Fresh Ideas for Hard-Boiled Eggs
Need some fresh ideas for using your leftover hard-boiled Easter eggs? When I was a kid we made dozens of them (each kid was able to color 4-6 eggs) and ended up throwing many away at the end of the week [egg safety tips in this post]. While you can use the cheapest eggs you can find and throwing them away, in my house we only buy organic, free range eggs for the powerhouse of nutrition gained by them. I don’t want to waste a single egg.
Hard-Boiled Eggs Uses
My Go-to Options
First, the obvious addition: to a chef salad. The other two obvious and normal uses are a potato salad and egg salad sandwich. But for me, adding minced hard-boiled eggs to a stir-fry is a no-brainer. It’s my go-to for extra hard-boiled eggs. You can add them right before the last toss of the stir-fried veggies before serving or sprinkle them on top of your stir-fry just before serving either family style or individual plates.
My next go-to is to make a hybrid guacamole by adding chopped egg to the favorite guacamole recipe. Alternately, you can add cubed avocado to your favorite egg salad recipe. I’m not concerned about the extra fat in the avocado or the cholesterol in the eggs. It is my understanding from much research that they are both good for you. They have debunked the cholesterol/heart correlation and fat helps you feel full so you’ll eat less if you listen to your body and quit eating when full. Also, I’m told that eating fat switches your body from burning carbs (especially simple carbs) to burning fat. Don’t we all want to have our bodies burning fat?? I do!
Other Ideas
I searched for some other ideas that aren’t my go-to recipes. Here are a few sites with recipes that looked interesting.
Taste of Home
The first site is Taste of Home. What I like about Taste of Home is that the recipes are submitted by everyday cooks, verified by Taste of Home, then put in the magazine. Taste of Home as 23 Recipes Using Leftover Hard-Boiled Eggs. Included are a number of salads – Potato and green salads. Those are pretty normal. Good reminders. Maybe a new favorite recipe. There were a couple recipes that I thought were an interesting use of hard-boiled eggs and one that was, well, just too pretty to pass up.
Potluck Eggs Benedict by Pauline Van Breemen of Franklin, Indiana. She writes: “Asparagus spears give this hearty breakfast dish big springtime flavor. It’s super served over warm fluffy biscuits…and a great way to use up extra hard-cooked eggs.”
While you can buy canned biscuits or use a mix, I encourage you to try making your own. There is just no comparison. I have seen pictures of little girls making this recipe from Debbie Seagraves. So, if they can do it, so can you. Easy Homemade Biscuits
Faux Potato Salad by Mike Schulz, Tawas City, Michigan. He writes, “Cauliflower in potato salad? You bet, along with carrots, olives and other crunchy surprises.” While this is not low-carb due to the carrots and mayo, it is lower carb and grain-free. I would get a good mayo or make your own. Skip the low-fat version. They are loaded with sugar and chemicals to make up for the loss of fat.
Brunch Enchiladas While this recipe says “brunch,” it only bakes for 15 minutes and prep time is only 15 minutes. To me that’s a great breakfast food. I know time is tight, but 15 minutes prep, pop in the oven, go get ready or corral the kids and it’s ready.
This Barbeque Chicken Cobb Salad is just plain pretty. The submitter, Camille Beckstrand of Layton, Utah writes, “I turned barbecue chicken into a major salad with romaine and carrots, sweet peppers and avocados. That’s how I got my family to eat more veggies.”
Real Simple
Next I moved to Real Simple. I have to be honest. I have never made any recipes from Real Simple. I’ve looked at the magazine. I even had a subscription once. But I don’t think I’ve ever made a recipe. There were a several that intrigued me from the 10 Recipes For Leftover Eggs, not to mention it starting with four deviled eggs recipes.
English Muffin Egg Pizzas. These are truly simple and could easily be breakfast or and afternoon snack. The kids could put these together. Remember to use the egg slicer for the eggs and the slices will be beautiful and perfect.
There’s another beautiful composed salad: Cobb Salad with Garlic Vinaigrette. Bacon, shrimp, avocado and more. Who can pass that up? This salad will fit most diets, except the full vegetarian and vegan. They can pass up the shrimp and still have a beautiful salad.
The next recipe that grabbed me was the Smoked Salmon and Egg Canapes. We made smoked salmon two ways in culinary school. I could eat it every day if it were smoked or cold cured. These simple canapes will upscale your next home date night or party.
Delish
Finally I moved to Delish and 28 Amazing Things You Can Do with Hard Boiled Eggs. This site has the most variations of deviled eggs and egg salad. You’ll find something you really enjoy here.
The first recipe that caught my eye is Best Everything Deviled Eggs. These are beautifully topped with a rosette of smoked salmon.
And a Cobb Salad Pizza. That looks delish!
What about a Egg Salad BLT?
Hopefully, these sites have sparked a few new ideas to use up your hard-boiled eggs.
Remember to Keep your Eggs Safe.
Updated 4-1-18 with a wording correction, updated links and additional information in the first two paragraphs.