Creamy, crunchy, and customizable – smoky paprika, crisp onions, and PICKLE JUICE make this keto egg salad a work of art!
Looking for more keto salads? Try this keto chicken salad, avocado egg salad and keto tuna salad.
Keto Egg Salad Video Tutorial
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The Key to an Egg-cellent Salad
You’ve had egg salad before. But have you ever loved an egg salad recipe? I’m talking about the kind that you savor every creamy bite of– that gets you excited to eat lunch– that you can’t help but eat straight from the mixing bowl. Didn’t think that could describe a low carb egg salad? Sorry to say, you’ve been eating it wrong.
And when you try THIS keto egg salad, you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Because the little things in cream-based salads are often overlooked. And need to be in perfect order to make this salad as cravable as it should be. The key components are:
- A bit of CRUNCH
- The right amount of CREAM
- Some sort of ACID or TANG
- Something INTERESTING
Doesn’t describe the egg salad from your local deli? That one lost its crunch. What about Grandma’s family renuion special? She skipped the tang.
So follow my keto egg salad recipe and learn to LOVE egg salad, for the first time. 💛 – Linds x
Important Ingredient Notes
As mentioned, what makes this the BEST egg salad is the perfect combination of necessary fixings:
- Crunch: freshly chopped celery and white onions are the perfect crunchy components. Without it, this easy egg salad can be soggy and taste more like diced hard-boiled eggs. Make sure your veggies are FRESH so they maintain that beautiful crispness in every bite.
- Cream: mayonnaise is the classic choice. Although if you’d like a low carb egg salad without mayo, try Greek yogurt for a stellar substitute (more protein + carbs, less fat). You can also try keto egg salad with cream cheese or mashed avocado.
- Acid/tang: common ingredients here are lemon juice or vinegar. I prefer dill pickle juice, as it’s far more flavorful. Be sure to grab DILL pickles, as sweet pickles (such as bread and butter) will add unnecessary carbs.
- Something interesting: my secret to any and all cream-based sauces is to add a bit of spice. Not to actually add spice, but to make the cream sauce more complex– really, it adds a lot! And dried dill amps up the dill pickle flavor.
How to Eat it: Unique + Classic Egg Salad Options
Each this healthy egg salad as you would any other egg salad. Some of our favorites for keto lunch ideas include:
- Straight from the bowl with a spoon.
- With crackers, keto crackers, cucumber slices, or celery sticks.
- Toasted bread, keto bread, or even wrapped in lettuce.
- Stuffed into your favorite keto vegetables, like hollowed-out bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, or avocados.
Storing your Deviled Egg Salad
Your egg salad will be even tastier the next day! Be sure to store it in an air-tight container in the fridge. Pack your toast or lettuce leaves on the side, to keep them fresh and crisp for serving.
Easy Egg Salad Ingredient Swaps
I’ve added a handful of low carb egg salad variations to the recipe notes below– here you’ll find a few simple ingredient swaps to this classic keto egg salad:
- Make a lower-fat version by using egg whites only. Consider subbing mayo for Greek yogurt as well.
- Adding spice, such as siraracha, your favorite hot sauce (check out my buffalo chicken salad for inspo), even more smoked paprika (ala deviled egg salad).
- BACON is always a great addition.
- Different spices + veggies: you know the key components. Now swap them out for your faves. Try bell peppers instead of green onions, avocado instead of mayo, or taco seasoning instead of cayenne.
More Keto Salad Recipes
- Greek Chicken Salad
- Avocado Tuna Salad
- Cauliflower Potato Salad
- Keto Chicken Salad
- Avocado Chicken Salad
Keto Egg Salad
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 12 Large Eggs (note 1)
- 1/2 Cup Celery chopped
- 1/4 Cup Yellow Onions chopped
- 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
- 2 Teaspoons Dill Pickle Juice (note 3)
- 1/4 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 Teaspoon Dried Dill
- 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Combine. Add all ingredients to a large bowl and stir to thoroughly incorporate.
- Serve. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving (note 4). Eat it with a spoon, scoop it onto toast, or into lettuce wraps, and enjoy!
Fans Also Made These Low Carb Recipes:
Lindsey's Tips
Variations:
- Classic - Recipe as shared above.
- Relish - Add 3 tablespoons of relish. Opt for dill relish if keto.
- Avocado - Mash 1 medium avocado with the back of a fork, along with your pickle juice. Leave out the mayonnaise
- Deviled - Remove cayenne pepper, and add 3 1/4 teaspoons of smoked paprika.
