For the Best Egg Salad, Make It the Polish Way

This easy swap makes an egg salad that's perfectly creamy but not greasy.

Egg salad sandwich with lettuce on whole grain bread and grape tomatoes on a plate — Simply Recipes / Adobe Stock

Most egg salads—like the classic version I grew up eating in the US—use mayonnaise as the glue that keeps all the ingredients together. While I like mayonnaise, I’ve had my fair share of egg salads that have gone overboard on the condiment. So when I stumbled across a Polish egg salad recipe that called for cream cheese, I had to give it a try—the swap just made sense.

First, I wanted to find out if it was legit. After checking in with a friend (a Polish native), I confirmed that it was the real deal. Then, I went down a rabbit hole of Polish egg salad recipes, only to discover another surprising ingredient in many of them.

As if I wasn’t already intrigued by the cream cheese, it turns out that butter often gets into the mix as well. Wondering what would taste best, I tested the three most common versions I found: using only cream cheese, a blend of cream cheese and mayonnaise, and a mix of cream cheese and butter.

Egg salad in a bowl next to bread slices — Simply Recipes / Adobe Stock

How To Make Egg Salad the Polish Way

In the end, I liked the blend of cream cheese and mayo the best. Not only did that version come closest to achieving the tangy flavor profile of the classic I’m so used to ,but the cream cheese did exactly what I had hoped it would: made the egg salad ultra creamy and a dream to spread onto toast—without falling onto my plate in a million pieces or cracking my toast.

Since the other ingredients in the Polish recipes I found were essentially the same as the ones I typically use, I decided to mostly stick with my go-to recipe. Instead of using all mayonnaise like I normally would, I halved the amount and made up the remaining with softened cream cheese, blending the two thoroughly before proceeding as usual.

Because cream cheese has a very mild tang, I made one more small tweak: adding a little extra mustard and lemon juice to bring back the sharp, bright note I enjoy without the greasiness I don’t.

Between the richer texture and enhanced spreadability, this Polish twist is just the thing I needed to make my egg salad recipe even better. Try this easy swap the next time you make your favorite egg salad.