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Our Cheddar Bacon Egg Salad Sandwich recipe is the ultimate, creamy egg salad experience mixed with salty pops of crisp bacon and bits of shredded cheddar. This makes a great sandwich on your favorite bread or serve it with crackers as a protein packed dip!
The humble egg salad sandwich isn’t something that I think about often…until I’m travelling and I see those prepared sandwiches in little plastic containers and for some unholy reason, the egg salad always calls my name.
I have literally never purchased or eaten gas station egg salad sandwiches and I promise you I never will. But as soon as I’m home from my trip, you better believe we’re making our best egg salad recipe, the one with bits of crispy fried bacon and creamy shredded cheddar cheese.
This egg salad is perfect for a quick lunch. Pop it on your favorite bread – we’re going for a seedy sandwich bread more often than not these days.
We just love easy sandwiches for lunch, like our chicken salad with grapes or our loose meat sandwiches. The whole family loves them.
Not into sandwiches? Grab your favorite crackers and turn our egg salad recipe into dip. It’s creamy, flavorful, and packed with protein.
♥ What We Love About This Recipe:
- Easy: Our egg salad recipe is mixed together quickly without a lot of prep, especially if you keep boiled eggs on hand or you buy them already cooked at the store. Costco sells large packs of boiled eggs and we always have them on hand!
- Protein Packed: Between the eggs, bacon, and cheese, this egg salad recipe has 19 grams of protein, not including any protein from the bread. This will keep you feeling full and satisfied.
- Make Ahead: This is great for prepping lunches in advance. Keep your egg salad tightly covered in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Ingredient Notes:
Eggs – We start with large eggs and boil them (on the stove or using the Instant Pot 5-5-5 method, notes below!) or you can keep it simple and use store bought hard boiled eggs. I’ve even heard from a reader that they used our pickled eggs to make this egg salad recipe!
Bacon – Fry this up nice and crispy using your favorite method – the stove, oven, or microwave work great, or try air fryer bacon!
Cheddar – We prefer a nice sharp cheddar and we like to shred it ourselves so it’s extra creamy.
Dressing – You’ll need mayo, mustard, vinegar, dill, salt, and pepper to mix up the simple dressing.
Variations:
Swap the bacon for turkey bacon to cut down on the fat content.
Use any variety of shredded cheese that you prefer. Pepper jack adds a little touch of heat.
Add in fresh herbs, like chives, basil, or parsley for a touch of brightness.
Swap the vinegar for dill pickle juice.
Make your egg salad recipe as chunky as you like. Chop coarsely with a knife for bigger bits of egg or mash it all with a fork or potato masher for a finer texture.
Skip the sandwich bread and serve this with crackers as a dip, spread on a toasty bagel for brunch, or in a hollowed out tomato like we did with this Greek yogurt chicken salad.
Step By Step Instructions:
Step 1 – Boil the eggs using your chosen method (the stove, the oven, or the Instant Pot. You can even make boiled eggs in the air fryer!) Once cooked, pop them in an ice bath to cool them down.
Step 2 – While your eggs are cooling down, fry your bacon. We like to chop the bacon into small pieces and cook it on the stove. You can also microwave, bake, or air fry your bacon.
Step 3 – Once the eggs have cooled, chop them with a knife or mash them with a fork to the size you like. Stir in the mayo, mustard, and seasonings to coat.
Step 4 – Add your fried bacon and shredded cheddar to the egg salad and give it a big stir to combine. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Vegetable Chopper
This little veggie chopper makes dinner prep so simple! Use it to evenly dice your veggies or even chop boiled eggs for egg salad!
How To Boil Eggs:
Stove Top: Add your eggs to a sauce pan, cover with 1 inch of cool water, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once the water is boiling, remove from the heat, cover the pan with a lid, and let sit for 15 minutes. Cool in an ice bath before peeling and using.
Instant Pot – Add your eggs to the bottom of your pressure cooker liner. Add 1 cup of water. Cover, set the vent to sealing, and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 5 minutes, and then do a quick release. Transfer to an ice bath for 5 minutes. This is the 5-5-5 method and it makes peeling eggs an absolute dream. Couldn’t be easier.
Oven Method – Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the eggs in a muffin tin to keep them from rolling around. Bake for 30 minutes and then place in an ice bath to cool.
Recipe FAQs:
If your egg salad tastes bland, it’s likely missing salt or acid. Give it a taste and add a splash more of vinegar or an extra squirt of mustard to make the flavors pop. An extra sprinkle of salt will always bring out the flavors as well.
The choice is entirely yours, depending on the texture you prefer. If you like a hearty, chunky texture, use a knife to roughly chop your eggs. If you prefer a more uniform, fine texture, mash the eggs with a fork or potato masher.
The most likely answer is that your eggs weren’t quite cool enough and there was condensation after adding them to the fridge. We always cool freshly boiled eggs thoroughly in an ice bath before making egg salad to prevent this.
While it is safe to freeze egg salad so long as you’re following proper food handling guidelines, the texture of the egg salad will suffer. We recommend only making enough egg salad to eat within 4 days and to store than in the fridge for the best quality.
More Favorite Lunch Recipes!
