Nigella Lawson's Easter deviled eggs recipe is a total crowd-pleaser

Nigella shared how to make devilled eggs

Easter is a time for eggs, usually the chocolate variety – but TV chef Nigella Lawson is spicing things up (literally) with her deviled eggs recipe, guaranteed to be a hit this Sunday.

Posting the tasty treat as her recipe of the day on X, formerly Twitter, the food guru joked that they’re similar to cocktail sausages, “in that you can never seem to make too many”.

Nigella also took to her website to share the “retro” recipe, explaining they’re a “bit fiddly to make, but they’re not hard”.

She also referred to the throwback dish as “immensely rewarding” as they just taste so good and are a real crowd-pleaser.

Ingredients (to make 18)

• 12 large eggs (at room temperature)
• 4 x 15ml tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 – 2 teaspoons English mustard (from a jar)
• 1 teaspoon Maldon sea salt flakes (or more to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon paprika plus more for sprinkling
• 3 – 4 drops of tabasco (to taste)
• 2 x 15ml tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped chives

Method

First, bring some water to the boil in a saucepan that’s big enough to hold the 12 eggs on their sides and, once it’s boiling, gently ferry the eggs, one by one, into the pan and bring back to the boil. Boil for a minute, then turn the heat off and leave the eggs to stand in the pan for 12 minutes.

While waiting for the eggs to cook, fill a large bowl with very cold water, and ice. As soon as the eggs have had their 12 minutes, spoon them, egg by egg, into the cold water and leave for 15 minutes – no longer – before peeling patiently and carefully.

Halve the egg lengthways and, using your fingers, gently prise the yolk out of each half and pop them into a mixing bowl. Place the neatest-looking 18-halved whites on a plate or two. You need more yolk than white to fill each egg.

Then, to the bowl, add the mayonnaise, a teaspoon of English mustard, the salt and paprika, and shake a few drops of Tabasco on top. Stir and mash with a fork, then blitz to mix with a stick blender. Add the oil and blitz again until smooth. It will be very thick.

Check for seasoning and also taste to see if you want this hotter. Now, by hand, stir in a little water from a freshly boiled kettle – you want to use as much of water as you need to help form a piping consistency. Then, fit a piping bag with a star icing nozzle and spoon in the golden mixture, making sure it is densely packed at the bottom of the bag.

Then pipe away, filling the hollowed-out whites with golden rosettes. Or you can mound the yolk mixture using a pair of teaspoons. Sprinkle with paprika and chopped chives and serve with a flourish.

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