My Chinese Mom's 1-Ingredient Upgrade for the Best Egg Salad
This delicious upgrade for egg salad is already in your fridge. It adds just a touch of sweetness.
People have told me they would fly to Tokyo just to enjoy the konbini (convenience store) tamago sandos (Japanese egg salad sandwiches) that you can find at Lawsons, Family Mart, or 7-Eleven. I get it. I’ve traveled to Japan a few times, and the egg salad sandwiches are really that good.
They remind me of my Chinese mother’s egg salad, a dish with a hint of sweetness thanks to the maple syrup she mixes in.
My Mom's Egg Salad Upgrade
A touch of sweetness makes Asian and Japanese egg salads exceptional and distinct from their Western counterparts. Sometimes, Mom would sweeten her egg salad and add crunch with diced persimmons, pears, apples, or even green grapes, but it was maple syrup that made her egg salad so memorable. It was creamy and satisfying, and while savory, it had a Goldilocks amount of sweetness to balance the other flavors.
I was born in Montreal, so this Canadian pantry staple has always tasted like home. At any given time, my family had one precious bottle of maple syrup—bought from the Canadian border duty-free store—tucked away in our kitchen like treasure. As that one bottle of maple syrup slowly depleted, Mom would only let us use the precious liquid when we had EGGO waffles, pancakes, and her egg salad.
How To Make Egg Salad My Mom's Way
Mom only used hard-boiled eggs because soft or runny egg yolks made egg salads too wet. She also had strong mayo preferences and would only reach for the Kewpie mayo for egg salad, not Hellmann’s. For every two tablespoons of Kewpie mayo, she’d balance it with one tablespoon of maple syrup. This mixture was enough to season four hard-boiled eggs.
Another trick to making Mom's egg salad is separating the egg whites from the yolks. She’d mash the yolks first with the Kewpie mayo, maple syrup, and a little salt and white pepper to make a creamy yellow paste, like the mixture you use to make deviled eggs. Then she’d toss in the finely diced egg whites before mixing everything together.
She’d generously slather the egg salad over a slice of untoasted milk bread (white bread or sourdough work, too) and sandwich the egg salad with another slice of bread. Mom kept the crusts on the bread because as someone who grew up always hungry back in China, she doesn’t believe in wasting food.
Mom would then slice the sandwich in half—not diagonally—and my younger sister and I would each get half.
I make Mom’s egg salad for her for lunch, and while sometimes I sneak in diced cucumbers or pears for added fiber and texture, I always add a splash of maple syrup. This is my favorite egg salad because Mom knows best when it comes to comfort food. Those konbini Japanese egg salad sandos come in a close second.
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