of the sour cream and mayo and don’t use all the tomato.)
Easy directions to make BLT Deviled Eggs
Don’t laugh, but for most of my adult life, I had trouble making the perfect hard-boiled egg. The yolks turned green; sometimes I couldn’t peel the egg easily. So, here’s the scoop from a celebrity chef (I think it was Geoffrey Zakarian) on how to make the perfect hard-boiled egg.
Fill your medium to large saucepan with cold water, leaving about 2 inches from the top. No need to add anything to the water but bring it to a gentle boil. Using a spoon, place each egg into the pan. Leave the pan uncovered and set your timer to 12 minutes. When the timer goes off, drain the water. Gently bang the eggs against the sides to slightly crack the shells and refill saucepan with cold water. (This helps the eggs peel easier.) Let the eggs cool for about 5 to 10 minutes and peel.
Now that your eggs have cooked, the fun starts.
Fry the bacon in a large pan over medium-high heat. I used the thick-cut bacon because I wanted more of a chew when biting into the finished deviled egg. Either way, you’ll want the bacon to be crisp so it can be crumbled or diced.
While the bacon is cooking, slice each hard-boiled egg in half lengthwise. Using a teaspoon, carefully scoop yolks out of each half and place into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Take care not to tear the cooked egg white shell because it’s a vessel for the delicious BLT egg mixture. Crumble the cooked yolks.
Using a paring knife, remove seeds from tomato and cut into a fine dice. To do this, I first cut tomato into thin strips then I cut those into small, cubed pieces. Place tomatoes into the bowl with egg yolks.
You can buy shredded cheese, but I like to do it myself using a box grater. Four ounces of cheese will nearly fill a one-cup measure. Add cheese to the bowl with egg and tomatoes.
I recommend mixing the sour cream and mayo separately in a small bowl and then scrape that into the bowl with the rest of your ingredients. I think it helps evenly distribute the “dressing” within the bowl. Fold everything together to combine.
Place cleaned lettuce leaves onto a platter. Scoop a heaping teaspoon of egg mixture to fill the egg white halves and arrange on the leaves. This is how I presented the deviled eggs because I don’t own those special serving dishes with the egg-shaped indentations. The lettuce helps the deviled eggs from sliding around on the platter, but if you have the serving piece for eggs, you could simply garnish each egg with a bit of shredded lettuce. Another swap for lettuce is Belgian endive but my grocer didn’t have it this week. I like the size of endive leaves; placing an egg in each leaf would make a lovely presentation. By the way, did you know endive is not a lettuce but is in the chicory family?
If you want to be fancy, it’s possible to color the cooked white part of your deviled eggs. Here’s one way to do that.
Who invented deviled eggs anyway?
Although recipes really “evolve” rather than appearing out of nowhere, stuffed eggs go all the way back to ancient Rome, but the Americanized version of deviled eggs—what we’re all familiar with—became popular after World War II (although using mayonnaise in deviled eggs first appeared in a cookbook from 1896.)
What’s the story behind a BLT?
According to foodtimeline.org, those wacky Romans had all the ingredients for a bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwich except for the mayonnaise, which is an 18th-century French invention (merci). Tomato and bacon sandwiches were around in the 1920s, but the term “BLT” first appeared in print in 1941. Like most of the foods we love, the short answer for “where did that come from” would be “your guess is as good as mine.”
Here’s one thing I can say with all certainty; for the absolute best BLT sandwich you’ve ever had in your life, you must visit Crown Candy Kitchen in north St. Louis. This historic eatery is over 100 years old, and their aptly named “Heart-stopping BLT” has 14 slices of bacon per sandwich! Great ice cream treats also are here, and don’t forget to take home some Easter candy. Their holiday molds are legendary but my favorite Easter treat from Crown Candy is a box of caramel-marshmallow eggs. Mouth is watering right now.
How do I store deviled eggs?
Because these come together so quickly (30 minutes, tops), I’d recommend making these the day of your celebration dinner. Keep the egg mixture and white egg halves covered in the refrigerator and assemble 15 minutes before everybody sits at the table. A deviled egg plate might make storage easier, but cover loosely with foil, not plastic wrap. And if you take deviled eggs on a picnic, these should be stored over ice or in a cooler with ice. For more safety tips regarding eggs, visit the Egg Safety Center.
Enjoy my BLT Deviled Eggs and happy spring!
Looking for other dinner or brunch ideas for Easter? My family loves Mom's Carrot Caper Casserole with sweet carrots and a crunchy, buttery cracker topping. My Egg Casserole with Biscuits is a great addition to a Sunday brunch. You can swap the bacon with some of your Easter ham.
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