Asparagus Salad with Hard-Boiled Eggs & Creamy Dijon Dressing
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This springy asparagus salad has all of the makings of a perfect Easter or Mother’s Day side dish.
Adapted from Jacques Pépin More Fast Food My Way (Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), this springy asparagus salad has all of the makings of a perfect Easter or Mother’s Day dish. The presentation is lovely, the components can all be made ahead of time, and the taste is divine. Serve it as a first course or a side to slow-roasted salmon or honey baked ham.
How To Make Jacques Pépin’s Asparagus Salad
Begin by hard boiling the eggs. The best way is to cover them with an inch of water and then bring to a boil. Remove the pot from the heat, cover with a lid and let sit for 14 minutes.
Cool the eggs in an ice bath or simply run them under cold water to stop the cooking process.
Peel and finely chop the eggs and set aside.
For the asparagus, first trim off the bottom ends. Then, in a skillet large enough to hold the asparagus horizontally, bring six cups of salted water to a boil.
Boil the asparagus for 3-4 minutes, or until tender-crisp. Be careful not to overcook it — no one likes mushy asparagus.
Shock the asparagus in an ice bath to stop the cooking process and preserve the bright green color.
Make The Creamy Dijon Dressing
For the dressing, simply combine the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, water, salt and pepper in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
Finally, to assemble the salad, remove the asparagus spears from the ice bath and dry on a clean dishtowel. Arrange the spears on a platter or individual plates and spoon the sauce generously over top. Sprinkle the chopped egg and chives over the sauce and serve.
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Asparagus Salad with Hard-Boiled Eggs & Creamy Dijon Dressing
This springy asparagus salad has all of the makings of a perfect Easter or Mother’s Day side dish.
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 3 large eggs
- 2 bunches thick asparagus spears, bottom ends trimmed
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives, for garnish
For the Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise, best quality such as Hellmann's or Duke's
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- Pinch salt
- A few grinds freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water by one inch. Heat over high heat until the water comes to a rapid boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat, cover with a lid and let stand for 14 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water to chill. Peel and chop the eggs and set aside.
- Bring 6 cups water and 4 teaspoons salt to a boil in a large shallow pot. Add the asparagus and cook 3-4 minutes, or until tender-crisp. While the asparagus is cooking, fill a large bowl with ice and water. Transfer the cooked asparagus to the ice bath to stop the cooking process and preserve the bright green color. When cool, remove the asparagus from the ice bath and set on a clean dish towel to dry.
- For the sauce, mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.
- To serve, arrange the asparagus spears on individual plates or a platter and spoon the sauce generously over the middle of the spears. Sprinkle the chopped eggs and chives over the sauce.
- Note: The nutritional information is calculated with the assumption that between the salted water the asparagus is cooked in and the added pinch of salt, there is approximately ½ tsp. added salt in the recipe.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (5 servings)
- Calories: 225
- Fat: 21 g
- Saturated fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Sugar: 2 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 6 g
- Sodium: 356 mg
- Cholesterol: 121 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Delicious and a different way to enjoy asparagus. And all the ingredients were in my pantry/fridge already. Thank you Jenn!
This recipe was delicious and easy to prepare. I particularly liked the dressing. My friend, Ruth, follows Jenn’s blog and she liked this recipe too!
Thank you Jenn, I have wanted to make this for awhile now and Easter dinner was it. I followed the recipe; although, the chives were the forgotten item. The dish was well received. It was different than anything we’ve had before and looked so nice on the platter.
Saw it today. Made it tonight. Loved it!!
Was looking for something different with asparagus and your recipe just popped in my email! It was fantastic and thank you again for another great recipe!!!
We loved the asparagus with the creamy dijon dressing. I did cut up the asparagus, and even though the presentation wasn’t as sophisticated as the picture, I did like how the egg yolk made the dressing thicker. I will try this with other vegetables. Thanks again for another hit.
Can you include the nutritional value in your recipes. I would love to try some of your recipes as they look delicious, however, My sodium is restricted. Thank you for your consideration.
Hi Shirley, Most of my recipes do have nutritional information though this one did not. I’ve just added it; you can find it immediately under the recipe. Hope that helps!
Love this dish! I was looking for a new way to serve asparagus and was so pleasantly surprised at how delicious this was! Perfect as written as are all of the recipes I have tried from Jenn’s website. Thank you for showing us new ways to use ingredients and I can be confident they will turn out fantastically! Have continued to make this often and everyone that tries it is impressed.
Great recipe! Those flavors are a tasty combination. Have you tried steaming your eggs? I steam large eggs in a single layer for 12 minutes. There is no green ring and they peel much easier than boiling. I bought your book and I use it weekly! Thanks!
Glad you liked the asparagus! I can’t say I’ve ever tried steaming my eggs – I’ll have to give that method a try – thanks for the suggestion. 🙂
Life changing! I put them in an ice bath after too.
Can you make this without the egg or substitute with something else? I’m a vegetarian and will make with vegan mayo but wondering about the egg.
Hi Sandy, you could just omit the egg here; this would still be tasty with just the sauce drizzled on the asparagus. Hope you enjoy!
This is absolutely delicious as a cold luncheon when served with ham steak (soak the steak to remove some of the salt)! Yum!