- Smoked salmon - Add 6 ounces of chopped smoked salmon, 3 tablespoons of capers, and 1 tablespoon of dill. Swap mayonnaise for 1/4 cup of cream cheese, and lemon juice for pickle juice.
- Buffalo - Add 1/2 cup of Frank's Red Hot, 1/4 cup blue cheese, and 1/2 cup additional chopped celery. Use green onions instead of red onions.
Recipe Notes:
- Easy hard-boiled eggs - Cover eggs with 1 1/2" water in a large saucepan and bring water to a boil. Remove from heat, secure lid, and set aside to rest for 18 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to place eggs in a large bowl of water and ice. Once cool enough, peel + chop.
- Easier hard-boiled eggs - Purchase hard-boiled eggs from Costco or Trader Joe's! Just be sure there are no preservatives added, as this will affect the taste.
- Pickles - Sweet pickles contain added carbs, so opt for dill pickle juice. If you like a bit of sweetness in your egg salad, add a few drops of liquid monk fruit or stevia.
- Egg salad tends to taste better after a few hours in the fridge. It's hard, I know! But worth it.
- Nutritional information is based on 1 serving if you divide this recipe into 6 servings (about 1/2 cup) and is for the "traditional" variation:
These were amazing! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Seb! I’m so glad you enjoyed!?
For those who need sweet relish, I put my dill relish in a small cup and sprinkle a little monk fruit into and stir. Voila!
Sounds great Suzanna! Thanks for sharing your tweaks!?
An excellent idea, and I shall go for it, possibly with some thin-sliced shallot and Tabasco.
But! The second greatest eatable in your photographs is bread….! I suppose that one slice of good seedy bread in a week/month/year isn’t going to do much harm! (I miss my breadmaker and the delicious crusty white).
Awesome Paul! Let me know how it goes, Enjoy!?
This is amazing! My mother loves this kind of salad and I can’t wait to try this with her!
Yay! Please let me know how it goes, Patricia. Enjoy! 😋
My favorite! So glad to know that I can still eat this even I am on keto. Thank you for this!
Yay! Let me know if you give this a try, Jenny! 😋
This egg salad turned out to be absolutely delicious!! Love that it was low carb – we used it in lettuce wraps like you suggested and it was filling and perfect for lunch!
Yay! SO glad you loved it, Anjali. Enjoy! 😋
I love egg salad and this version looks delicious! Love the crunchy celery.
Yay! Let me know if you give this a try, Helen. 😄
Such a delicious and incredible egg salad! As someone following low carb, I often have to miss out on my favourites so I am super excited to have found and tried this recipe!
Yay! So glad you loved it, Bintu. Enjoy! 😋
I make egg salad at leats a few times over summer, and I love experimenting with new recipes… This one is perfect!
So glad you liked it, Mahy. Enjoy! 🥰
Low carb and keto – does an egg salad get any healthier than this?! Perfect if you ask me.
Yay! Let me know if you give this a try, Dionne. 😋
So in love with this! I tried this with my family and we all loved it! we will try this again soon.
SO glad you all loved it, Kirsten! Enjoy! 😋
This looks so healthy and delicious!
Yesss! Let me know if you give this a try, Amanda. 😋
I’m a total sucker for food served in a lettuce leaf. Yum!
Yay! Let me know if you give this a try, Erik! 😄
Very creamy and tasty! Very good side salad
Yay! So glad you like it, Vikki. Enjoy! 😋
Love how creamy this egg salad looks! Just amazing!
Right, Catalina? This masterpiece really satisfies my taste buds! Let me know if you give this a try. 😋
We ove trying new recipes and this one has got to be one of our favorites! My hubby and I love that this is low carb but still so yummy and creamy! I’ll definitely be making this again very soon!
Yay! That’s very heart warming, Beth. Enjoy! 🥰
Yum!!! This is such a great salad idea. We love it!
I am so glad you loved it, Erin. Enjoy! 😄
This egg salad was a really huge hit at my house! So good! Perfect lunch!
SO glad you all loved it, Sandra! 😄
Such a delicious egg salad and also super easy to make. Love it!
Thanks for giving this a try Nart!😁
Eggcellent indeed!! the recipe looks creamy, soft and delicious. I love the lettuce cups too, kind of like mini bowls with no washing up needed!!
Right Seema? Hope you give it a try!😄