This healthy egg salad with basil is a flavorful and simple lunch idea; it’s made with Greek yogurt and Dijon mustard instead of mayonnaise.
Tired of your standard lunch options? Alex and I pretty formulaic when it comes to lunch, since we save most of our creativity for our big meal of the day (dinner). However, we’ve been in need of some motivation to mix it up! This year, we’ve come up with lunch ideas using various ingredients from our local winter farmer’s market. The market has some great egg vendors, and, a luxury to us in the middle of winter, loads of lovely fresh basil. So we thought, why not make a healthy egg salad recipe? Keep reading for the recipe.
Related: Everything Hard-boiled Eggs | Best Basil Recipes
How to make healthy egg salad
For this healthy egg salad recipe, we wanted to make an egg salad without mayo. After much experimentation, we found that Greek yogurt and Dijon mustard make for an excellent substitute for mayo. Using Greek yogurt helps the healthy egg salad to taste fresh and nourishing, versus overly rich.
The hardest part of making egg salad? Boiling the eggs! Here’s our perfect boiled eggs. It’s our master method for boiling eggs perfectly every time, and it also includes instructions for peeling them. For this healthy egg salad, once the eggs are prepared, it’s very simple to whip up! Just chop the eggs and stir them together with the remaining ingredients. One final twist for this recipe: basil! It adds a delicious fresh element to the egg salad. This recipe is perfect for pairing with bread, pita, or fresh veggies. Give it a try to spice up your lunchtime!
Related: 15 Easy Vegetarian Lunch Ideas | What To Do with Hard Boiled Eggs
Looking for lunch ideas?
Outside of this healthy egg salad, here are a few other lunch ideas:
- Hummus or garlic herb white bean dip, veggies and crackers, cheese slices
- Easy Chickpea Salad Sandwich
- Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich
- Hummus and Veggie Roll Ups
- Ricotta & White Bean Fancy Toast
- Chickpea Salad with pita or crackers
- Creamy Vegan Tomato Soup and multigrain bread
- Turmeric Egg Avo Toast
- Vegan Italian Pasta Salad
- 28-Day Healthy Meal Plan
Looking for hard-boiled egg recipes?
Outside of this healthy egg salad, here are a few other hard-boiled egg recipe ideas:
- Smoky Deviled Eggs
- Smoked Cheddar Hard Boiled Eggs Grilled Cheese
- Roasted Two-Potato Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
- Radish and Egg Salad Sandwich
- Vegetarian Cobb Salad
- Easy Salad Bar Ideas
Healthy Egg Salad with Basil
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This healthy egg salad with basil is a flavorful and simple lunch idea; it’s made with Greek yogurt and Dijon mustard instead of mayonnaise.
Ingredients
- 8 eggs
- 12 leaves fresh basil
- 1/2 red onion
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Hard boil the eggs, according to the Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs or Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs methods.
- Peel and roughly chop the eggs. Thinly slice (chiffonade) 12 leaves of basil. Finely mince the 1/2 red onion.
- In a bowl, combine the eggs, basil, and red onion with 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper. Taste and add more seasonings as desired. Keeps for two days refrigerated (add additional fresh basil when serving for a fresher taste).
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Egg Salad, Basil, Vegetarian, Hard Boiled Eggs, Sandwich, Vegetarian Sandwich Recipe,
19 Comments
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
February 6, 2012 at 7:25 amThis sounds delightful! I’ve never added basil to my egg salad. For shame!
Lauren @ Healthy Food For Living
February 6, 2012 at 8:14 amI love egg salad, and always use Greek yogurt in place of mayo… so this recipe is right up my alley!
Denise
February 6, 2012 at 11:05 amSomething strange is going on with me: I didn’t really like egg salads, but somehow I suddenly craved them and now eat them several times a week (no, not pregnant:p)
Your version with greek yogurt sounds like a great idea and I love the addition of fresh basil; that smell always reminds me of summer (and I can use that during these cold winter days). Will try it tomorrow!
erin
February 6, 2012 at 11:09 amYum! I love a good egg salad that’s not over taken with mayo. Looks delicious!
Claire
February 6, 2012 at 3:30 pmHow serendipitous! I have some egg salad sitting in the fridge at work, and basil in my fridge at home leftover from another dish. After reading this I shall arrange a marriage between them today!
Melissa @ Kids in the Sink
February 6, 2012 at 5:14 pmDelicious! I love the idea about making lunch fun too. Can’t wait to see all that you come up with!
Simply Tia
February 7, 2012 at 6:55 amThis salad is going and staying in the keeper pile. I love that there’s no mayo in it and I love how delicious it looks! Yummy!
Jennifer @ Raisin Questions
February 7, 2012 at 10:02 amWhat a beautiful egg salad!
jackie @ marin mama cooks
February 7, 2012 at 10:16 pmI always have eggs and fresh basil on hand so this is an easy pantry sandwich to make. I also love your idea of using greek yogurt in place of mayo.
Melanie @ Just Some Salt and Pepper
February 8, 2012 at 6:17 pmYay! An egg salad recipe WITHOUT mayo!
Renee
February 8, 2012 at 7:45 pmI’m in California and I haven’t seen basil at our market for quite a while now – you’re lucky!
This does look like a yummy pairing.
Marilyn
February 12, 2012 at 7:04 pmJust wanted to say this is the second recipe of yours that I’ve tried. Both were equally delicious! I’m part of the Purchased team and I wanted to say thanks for your support!
Ashley
February 13, 2012 at 3:01 pmLooks delicious! I just made a curry egg salad with greek yogurt. Definitely digging it much more than mayo. :)
branny
February 18, 2012 at 3:17 pmThis looks great. I always forget about egg salad as a lunch option and my husband gets bored with his usual sandwiches.
Jenn
September 2, 2012 at 1:57 pmMade this today for lunch!! I will never make it another way again…this is so good! I actually forgot the onion, but thats ok:) I made it a little more figure friendly by using only 4 of the yolks. Thanks for the recipe…I would have never thought to use basil!
Jacy
May 31, 2013 at 2:41 amI just got done making this and it’s so good. I substituted fresh basil for dried, and it’s still amazing. I love this website! :)
Sonja
June 1, 2013 at 10:50 pmSo glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for writing :)
Sandy
December 5, 2013 at 8:03 pmEggcelent!! I had tis for dinner tonight, but substituted grated Pecorino Romano cheese for the salt. Also made a 2nd bowl and added a finely choppeed habanero chile. Both were fabuloso!!
Sonja
December 5, 2013 at 9:17 pmYum! Your substitutions sound awesome! Glad you enjoyed it.