These are the best deviled eggs ever. They’re almost exactly like the classic but with a secret ingredient that makes them unbelievably delicious.

Secret Ingredient for Amazing Deviled Eggs

This deviled egg recipe follows the basic idea that you see in recipe after recipe for classic deviled eggs. It’s hard boiled egg yolks mixed with mayonnaise, a drizzle of cream or milk, mustard powder, paprika, salt, and a bit of lemon juice.

What makes these different, and really and truly the best deviled eggs ever, is the addition fresh herbs. Specifically, I use dill and/or chives.

You don’t need very much of the herbs. It’s just that little bit. They make the deviled eggs look pretty – speckled with green – and the taste is just a subtle difference, but a delicious difference, from the more basic version. You’re going to gobble all of these up before you get to the party, for sure!

How to Make Deviled Eggs

After hard-boiling or, even better, steaming your eggs, cool them and peel them. Note that you can alternately buy already hard-boiled and peeled eggs at the grocery section. They’re usually found in the deli section. I think cooking them myself is best but you can’t beat the convenience of having a batch of deviled eggs ready in under 10 minutes if you buy them pre-cooked.

Carefully cut the eggs in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and put them into a bowl or bag.

Arrange the whites on a serving tray. The one in the picture is specifically designed for deviled eggs and you can get one like it here. (It seems it’s no longer available, but Le Creuset used to make them.)

Mash the egg yolks together with the other ingredients. I use a fork to mash them. You can do it in a ziptop bag as I have done here but it’s easier to use a bowl and then transfer the mixture to a bag after.

You can simply scoop the yolk mixture into the whites using a small spoon but it looks much prettier if you pipe it in. Use a piping bag if you have one. If not, a regular quart or gallon-sized zip-top bag works as long as it’s not “flat-bottomed for easy filling”. The flat-bottomed bags don’t allow you to snip off a bottom corner as needed for piping.

Snip off a little bit of one corner, like ¼ inch. Once you start piping, if the yolk mixture isn’t flowing well, you can make the hole a bit bigger.

Using a swirling motion, pipe the yolk mixture into the whites. If you want, sprinkle a little extra paprika on top.

Serve immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to one day. If you do the latter, make extra because I guarantee you’ll be plucking them out of the fridge every time you walk by.

Podcast Episode: Making Deviled Eggs

This post originally appeared in May 2018 and was revised and republished in April 2024.