Mimosa Devilled Egg Pasta Salad

If you like classic retro macaroni salad, and you like devilled eggs or egg salad, you will like this salad!

I’ve taken two of my childhood favourite salads and combined them into one uber salad. Instead of fussing with making devilled eggs, all the flavours are now found in this dish. Fresh, bright, a perfect side for a spring or summer meal or bbq.

Ingredients

The ingredients are simple, and can also be customized if you feel like it. The salad starts with hard boiled eggs.  Then you will cook and cool your favourite small pasta, whether macaroni, ditallini, shells, etc The add-ins are chopped celery, chopped cooked bacon, green onions and chives.  If you want to garnish with extra fresh spring pea or broccoli shoots, they will add some lovely colour and texture.

The dressing is made from mayonnaise, skyr or yogurt, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, paprika, sugar, salt and pepper. 

Method

If you have the time, boil, cool and chill your eggs.  Chilling them in the fridge will make it easier to grate the yolks when it’s time to do so.  But if you can only cool down, it will still work.  Once ready to use them, you will separate the yolks from the whites, leaving one egg whole. More about that later.  Chop up the whites, and grate the yolks into a large bowl: I use a microplane. The small holes in your box grater will also work fine. 

Prep your dressing by combining the grated egg yolks with the mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, paprika, sugar, salt and pepper.  Mix well and taste.  Adjust to your liking. Some like more tang, so up the lemon, but remember it will also thin out the dressing a little.  If you like the texture but still want more lemony goodness, add some zest instead.  I like adding that touch of sugar: it reminds me of the dressings used in the macaroni and egg salads of my youth. Start with less sugar if you prefer. If you want a bit of heat, feel free to add some cayenne along with the paprika.

Cook, drain and cool the pasta.  If possible, spread out the pasta in a wide dish, this will help the pasta from sticking together before you are ready to use it.  I know that any Italian mama will tell you not to rinse the pasta with water.  If I am using the pasta in a salad like this, I don’t mind a quick rinse to loosen the pasta just before adding it to the bowl with the dressing. But you do you.

Add the pasta, chopped whites, crumbled bacon, chopped celery, and chopped green onions to the dressing and toss together.

When serving in the dish you want to present this salad in, garnish with chopped chives, and pea or broccoli shoots.

Mimosa

But what about the Mimosa part in the name of this salad you are asking.  Getting the name from the beautiful yellow and white spring Mimosa flower, we are going to finish this salad with one more garnish: the remaining hard boiled egg.  Using the large holes of your box grater, create a lovely mound of yellow and white egg.  Sprinkle this over the pasta salad.

Final Thoughts

This salad can be made ahead of time and stored in a sealed container in the fridge.  If you are going to do so, I would make extra dressing, as the pasta will absorb the dressing as it rests. Even if you only want to whisk up some mayo and lemon and season as you would like, this will definitely help in keeping the salad pleasantly loose for serving.

Feel free to add more of whatever you like.  It is a salad, so you don’t need to be exact when it comes to the bacon, celery, onions, etc.

If you would rather use apple cider vinegar instead of lemon that’s fine. If you want to serve the salad over a bed of arugula or baby gems lettuce tossed with a little olive oil and lemon, that would be lovely as well.

This makes enough for six as a side.  It comes in at around four cups and a bit. Feel free to double the recipe if you are feeding a crowd or bringing to a potluck. It would also be lovely as part of a brunch spread.

If you would like it more creamy, increase the mayonnaise and yogurt.  If you want it more loose and runny, add a bit more lemon juice. If you want to save some of the bacon as part of the garnish, that would be great too!

For other springtime salads and egg creations, check out The Fluffiest Springtime Frittata, Goat Cheese and Dill Quiche in a Hash Brown Crust, Easy Poached Nordic Shrimp Salad, Classic Egg Salad Sandwich with Pickle, Spinach Strawberry Salad with Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

If you make this Springy, happy Mimosa Egg Pasta Salad, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! It’s always lovely to hear from you guys, and I always do my best to respond to each comment or question. And of course, if you do make this recipe, and you post it on Instagram, don’t forget to also tag me so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is such a treat.

Love Jen

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Mimosa Devilled Egg Pasta Salad

A lovely combination of classic pasta salad and egg salad come together in this easy to make side dish. Crunch from celery and bacon, and finished with chives, greens and grated hard boiled egg, this dish would be lovely as part of brunch spread, a Spring shower, anniversary lunch, or family bbq.

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine North American

Keyword egg salad, mimosa, pasta salad

Prep Time 30 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

Salad

• 4 oz (115 grams) small pasta, like macaroni, ditallini, shells etc
• 4 large hardboiled eggs cooled down
• 3 rashers of bacon cooked, crumbled and cooled
• 1 large celery rib finely chopped
• 2-3 green onions thinly sliced

Dressing

• 1/2 cup (125 ml) mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) skyr or Greek yogurt
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard, or more to taste
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika, or what you have on hand, except for hot Hungarian paprika
• kosher salt, to taste
• black pepper, to taste

Garnishes

• chopped chives
• pea or broccoli shoots

Instructions

1. Cook, drain and cool the 4 oz of pasta. See blog post for more details on cooling options.
2. Peel three of the cooled eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Leave the remaining egg in the fridge.
3. Chop the whites and set aside. Grate the yolks into a large bowl. I use a microplane for this. Use what you have on hand.

4. To the grated egg yolks, add 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/3 cup skyr or yogurt, 2 tsp of lemon juice, 2 tsp of mustard, 1 tsp of sugar, and 1/2 tsp of paprika. Add in 1/2 tsp of salt and black pepper. Mix well. Taste and re-season as desired, using the remaining sugar for that classic taste. Adjust the creaminess of the dressing: if you want it creamier add a bit more mayonnaise. If you want it looser, add a bit more lemon juice. If you like the texture but want to taste more lemon, add some of the zest you made.

Assemble

1. To the large bowl with the dressing add in the cooled pasta, chopped egg whites, crumbled bacon, chopped celery, and sliced green onions. Gently toss.
2. If serving immediately, set out in the bowl or plate you want to use. Garnish with some chopped chives and pea or broccoli shoots.
3. Take the remaining hard boiled egg from the fridge, peel and grate it over the large large holes of a box grater. Sprinkle this over the salad.

Recipe Notes

If you are making this ahead, the salad can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge till you are ready to serve.
When you take it out, it may have stiffened up as the pasta absorbed the dressing. To loosen it, whisk some more mayonnaise with lemon juice and season with some salt , pepper, paprika and even sugar as you desire. Taste it and then gently fold it into the salad.
Only add the grated egg just before serving.
You can make the boiled eggs in advance and store in the fridge for up to four days in advance.
An easy way to boil the eggs is to add them to a small pot filled with 1/2 inch of boiling water. Cover and steam for 10 minutes. Immediately transfer the eggs to an ice bath to cool down.

This makes enough to feed six as a side dish.