My 1-Ingredient Deviled Upgrade—It's Already In Your Pantry

I’ve never met a deviled egg I didn’t like. Whether it’s the towering, beautifully-piped "green devils" at Agi’s Counter in New York or a humble, simple deviled egg packed in a boxed lunch, they are always a welcome sight.

One of the things I enjoy most about them is that I keep learning new ways to make them, from steaming the eggs to get the perfect smooth egg white to blitzing the yolks in the food processor to create a velvety filling. Recently, I learned another tip that took my deviled egg game to new heights: To add another level of flavor, salt your egg whites.

I came across the suggestion to salt your egg whites at AllRecipes, and the author of that article got the idea from Chef Nelson Serrano-Bahri, Director of Innovation at the American Egg Board, a true egg-spert (I’ll see myself out). As the writer explains, the a-peel (last one, I swear) of this idea is in how the salt balances the flavor of the yolk mixture so that it doesn’t taste over-seasoned. He recommends using a coarse finishing salt like Maldon, though he says kosher salt works, too.

This idea makes a ton of sense. We season our egg yolks, so why not season the whites as well? In fact, my favorite kind of deviled eggs are the ones in which the eggs are lightly pickled before deviling. I love the tangy flavor that a soak in a beet-pickle brine lends to the egg. Similarly, salting the whites gives the whole egg more flavor, and it does so in a fraction of the time that it takes to pickle them.

How to Salt the Egg Whites for Deviled Eggs

The first time I tried this tip, I knew I would never make deviled eggs any other way. I steamed, cooled, and peeled a half dozen eggs, then popped the yolks into a bowl. I wanted to keep things relatively simple for this batch, so I went with a classic Dijon-and-paprika recipe.

Right before piping the filling into the egg white, I took a pinch of Maldon sea salt and channeled my inner Salt Bae, sprinkling the whites judiciously. The result was a perfectly-seasoned egg that had a little more oomph than your typical devil. They were such a hit with my family that I had to tell my kids to back off so there would be some left for our guests, several of whom asked me to share my recipe.

Tips for Making The Best Deviled Eggs

• Steam your eggs for easy shell removal.
• Use a pinch of kosher or flaky sea salt to add flavor to your egg whites before filling them.
• Amp up the flavor with specialty salts, like smoked salt or black garlic salt.
• Use a piping bag (or plastic storage bag with a corner cut off) and a piping tip, if you have one, to pipe the filling into the egg whites for a beautiful presentation.
• Use any leftover deviled eggs (if such a thing exists) for deviled egg salad
• Or, if you only have one or two, chop them into potato salad