Deviled eggs with brown butter are the perfect appetizer for your Easter brunch menu. They are classic, delicious and easy to make. All the familiar flavours are enriched with nutty and fragrant brown butter. The perfect way to celebrate Easter with your family!
Easter celebrations are just around the corner and I’m already planning my festive brunch menu. Of course, this day is impossible without eating eggs, so I thought I’d play a little with the classic appetizer – deviled eggs with a personal spin.
When it comes to creating a recipe, I always think about flavour combinations and textures. Egg yolk is silky and smooth without a major distinct flavour, so you need to build those taste layers. You need to add some heat, some crunch, and a touch of fragrance to have a unified and perfect bite.
In these deviled eggs, every single component delivers all these things:
- Brown butter gives the fragrant nutty flavour
- Baked pancetta slices add crunch and texture
- A dusting of cayenne pepper gives some heat
Now this is what I call the perfect appetiser!
Tips for Making the Best Deviled Eggs
To make this recipe, it really is easy smeazy. When you think about this meal, it’s just boiling the eggs and making a creamy, smooth filling. That’s it. Nothing else. But the devil is in the detail (so to speak!), so here are some tips to perfect your eggs:
- Always use fresh eggs. Fresh eggs are easier to peel and have a better texture for deviled eggs.
- Boil the eggs properly. Boil the eggs for 10 minutes and drain the hot water. Place the eggs in iced water for a few minutes to stop the cooking process.
- Peel the eggs. To prevent tearing, tap each egg gently on a hard surface to crack the shell. Peel the shell under running water to help remove it more easily.
- Use a piping bag for filling. This makes the deviled eggs look more professional and allows you to control the amount of filling in each egg.
- Chill the deviled eggs before serving. Leave the eggs in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving. This allows the flavours to mingle and the filling to set.
Deviled Eggs Filling Swaps
If you Google ‘deviled eggs’, you’ll find 10,000+ recipes, each with different flavour combinations. This dish is so versatile that no matter what you add to your mixture, most likely it’ll work.
Here are some of the ideas for your filling:
- Classic version – ditch all the extra ingredients such as brown butter, pancetta and Greek yogurt. Keep the filling very simple (mayonnaise and mustard) and finish the eggs with a dusting of chilli pepper.
- Green version – instead of mayonnaise, add half a perfectly ripened avocado. Finish the filling with a touch of lime juice to bring out the flavours.
- Heat version – instead of mustard, add a teaspoon of horseradish or even wasabi. It works perfectly with smooth egg yolk and gives a little kick to this dish.
- Mediterranean version – bring all those sunny flavours to your deviled eggs. Add sun-dried tomatoes to the egg filling and finish the eggs with sliced green olives.
Try out these appetizer recipes for your Easter menu:
Feta Cheese Parcels with Filo Pastry
Mushroom Toast with Butter Bean Spread
Prawns with Limoncello Sauce
Whipped Ricotta Spread with Roasted Cherries
Anchovy Dip with Roasted Peppers
Recipe
Ingredients
Eggs:
6 hard boiled eggs (I used these rich yolk eggs)
1 tablespoon Greek Yogurt
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
½ teaspoon mustard
6 pancetta slices
Salt and pepper
Fresh chives and parsley
Brown butter:
50g unsalted butter
½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
Method
Prepare the pancetta:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Add the pancetta slices on a baking tray. Place another baking tray or dish on top of them (this way, your slices won’t wrinkle).
- Bake the pancetta for 10 minutes.
Prepare the filling:
- Cut the eggs in half and take out the egg yolks.
- Mash the egg yolks with a fork and add the yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper.
- Stir everything together until you get a smooth paste.
Prepare the brown butter:
- Add the butter to a saucepan and heat it on a low heat.
- After the butter melts, add the cayenne pepper. Stir everything together.
- Heat the butter until it gets brown (2-3 minutes).
Finish the dish:
- Add the egg yolk mixture into a piping bag and pipe it into the egg whites.
- Break the pancetta slices into small pieces and sprinkle them on top of the eggs.
- Finish the dish with a drizzle of brown butter, fresh chives and parsley.
