Egg and onion is a beloved Ashkenazi Jewish appetiser. Quick and simple, it’s way more delicious than its basic ingredients would suggest.
Sometimes, the simple things are the best. I recently made egg and onion for the first time in ages, and was reminded just how delicious it is! We will be eating it much more frequently from now on.
A weekly treat
Egg and onion was a weekly treat when I was growing up. No Friday night dinner menu was complete without egg and onion (and chopped liver) to eat with a slice of challah or a crunchy matza cracker. Plus a few slices of pickled cucumber on the side.
A Jewish classic
This tasty appetiser has been made by Jewish cooks for generations. Quick, simple, and thrifty, egg and onion – sometimes known as eier mit tsibele (“egg with onion”) or gehakte eier (“chopped egg”) in Yiddish – is way more flavoursome than its short, basic ingredients list would suggest.
Although it would originally have been made with schmaltz (chicken fat), today it is usually made with the more vegetarian-friendly mayonnaise instead. The ingredients required are:
- hard boiled eggs
- finely diced onion
- mayonnaise
- salt and pepper
The raw or the cooked?
My Mum’s egg and onion was always made with raw onion, and so that’s the way I like it! Other people fry their onions until golden and soft, before adding them to their egg and onion.
Both ways are traditional, so it’s up to you which you prefer. In this recipe I’ve used raw onion – it’s tasty, much quicker, and I just like it better. You can also use finely sliced spring onions (scallions) for a milder flavour.
How many eggs? A kosher conundrum
In this recipe I’ve called for 5 eggs to serve 4 people. This is because I grew up always hard boiling an odd number of eggs.
According to kashrut (the Jewish dietary laws) an egg with a blood spot on the yolk is not kosher. But of course you can’t check the yolk of an egg before you hard boil it! Therefore there is a tradition to boil an odd number of eggs so that even if some of them have blood spots, it’s likely that a majority do not (you need an odd number to have a majority).
This also means that even if one or more of the eggs have blood spots, the pan you use to cook them won’t be rendered un-kosher. Some people also have a special pan they use only for cooking eggs – belt and braces, right?
These days, it’s reasonable to make this assumption about a majority of the eggs being fine, since all commercially available eggs are unfertilised, and the incidence of blood spots is very low.
(If you’d like to read more about the dietary laws around eggs, take a look at this article on kashrut.com.)
Of course, if you aren’t so bothered about the kosher status of your hard boiled eggs, feel free to boil as few or as many as you like!
Isn’t it just fancy egg salad?
Since it’s only the chopped onion that stops it being a simple egg mayonnaise, you might imagine that there wouldn’t be much to choose between them.
You’d be wrong! Somehow the onion really elevates this dish to become something really delicious. I suppose that’s why the humble onion managed to gets its name up there on the billing.
Simply delicious
I hope you’ll decide to give this simple and delicious appetiser a try. You’ll be surprised just how tasty a few simple ingredients can be!
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📖 Recipe
Egg and onion
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 2-3 tablespoon finely diced white onion (approx. ½ a small onion) You may need more or less depending on the strength of your onion!
- 2 tablespoon mayonnaise
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the eggs into a pan of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 9 minutes. If you haven't already finely chopped your onion, this is a good time to do it.
- After 9 minutes, Immediately remove the eggs from the heat, drain, and plunge into ice-cold water. The eggs need to be rapidly cooled to prevent the yolks from developing a greyish colour.
- Once the eggs are cool, peel off the shells and discard. You may need to rinse off any small fragments of shell and then pat the eggs dry with kitchen paper.
- Place the peeled eggs in a bowl and use a fork to mash/chop/squash the eggs into small bits.
- Add the finely chopped onion, mayonnaise and salt and pepper and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning if required.
- Serve straightaway, or else cover and refrigerate until ready to eat. Egg and onion will keep for 1-2 days in the fridge in a closed container. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
More delicious Ashkenazi Jewish recipes
If you enjoy classic Ashkenazi Jewish food, you might also enjoy this delicious lokshen kugel, these tasty chopped and fried gefitlte fish, or this fabulous vegetarian cholent.
sunshine
Outstanding! It doesn’t taste of overwhelming onion (I did raw), nor does it taste like a bog standard egg salad sandwich. It’s just delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Helen
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it so much! It’s one of our favourites too 🙂
Chsva
I have such fod memories of eier mit zweibel made with warmed but not browned onions in shmaltz. We had this on Shabbat with challah or matza So good For some reason it doesn’t read like egg salad. Very special taste.
Helen
Thanks! I agree – it isn’t like egg salad at all, despite the similarity. It’s a Shabbat treat 🙂
possum
WOW! I ignored the post yesterday but got interested today. Egg and onion….after reading the recipe I realized that it’s not what I assumed. Have to try it. Originally I thought of my mum’s scrambled eggs on a lightly fried onion.
