A secret natural ingredient (not food coloring!) gives these Pickled Deviled Eggs their bright pink color, making them the perfect Easter appetizer!
Table of Contents
Dyed eggs are the ultimate Easter tradition. And now you can take the celebration a step further by dyeing the entire egg itself and stuffing it with a creamy egg salad. The secret ingredient for the fuchsia rim? Beets!
A simple pickling technique that uses beets, shallots, vinegar and sugar extracts the bright purple color from the root vegetable. Add in a dozen hardboiled eggs and then let the marinade work its magic. A few hours later and you’ll slice into colored eggs while mashing together a classic salad of the yolks. The eye-catching effect is a simple touch that makes for a spectacular presentation on your holiday table.
Here’s everything you’ll need to make these cold appetizers:
- Vinegar: Plain ol’ distilled white vinegar has a high enough acidity to effectively pickle the eggs, and it is perfectly clear so it won’t affect the color of the brine.
- Beet: A vegetable peeler is the best tool for peeling the beet.
- Shallot: Sweeter than an onion, shallots add just the right amount of bite to pickling liquid.
- Sugar: A bit of granulated sugar balances the acidity in the pickling liquid.
- Eggs: Use the instructions in my recipe for Guacamole Deviled Eggs for the best way to boil eggs.
- Mayonnaise: Adds tangy creaminess to the deviled egg filling. Low-fat mayo is fine in this recipe.
- Mustard: Either yellow ballpark-style mustard or Dijon mustard can be used to add a spicy edge to the filling.
- Relish: If you don’t have relish on hand, dice up a pickle instead.
- Paprika: This spice is a classic topper for deviled eggs, giving a little color and warm spice. It’s also a star seasoning in cowboy butter and Hungarian cucumber salad (a recipe that’s been in my family for generations!).
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
These brightly colored deviled eggs are the perfect Easter food.
- Make the brine. Simmering together the beet, onion, vinegar and other ingredients will help develop the flavors and extract maximum color from the beet.
- Soak the eggs. After cooling the brine, add the eggs to the mixture. Just like with naturally dyed easter eggs, the longer you soak them, the more intense the color will be and the deeper it will penetrate into the whites of the eggs.
- Make the filling. Remove the yolks and combine with the deviled egg ingredients. Use a handheld mixer or a rubber spatula to make the filling smooth and creamy.
- Fill the eggs. A small cookie scoop works to fill the whites with the deviled egg mixture, or for a fancier effect, use a pastry bag fitted with a large piping tip, or a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off.
Pro Tip: Beet juice can stain cutting boards, utensils and, yes, even your hands. If you don’t want bright-pink hands, wear a pair of clean dish gloves while you’re peeling and slicing the beet. A glass container for pickling the eggs is also preferable, since plastic will stain.
Deviled eggs are best eaten the day they’re made, but leftovers will keep for a day or two. Store the deviled eggs in a single layer in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
You can pickle the eggs and make the filling a day ahead of time and store the filling in a plastic zip-top bag. If you’re transporting the eggs to an event to serve as a party appetizer, wait to fill the eggs when you arrive at your destination — just snip off the corner of the plastic bag, fill the whites and garnish with the paprika.
Craving more? Subscribe to Just a Taste to get new recipes, meal plans and a newsletter delivered straight to your inbox! And stay in touch on Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 small beet, peeled and sliced
- 1 small shallot, sliced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 Tablespoon sweet relish
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Paprika, for dusting
Instructions
- Bring water, vinegar, beet, shallot, sugar and a pinch of salt to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Simmer it, covered, until beet is tender, about 20 minutes.
- Transfer the beet mixture to a container and cool it completely, uncovered.
- Add the eggs to the mixture, submerging them entirely in the liquid. Refrigerate the eggs for at least 2 hours, and up to 6 hours, allowing the eggs to marinate while gently stirring them once or twice.
- Remove the eggs from the beet mixture and pat them dry (discard the beet mixture). Halve the eggs lengthwise and remove the yolks.
- Mash the yolks with the mayonnaise, mustard, sweet relish, and salt and pepper.
- Divide the mixture among the egg whites. Sprinkle with a light dusting of paprika.
Kelly’s Notes
-
★ Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Nutrition
Shoutout
Did you try this recipe?
Share it with the world! Mention @justataste or tag #justatasterecipes!
This post may contain affiliate links.
Recipe adapted from Gourmet.
Can you use canned beets?
Hi Michelle! I haven’t tried that so I can’t say with certainty what the results would be but my initial thought is that it *should* work. Let me know if you give it a shot!