How Much Mayo You Should Really Be Adding To Your Egg Salad

If you're dedicated to making the perfect egg salad, you should always start with less mayonnaise. If you accidentally start with too much of the condiment, you might not have an extra hard-boiled egg to balance the creaminess. It's always better to have an egg salad that initially leans on the drier and grittier side — that way, you can gradually add dollops of mayonnaise to the mix as you fine-tune it.

A good rule of thumb is to use no more than around 2 to 4 tablespoons  for eight hard-boiled eggs, which should be less than ¼ cup of mayonnaise in a hefty serving of egg salad. This amount of fat is perfect for binding the loose eggs together into a homogenous mass while also being smooth enough to be scooped — anything more can start to get into store-bought egg salad territory. 

While this is fine if you love having mouthfuls of mayonnaise, it definitely doesn't make for the most cohesive bite where the egg and other spices and ingredients can shine. You'll also find that adding too much mayonnaise will yield a watery egg salad that could slip out of your sandwich.

Now that you know how much mayonnaise you should be adding, what about the best type of mayonnaise to use? Like most things, it's up to preference: Duke's mayonnaise, Hellmann's, and even Kewpie can all work well for a creamy eggy mixture. The more important element to consider is the fat content of the condiment you've chosen. If you want to avoid a runny egg salad, you should opt for full-fat mayonnaise over low-fat since the latter has more water, making it more prone to splitting or becoming soggy as it sits in the fridge. So if you're trying to cut down on fat, you may sacrifice a bit of flavor and texture.

Because low-fat mayonnaise has more liquid, you should be adding even less of it. While this may pose a slight challenge, it helps to use medium-boiled eggs so that the yolk is jammy. The fat from the jammy yolk combined with a low-fat mayonnaise can bring together your meal just fine. 

Many opt for even lighter alternatives like Greek yogurt or mashed avocados for an added boost of smooth texture. Although Greek yogurt has much less fat, it can still yield a creamy mouthfeel that makes it a great replacement for mayonnaise. And if you want to take your egg salad a step further, add special ingredients like capers, dijon mustard, or pesto.