Egg salad can be the perfect dish to accompany other assortments in your basket for a quick picnic lunch with the family. However, there can be times when many family members start to munch on a particular dish leaving the others to become leftovers. In this case, if you have a lot of egg salad leftover, your best bet would be to refrigerate it for later use. However, how long is egg salad good for in the fridge? Can you really depend on your nose to tell you whether or not the egg salad is good or gone bad?
According to USDA and many other studies, food can last much longer than you would think. However, this does not apply to all sorts of food items. Bread might last longer in the fridge than dairy products. This is important to know because the ingredients in the egg salad have different expiration timelines. Mayonnaise used to make egg salad can reduce how long you can keep the egg salad refrigerated. So, how does this mix or egg salad concoction impact its longevity? Before finding that out, let’s look at whether or not egg salad can be left at room temperature.
How long is egg salad good for when left at room temperature?
Like we mentioned before, egg salad is a mixture of a lot of ingredients which include mayonnaise. This does affect the dish’s longevity. So before you think about refrigerating an egg, it is important to know how long is egg salad good for when left at room temperature.
Since egg salad contains a lot of ingredients including mayonnaise, when left outside at room temperature it can start to get bad real quick. Bacteria growth accelerates in temperatures between 40F and 140F. We do not recommend keeping egg salad at room temperature for over 2 hours. It can become a health concern if it stays out for too long.
How long is egg salad good for when refrigerated?
If you are wondering how long is egg salad good for when refrigerated the answer is if kept exposed in the fridge it can last barely a day or two. This is because the air in the fridge starts to react with the eggs and mayonnaise. For your egg salad to go beyond a day or two, we recommend storing the dish properly in a sealed container. Once you’ve properly stored your dish in a sealed container, you can store the egg salad in the refrigerator and use it for three to five days.
Have too much egg salad? Try this…
Now that you know how long is egg salad good for when kept at room temperature or even refrigerated, you should know that refrigerated egg salad doesn’t taste that good. This is because mayonnaise does not react well inside the refrigerator. There are a lot of things to make an egg salad interesting but before that, you should know how to heat an egg salad.
Since an egg salad contains oil, you can’t overheat it. The best way to heat an egg salad is to keep it in a dish with a lid on it to create steam. Microwave in intervals of 15 seconds. Monitor your egg salad and keep mixing it during these intervals. This is the best way to maintain some flavor of the salad.
Once heated, you can add truffle oil, ground pepper, parmesan, and chives. This will freshen up your egg salad while tasting delicious. Besides that, you can try sizzling up some bacon and toasting your bread. Get your egg salad and spread it on the bread, add the bacon, and voila, you’ve got yourself a delicious egg and bacon sandwich. There are many different ingredients you can add to your egg and bacon sandwich to take it to another level. Get some fresh sliced tomatoes on your sandwich or add a cool lettuce leaf. You can even add freshly chopped onions with a bit of mustard or ketchup to make a sloppy sandwich. How about caramelizing some onions and making it a bed for your egg salad to go on top in a sandwich.
There are so many things one can do with an egg salad. The combination of eggs and mayonnaise can easily be enjoyed on many different dishes. Heck, you can even sear a couple of steak pieces and add a few dollops of egg salad to your meal for a protein-packed lunch. Egg salads are a great way to make lunches if you’re time-strapped at work or if you have kids going to school every morning. Prepare an egg salad the night before, store it in the fridge and create wonderful dishes that are quick to prepare and tantalize the taste buds.
