Easy Tips and Tricks To Make the Perfect Deviled Eggs

They always get a lot of attention wherever they go so it's worth it to find out how to make your deviled eggs as good as they can be. Nicole McLaughlin, aka NicoleMcmom, shares her own recipe for deviled eggs, plus a dozen tips for prepping, filling, storing, and transporting them.

Get the recipe for Nicole's Perfect Deviled Eggs.

Ingredients

• 12 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled
• ⅓ cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon pickle relish
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground paprika

Directions

1. Slice eggs in half lengthwise and remove yolks. Place yolks in a medium bowl and set whites aside.
2. Mash yolks with a fork. Add mayonnaise, relish, Dijon, yellow mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper; stir until well combined and smooth. Transfer to a large zip-top bag.
3. Arrange egg whites on a tray. Snip off the bottom corner of the zip-top bag. Fill each white with about 1½ to 2 teaspoons filling. Sprinkle with paprika.

Nicole's top tips

Making hard boiled eggs

1. Choosing the eggs. There are a couple of insider tips that make cooking and peeling eggs a whole lot easier. First, older eggs are easier to peel. If you know you want to make a dozen deviled eggs, set them aside for a couple of weeks, then use those for your deviled eggs. Try this recipe for Hard Boiled Eggs.
2. Cooking the eggs. If you have an Instant Pot or multifunctional cooker, you're in luck. Making Instant Pot hard boiled eggs makes even very fresh eggs easy to peel. And an Instant Pot can make a big batch of eggs.
3. Shocking the eggs. Plunge your hard boiled eggs into ice water as soon as they're done. The extreme temperature change can make the eggs much easier to peel and eliminates that green-grey ring around the yolks.

Preparing the filling

1. Release and pop out the yolks easily by gently stretching the white away from the yolk and using a small spoon or your fingertip to pop the yolk into a bowl.
2. You can use a fork to mash the yolks, but to get the finest, smoothest consistency, use a box grater to shred the yolks.
3. To fluff up the volume and smooth out the texture of your deviled egg filling, add 3 to 4 tablespoons of potato flakes. #whoknew
4. A little mustard and apple cider vinegar in the filling mix adds layers of flavor that make for a more delicious result.

Garnishing deviled eggs

1. Don't skip this step; even the most simple garnish elevates the look and taste of your deviled eggs.
2. Did you know that a pinch of paprika over the top is a must? It's the ingredient that puts the "devil" in deviled eggs. (It's most likely a term that refers to the touch of spice and heat from the paprika.) You can use your choice of sweet, hot, or smoked paprika.
3. Hold back on garnishing the eggs until just before you serve them.

Storing and transporting deviled eggs

1. If you're not serving your deviled eggs right away, you can prep them ahead of time but don't fill them. Instead store your prepared filling in a separate container, or even in the zip-top bag suggested in the recipe. Then when you're ready to fill the eggs, just snip off a bottom corner of the bag and get to work.
2. Nicole has a clever trick for transporting deviled eggs: Press a sheet of aluminum foil into the indentations of an empty egg carton. Place the molded foil in a gift box and nestle the eggs in the hollows formed in the foil. That way the eggs don't roll around!

You can connect with Nicole as NicoleMcmom on Allrecipes and on Instagram @nicolemcmom.

More tips, tricks, and ideas from Nicole:

• How to Turn Plain Chicken Breast Into 5 Completely Different Dishes
• How to Use and Care for a Cast Iron Skillet
• Create Easy One-Pot Meals With This Simple Formula
• 12 Surprising Ways To Use Your Food Processor