For the Best Egg Salad, Add a Pinch of Sugar (It Sounds Weird, But It Works)

Whenever my family and I visit Japan, we always stop at a konbini, like Lawson, FamilyMart, or 7-Eleven, to pick up snacks, drinks, and, without fail, a few sandos (or Japanese sandwiches). My favorite is the Japanese egg salad sando, which often costs less than $3 and tastes incredible.

In fact, this egg sando is so good that many people half-joke about flying to Japan just to grab one. 

The 1-Ingredient Upgrade That Makes Egg Salad Great

Japanese egg salad is typically made with hard-boiled eggs, Kewpie mayo, salt, pepper, and a little sugar. This sugar makes the egg salad subtly sweet and very well-rounded and balanced in flavor.

In Japanese cuisine, balancing flavors is the goal, a philosophy known as washoku. Sweetness helps soften richness, enhance umami notes, and make flavors feel rounder and more complete. For this reason, Japanese curries include a little sugar, fruits, or sometimes even chocolate.

Teriyaki sauces are sugary, and sukiyaki broth is somewhat sweet. Additionally, other egg dishes, like egg sushi and tamagoyaki, incorporate sugar. 

Across East and Southeast Asia, this philosophy of washoku is quite universal. My Cantonese mother often marinates her meats with pinches of sugar. She adds sugar to her Chinese-style soups. Vietnamese fish sauce and pho broth usually include sugar. Thai and Filipino cuisine frequently incorporates sweetness.

How To Add Sugar to Egg Salad

If you already have a favorite egg salad recipe, you don’t need to start from scratch. Simply mix your eggs, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper as usual. Next, add the sugar.

Start with just a small amount of sugar, about one-fourth to one-half teaspoon for a standard batch. The key is not to make dessert but to round out the richness of the savory eggs and mayo with the sugar. Taste and add more sugar (if needed), according to your palate. 

You’ll see that all the flavors will pop in your mouth with the first bite. 

I have observed variations of this approach of adding sweetness to egg salad across different cultures. For example, Koreans may add diced apples or pears to egg salad. My Cantonese mother, who lived in Montreal where I was born, uses a drizzle of maple syrup in her version.

For me, the final step is to add a big scoop of egg salad in between two slices of fluffy and slightly sweet milk bread. Oishi!