There are a trajillion deviled egg recipes on the internet. Fancy ones with Dungeness crab on top or truffle oil mixed in. Spicy ones with sriracha or horseradish. Deviled eggs with bacon, goat cheese, and avocado. Southern, southwest, and buffalo deviled eggs. I even saw a recipe for breaded, deep fried deviled eggs. Whoa! And, for every crazy, fusion-y, fun deviled egg out there, there are probably 3 takes on the classic version.
This is mine. It’s not inventive or overly exciting, but it’s how my family has always done deviled eggs, and we’re quite fond of it… in fact, we typically turn our noses up at other people’s deviled eggs. I learned sometime in the last few years that some people don’t put mustard—just mayo—in their classic deviled eggs, and I found this shocking. And terrible. You guys! Mustard! It’s a must…urd. 
We typically don’t measure, just add and taste and add and taste, but I did the due diligence for you here, so you can you have what I consider the best classic, basic deviled egg. And with Easter just around the corner, you should have a lot of hard boiled eggs on hand in the next few weeks! Here’s the step by step of how we usually make them:
- Once the eggs have been boiled and cooled, I make it very clear that Amanda doesn’t get to make the eggs, because she over mustards them. Mustard is key, but too much of a good thing can be... a bad thing. I shoo her out of the kitchen.
- Once the eggs are peeled, halved, and scooped, I shoo my mom out of the kitchen, because she keeps trying to eat them all. On her way out, I concede, and let her eat the whites that didn’t peel or halve well. There’s usually at least one in the bunch. This just means more filling for the rest of the eggs, which let’s be real, is the best part.
- I add the yolks, a squirt of mayo, and a squirt of classic yellow mustard to a bowl, and mash it up with a fork. Sometimes with a pastry blender (which, by the way, I also use for guacamole). In goes a sprinkle of salt.
- Now Amanda and Mel are welcomed back into the kitchen, and we all do a taste test. Amanda requests more mustard. Mel requests more mayo. I need a little more salt.
- I add just a little bit more of each. We don’t want them too mayonnaisily (new word) creamy, or too tangy and mustardy. By we, I mean me. Amanda wants them too mustardy. She’s banished once again.
- If we have company joining us, I scoop the filling into a large ziplock back, snip the corner, and adorably pipe the filling into the egg halves. If it’s just us, I spoon it in and don’t even bother smoothing out the top.
- Finally, a sprinkle of sweet Hungarian paprika, and the eggs have been deviled and are ready to chill for later or eat right now.
- Amanda squirts an additional dollop of mustard on top of her egg. She’s insane.
Classic Deviled Eggs
Makes 6 full / 12 half eggs. Double recipe if you're using a full dozen.
6 hardboiled eggs, peeled and halved
1.5 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 1/4 teaspoon classic yellow mustard
Salt
Sweet Hungarian Paprika
Scoop the egg yolks into a bowl, and add mayo, mustard, and a pinch of salt. Mash up with a fork and stir until combined and smooth. Taste. To make creamier, add a bit more mayo. For more tang, add more mustard. Add more salt as needed. Pipe or scoop the yolk mixture into the egg white halves, and sprinkle with paprika. For a simple twist, sprinkle on a little smoked paprika!
