Growing up, I had a master Easter egg hunt strategy: hoard the plastic, candy-filled eggs (otherwise known as the “good” eggs); avoid the real, hard boiled (“bad”) eggs. No mini-Snickers or Starburst Jelly Beans inside? I’d move on to the next and save my precious basket space. Once the of fun dying the hard boiled eggs had passed, they were of little value to my childhood self. These Curried Deviled Eggs, however, are worth every inch of basket space.
Today, I’d do just the opposite—seek the hard boiled eggs and leave the candy bars to melt in the sun (unless your Easter egg hunt is something like my friend Liz’s grown-up version, in which the eggs are filled with mini bottles of booze and the adults do the hunting.) Provided that it’s just the hard boiled eggs up for grabs, however, I’ll happily take a dozen and make a big batch of curried deviled eggs.
Deviled eggs are a long-standing fixture at every one of my mother’s parties. Whether it’s Easter, Thanksgiving, or a just-because barbecue, I can count on her to set out a monster platter of deviled eggs, accompanied by a dish of charming little sweet pickles.
You’ll find me stationed right beside them, drink in one hand, deviled egg in the other, pondering how many I can eat before I ruin my appetite beyond recovery (three).
Despite an innate childhood preference for Twix bars in an Easter hunt, my love for deviled eggs is of the purest, most irrevocable kind: the affection we reserve for the dishes of our childhoods.
In recent years, my mom has taken her deviled eggs to places even Paula Deen would not imagine. (I’m not sure if she would approve either.) No longer content with “standard” deviled eggs, my mom now serves versions like shrimp avocado and spicy crab. It’s deviled egg bravado, and it’s contagious. I had initially intended to share a simple, lightened-up version of deviled eggs with you today, but I woke up the morning I’d planned to make them in a state of utter discontent. I quickly realized that “normal” deviled eggs would not do. They would not do at all.
Crowd-Pleasing Curried Deviled Eggs
The result of my inner compulsion for a more unique deviled egg flavor led to curried deviled eggs. I enjoy curry in my chicken and egg salads, so it seemed intuitive to me that it would work nicely in deviled eggs too, which it does. The warm curry flavor is balanced by a bit of Dijon mustard (a deviled egg ingredient staple in our family). In place of mayo, I swapped healthy Greek yogurt, and a sprinkle of chives adds color and zip.
Despite their less traditional curry flavor, I kept the classic sprinkle of ruby paprika. It’s pretty, and it’s what my mom would do.
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
- To Make Ahead. Hardboiled eggs will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Prepare the deviled eggs just before serving.
- To Store. Assembled deviled eggs will keep for up to two days in the refrigerator.
More Easy and Elegant Appetizers
Serve up a big plate of curried deviled eggs at your next gathering. I think they’re perfect for Easter (what are you going to do with all of those extra colored eggs?), or any time you need to serve a crowd. Leftovers make a lovely egg salad and are flavorful and filling on top of a bed of greens for lunch. The jar of mini pickles is optional but encouraged.
Curried Deviled Eggs
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt plus 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon, divided
- 6 large eggs
- 1/3 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 3/4 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground yellow mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper plus additional to taste
- Ground paprika for garnish
- Finely chopped fresh chives for garnish
Instructions
- Fill a saucepan with enough water to cover the eggs by 1 inch. Add the salt and bring to a gentle boil. Once the water is boiling, gently lower in the eggs, being careful not to break them. Reduce heat to a gentle boil and cook the eggs 14 minutes. A few minutes before the eggs are finished cooking, fill a large bowl with ice water. With a slotted spoon, carefully remove the eggs from the boiling water and submerge them immediately into the ice water. Let cool completely, about 15 minutes, then peel under cool running water.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the Greek yogurt, Dijon mustard, vinegar, curry, yellow mustard, cayenne, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cut the eggs in half from tip to tip. With a small spoon, gently scoop out the yolks and add them to the bowl with the curry mixture (for a very smooth filling, press the egg yolks through a sieve and into the bowl). Set the egg whites aside. Mash the yolks into the filling with the back of a fork until smooth. Taste and season with additional salt and cayenne as desired.
- Scoop or pipe the curry mixture into the hollow egg whites (I place the mixture in a ziptop bag, then snip off the corner to pipe). Refrigerate until ready to serve. Just before serving, sprinkle with paprika and chives.
Notes
Join today and start saving your favorite recipes
Create an account to easily save your favorite projects and tutorials.
Register
Well, I didn’t care for this version. I made exactly as the recipe said. I think the Greek yogurt is not the right flavor.
Hi Jennifer, I’m sorry to hear the recipe wasn’t to your taste. Many other readers have enjoyed the recipe as written, but I know it’s disappointing to try a new recipe and not enjoy it, so I truly wish you would have loved this.
Oops! I just added chutney to the mix and now the mix is a bit runny! So I then added a speck of xanthan gum. We’ll see if it thickens enough in refrigerator.
Way too much mustard in the recipe for my taste. Granted I didn’t have yogurt, so I used Mayo, but everything else was the same. I had to do some major doctoring with some other spices and relish to get the mustard to a tolerable level. Next time I try this definitely going to attempt with yogurt and leave out the mustard powder until I taste it.
Hi Anna, you can definitely customize the amount of mustard to your taste. I hope your next batch turns out perfect!
Whoa!! My bad. After I mixed the ingredients I realized I forgot the salt and when I looked at top of recipe I saw the tablespoon and added it without realizing I already used some in the water. Senior moment!
I wonder if the salt amount could be listed for just the filling ?
At least I have time to start over.
Like the curry and yogurt.
Tom, I’m glad you liked the curry and the yogurt! I did include the amount salt in the directions, so I hope it is less confusing next time.
This website sucks! DO NOT use the ‘Print’ button next to the recipe unless you want all 24 pages of the web page. The recipe isn’t THAT good!
Hi Suzanne! That definitely should not be happening and I imagine would be frustrating. I just tested the page you commented on, and it seems to only be printing the recipe, not the 24 pages you mentioned. Can you try clearing your browser cache? That might help solve the problem!
Too much salt. Is this a typo? Maybe 1 tsp, but 1Tbsp is too much. I put half that in and THAT was too much.
Hi Carol! The majority of the salt actually goes in the water in Step 1, not in the egg filling mixture. Could that be where things went wrong?
Great base recipe, but for our taste needed salt, pepper, more mustard. I added just a bit of both sweet and dill pickle relish to the mix, popped a half olive into the middle on top. MMMMM-MMMMM! Dee-liscious! Thanks for a great new taste in deviled eggs.
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Jan! Thank you for taking the time to share this kind review!