Flavored Cream Cheese Is The Easiest Way To Jazz Up Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs hit the trifecta when it comes to being an ideal appetizer. For one thing, they're pretty cheap to make; for another, most people seem to like them. Rounding out the triple win is the fact that they are generally pretty easy to make as long as you can boil an egg. Once the eggs are cooked and cooled, it's but the work of a moment to remove and mash the yolks with a few other ingredients and stick them back in the shells.

The standard deviled egg recipe typically calls for mayonnaise to stretch out the filling, although some deviled eggs are instead made with secret ingredients like butter, sour cream, or cottage cheese or somewhat more obvious ones like mashed avocado. Deviled eggs also need flavoring, though, so they tend to include condiments such as mustard, hot sauce, or sriracha. (Notably, these pungent or spicy seasonings are the reason these eggs are called "deviled" — nope, no satanic backstory for this church potluck favorite.) If you'd like to skip a step or two, however, flavored cream cheese is a two-for-one ingredient that can bring both texture and taste to deviled egg filling. Cream cheese is thicker, richer, and less watery than mayonnaise, which makes for a less weepy filling. It also has some natural tang to it, even the plain varieties, but the flavored ones are the obvious choice for egg deviling purposes.

Cream cheese flavors usually fall into two categories: sweet and savory. (No surprises there.) The former, which includes strawberry, blueberry, and cinnamon, are okay atop sweeter bagels, but you might want to steer clear of using them in deviled egg fillings unless you're feeling experimental. The fruit flavors could work, however, if offset with some balsamic vinegar, chopped basil, and a fresh berry garnish.

Savory cream cheeses, however, need no tweaking to make them deviled egg-worthy right out of the box (or tub), but it can be fun to pick out the perfect partner for pairing. Smoked salmon cream cheese eggs could be enhanced with sliced red onion or even a bit of lox if you're feeling fancy, while chive cheese eggs + chopped green onions are a natural fit (this flavor also goes great with a lox topper). Pair garlic cream cheese with an egg topper of chopped fresh herbs or combine jalapeño cream cheese with crumbled bacon and shredded cheddar to make for popper-inspired eggs. These are just a few ideas to get you started, not hard and fast rules, so feel free to explore your own mix-and-match cream cheese and topping combos. You're welcome to prove us wrong about sweet cream cheeses, too — who knows, maybe honey cream cheese deviled eggs topped with chopped peanuts wouldn't be all bad. (Tbh, we're kind of talking ourselves around to it as we type.)