Here's How To Prevent Runny Egg Salad

When done right, an egg salad sandwich can really hit the spot. With just three basic ingredients — hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, and bread — egg salad sandwiches are one of the easiest meals to pull together. They're also easy to customize, with plenty of add-ins to suit your individual taste beyond that basic formula. But that doesn't necessarily mean that egg salad is foolproof. One of the biggest issues with egg salad is that it can get runny and ultimately make your sandwich a soggy mess. 

According to The Oregonian, this sog factor is typically caused by overcooked eggs. When most anything else is overcooked, it usually loses moisture, but for hard-boiled eggs, it's actually the opposite. When eggs are over-boiled, they will continue to get more watery the longer they sit in the hot water. To prevent this, make sure to shock the eggs in an ice water bath as soon as you're done boiling them. Then, let them chill fully before you cut into them. 

And if you've already overcooked the eggs and added the mayo, there's still hope for salvaging the salad. The Oregonian recommends mixing in fine bread crumbs to absorb any excess liquid. But there are some other pitfalls to watch out for, too.

Waterlogged hard-boiled eggs aren't always entirely to blame what it comes to runny egg salad. If you're sure you haven't overcooked the eggs but are still seeing that watery puddle forming around your egg salad, it's likely the mayonnaise that's responsible. WebMD explains that the number one ingredient in light mayonnaise is water. The same goes for fat-free mayonnaise. 

While the two are low-calorie options, they don't make for the best egg salad. The reason is simply that instead of binding your eggs together with oil and egg yolks — the components of regular mayonnaise — you're instead doing so with a diluted version. Adding more water in the form of light or fat-free mayonnaise necessarily means that more water will seep out of your egg salad. If, however, you just stick to regular mayo and try not to overboil the eggs, you'll almost certainly have perfect egg salad every time.