Helen
I hope you like it. A few people have mentioned scrambled eggs with fried onions, which I’d never come across before! So many delicious options…
possum
Just by accident, been googling and found this: Tsibeles Makes: 6 servings Total Time: 30 to 45 minutes
Ingredients
6 eggs
5 onions, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons schmaltz, duck fat or sunflower oil
Salt and pepper to taste
https://www.jewishfoodsociety.org/posts/2020/1/13/keeping-ashkenazi-recipes-alive-in-paris
Belle Plummer
Our family had a variation on this dish. It was considered a springtime recipe by my Polish grandmother. It consisted of hard cooked eggs, to the “jammy ” egg yolk, plus raw chopped scallions, white and green parts, and held together with generous amounts of butter. It wasn’t served on crackers but on my grandmother’s challah
Helen
This sounds absolutely delicious! I can just imagine the buttery eggs… YUM!
Esther
Since we used to have this on Shabbat morning for our dairy Kiddush, my Mom always made this with butter instead of Mayonnaise, and that is the way I have learned it. Since I usually only break out the fleishig dishes for jontiff, making eggs and onion with butter is what I do, myself. On chol hamoerld, however, my Mom used to cook the onions in a skillet and add the raw eggs, basically making scrambled eggs with onion. In our home, it was usually more onion than egg, though, or at least equal amounts, especially for the warm version.
Oh, and my Mom made a mean chopped liver, too!
Helen
So interesting Esther – I’ve never heard of it made with butter before! Sounds delicious 😋
Iris Redbourn
Your comment about pans that were only used for cooking eggs rang a bell in my mind! My mother’s paternal grandmother was Jewish, and Mum always kept one pan just for eggs. Growing up, I just thought that this was normal, although I didn’t know whether other people did it or not. Now I wonder if she learnt it from her grandmother without knowing the reason.
Helen
Interesting! It’s strange the things that get passed along.
Wjs57
When I was little we also had this as a vorspeise with matzo and chopped liver. It was always made by first frying the chopped onions in schmaltz. No mayonnaise . I don’t make it like that. It’s chopped spring onions and Mayo nowadays.
Helen
I think mayonnaise is easier and healthier than schmaltz (also more vegetarian!) but it does taste different.
Choclette
Ooh, I do like the sound of this. I love egg mayonnaise and often add chives, so I can see how it would work. But I’m intrigued by the idea of adding cooked onion. I’m going to have to try both now.
Helen
Thanks Choclette! I’d love to hear which you prefer. The raw onion is sharper and more savoury, while the cooked onion has a softer and sweeter flavour. They’re both good though!
Midge @ Peachicks' Bakery
What a great recipe! Thanks for sharing with #CookBlogShare 🙂
Helen
Thanks Midge! So glad you liked it 🙂
Janice
I’m a big fan of egg with mayonnaise but I’ve never added onion. Chives and spring onions yes, but now I feel I must try it with both raw and cooked onions to see what it is like. Thanks for sharing your insights into this traditional recipe.
Helen
Thanks Janice. I’d love to hear which you prefer after all your testing 🙂
Balzacnyc
If you start your eggs in boiling water,( lowering them in carefully on a skimmer), they will be much easier to peel. Starting them in cold water causes the membrane to adhere to the shell, making the eggs much more difficult to peel. The source for this science is Cook’s Illustrated, who investigated the issue, consulted scientists and carried out testing.
Helen
Thanks for this! Useful information. I will have to try it this way and see what happens.
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
I love an egg salad so I must try this one with the onion. Sounds delicious!
Helen
Thanks Amanda! I’m sure you’ll love it – it’s so much tastier than plain egg salad.
Nart at Cooking with Nart
This is very interesting. I love egg and onion but we tend to eat it with rice where I’m from. Just learned from this post that you have it as an appetizer in your culture 🙂
Helen
Thanks Nart. It’s amazing how versatile those two ingredients are!
Sue
This looks like a perfect light lunch or snack. I’m going to use green onions for mine.
Helen
Thanks Sue. I hope you enjoy it! It’s fabulous on a bagel for lunch.
David
A great simple recipe! I think I’d go for the fried onions myself, but sounds like the raw has good memories associated with it for you.
Helen
Thanks David. Fried onions are good too – just make sure you get them really soft and golden.
Carol Fox
This recipe made me smile and bring back memories. For Pesach I hardboil 5 eggs, saute onions until a nice golden brown, then plop them in a food processor with a cup of walnuts. Blitz them until they look like chopped liver. Add a little oil if it’s a little dry. It’s so delicious when still warm but still great on matzoh. When my son comes over I have to double the recipe so he can take home a doggy bag.
Helen
Sounds delicious Carol!
Katherine
Simple but perfect! Definitely raw onions for me in it!
Helen
Good choice! You only need a little bit but it really ramps up the flavour brilliantly.