Cheddar Bacon Egg Salad
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- 4 slices bacon
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/2 teaspoon salt more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper more to taste
- 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 6 slices sandwich bread
Instructions
- Add the eggs to a medium sized pot and fill with water to 1 inch above the eggs. Bring the water to a boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat, cover with a lid, and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Place the eggs in a bowl of ice water and let sit for 10 minutes or until cold.
- While the eggs are cooling, chop the bacon into bite sized pieces and fry until crisp over medium heat. Drain the fat and set aside the bacon.
- Peel the eggs and mash them finely with a fork or chop them coarsely with a knife, depending on your preferences. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, parsley, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
- Stir in the bacon and cheddar.
- Spread the egg salad between the slices of bread to make sandwiches. Alternately, serve with crackers as a dip.
Donna Agee says
Hubs and I enjoyed this! It was a nice change from our usual lunches. I added tomatoes on the side. Think I’ll add celery next time.
Jean Thornell says
Had I known how easy and how delicious it is, makes me wish I’d had the recipe ages ago. Whole family loves it. Thank you very much.
Karly says
Love to hear that, Jean!
DD Florentine says
Can’t print this recipe ??
Karly says
Hmm, the print button seems to be working fine on my end. Could try again from a different browser or device and see if that works for you?
Crystal says
My whole famy loved this recipe, I am making it again. Usually my picky teen girls do not EAT anything but junk, made this and BAM all gone! Thank you so much for sharing…
Danita Dorris says
This sounds great I’m gonna try it tomorrow. I will add onions. I put onions in everything! Thank you
Karly says
Onions sound like a great addition!
Dave says
The cognitive dissonance of no relish in an egg salad recipe was a bit much so I ended up adding about a 1/2 cup to it. Pretty good once the relish helped me regain my footing. Thanks!
Jodie says
Yum! We loved it! Finally an Egg Salad recipe without adding pickles or relish. I love them, but NOT in my Egg Salad! I’d love to try the Horseradish Egg Salad. How much Horseradish do you add?
Karly says
Oh geeze, I forgot to include the link to the horseradish egg salad in the post. Sorry about that!
Glad you enjoyed this one though! 🙂
Maggie Martin says
NOT a big cheese fan so I made this without that but everything else! The hubs loved it and he doesn’t like anything….sooooo a big winner!! I used lettuce wrap style for me UmmmmmGood
Thanks Karly!
Maggie
Karly says
Not a cheese fan? I can’t believe you stick around here. 😉 Thanks for putting up with me even though I cheese everything! Glad the hubby enjoyed the recipe too!
Carla Skidmore says
This twist on egg salad looks great. I make egg salad and add some sweet relish to “jazz” it up. I will certainly try the bacon and cheddar cheese variety, too.
I have, also, mixed canned tuna with the egg salad for another way to make egg salad a bit different.
Deana says
I modified it based on my tastes and it is deelish! Used celery seed in place of parsley, added smoked paprika to taste, only added salt AFTER I tasted it with all other ingredients and only added enough to suite my tastes. “Also, I omit the cheese d/t dairy allergies, but I have made it with vegan sharp cheese and even my friends liked it. . Thanks for this recipe, it’s a keeper! Comments from others were helpful including salt to taste given other ingredients. Also, I may ty varying based on comments: chipotle mayo while omitting mustard and vinegar; fresh dill; pickles; chili powder.
Gina says
ummmm.. I have lived in Lincoln, NE all my life. We just took a vaca to Texas back in July. You want to complain about nothing and wide open spaces??? Take a drive my dear from Lincoln, thru Kansas, OK, and into Texas. Then complain to me about wide open spaces.
Danielle says
I made this minus the vinegar and cheddar cheese. Wow. Delicious!
Crab Dynasty says
Looks like it’s worth trying……. Maybe not with cheese.
Pat Wheeler says
OK, I’ve looked over your site and I can’t find anywhere that you tell us just where “in the middle of nowhere” you might be. I’m moving to our new home outside of Montrose, CO. Now that’s the second largest city on the Western slope in Colorado. Grand Junction (about an hour away) is the largest at 60,000 people. Montrose has 19,000 people. You would be amazed at how many towns have less than 100 people over here. But we love it 🙂
The smallest place (in population) that I had lived before this was Kwajalein Island in the South Pacific (half way between Australia and Hawaii, and it seemed at the time that there were more people there that was actually the case because there were a little over 3,000 people on an island that was about 3 1/2 miles long and averaged about 1/2 mile wide. And, 2/3rd s of the island was runway and missile complex. I’ve missed that sense of both isolation and community since I left there in 1964.
So, Karly, do we need to play “Where in the world is Karly?” or what (lol)
Karly says
Hi Pat!
Thanks for all of the thoughtful comments last night. 🙂 Sounds like you really enjoy cooking.
We’re in central Illinois, but that island in the South Pacific sure sounds nice right about now! 🙂
Risa Lundquist says
Just made it. I love it! Will make it over and over. I used white wine vinegar and it was awesome. My issue is that I suck at making hard boiled eggs. Mine NEVER peel easily. Even with that I will make again.
Karly says
The older the eggs, the easier they peel. I also cook mine in an Instant Pot and the shells just slip right off the eggs. 🙂