A delicious creamy egg salad sandwich made with simple ingredients! This quick and simple Tamago Sando is a popular Japanese food that locals love to eat as a meal or snack. Now you can make it at home and save yourself some money!
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What is Tamago Sando?
Tamago Sando means "egg sandwich" in Japanese and it's made of extra creamy, rich egg salad filling with the fluffiest milk bread. The egg mixture is also more yellow in color due to a special technique to bring out the yolks.
There is an inexplicable deliciousness to these Japanese egg sandwiches as the egg salad is so rich and luscious making it super addictive!
This popular sandwich is sold all over Japan as street food or at local Japanese convenience stores, aka Konbini, as they're packaged and ready to eat.
Ingredients & Substitutes
Please scroll down to Recipe Card below for full measurements.
- Mini brioche buns or Japanese Milk Bread: or use any fluffy milk bread, regular white bread or Hawaiian rolls.
- Fresh Large Eggs: ideally room temperature eggs so they don't crack in the hot boiling water
- Japanese mayonnaise (aka Kewpie mayo): the key ingredient to distinguishes this from a regular egg salad sandwich as the mayo is much creamier than normal mayonnaise. You can find this at many Asian markets.
- Salt
- White granulated sugar: to give the egg salad a hint of sweetness.
- Black pepper
- Dried parsley: optional garnish
- White Vinegar & Salt: optional ingredient to add to the egg boiling water to make cracking and peeling the eggs more easy
Expert Tips
- For brighter yellow yolks, use eggs with omega 3s in them as these yolks are super rich in color.
- Bring eggs to room temperature by running them under warm water until the shell is room temperature.
- For extra creamy egg salad, use Japanese mayo because it is more creamier than American mayo since it primarily made with egg yolks without the egg whites.
- Add salt and vinegar when you boil the eggs. This makes the egg peeling process much easier as the vinegar breaks down the shell more and the salt prevents the eggs from cracking.
- Transfer the boiled eggs to an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
- Use the back of a spoon to help you peel the eggs as this helps to lift off the shells
- Peel the eggs by starting with the less pointy side as there's a little gap between the egg white and shell.
Instructions
Below are step-by-step instructions on how to make tamago sando:
Boil and Chill Eggs
First in a medium pot filled with enough water, bring to a boil over high heat. Optional: Add salt and vinegar here to make the peeling process easier. Carefully lower room temperature eggs into boiling water. Reduce to medium-high heat and boil eggs for 13 minutes covered.
Remove hard-boiled eggs with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a large bowl filled with cold water and ice (or an ice bath).
Peel and Slice Egg White
Once eggs are cool to touch, crack and peel them with the back of the spoon starting with the less pointy side as there's a gap between the shell and egg.
Then carefully run a sharp knife around the yolk to gently separate egg yolks from the whites. Transfer whites into another large bowl.
Separate Egg Whites & Yolks
Next run yolks through a fine sieve set over a large mixing bowl. Use the back of a spatula or spoon to push the egg through the sieve until your egg yolks are finely grated. Make sure to scrape the back of the sieve for more egg yolk.
Then finely dice egg whites. Transfer to the large bowl with the egg yolks.
Make Egg Salad & Assemble
To your eggs, add salt, black pepper, sugar and Japanese mayo. Mix with a spatula until creamy.
Next cut your brioche buns into half about 95% of the way. If you're using sandwich bread, skip this step. Lastly scoop an equal portion of your egg salad onto the bun or a slice of bread and close it with the other piece. Optional: Garnish with dried parsley. Enjoy!
Storage
- Tamago sando is best consumed same day as the bread will go soggy over time.
- However leftovers can last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I would suggest keeping the egg salad separate from the bread. But if you're packing this for lunch the next day, wrap the sandwiches tightly in plastic wrap.
- Freezer-friendly? I don't recommend freezing these sandwiches as it will make the eggs taste rubbery.
Pairing Suggestions
This tamago sando serves well with miso soup, Japanese crab corn salad, or Spicy Asian cucumber salad.
FAQ
This can be made in 1 day in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
This brings out the yellow color more in Japanese egg sandwiches.
Other recipes you may like
- HK Style Ham and Egg Sandwich
- Inkigayo Sandwich
- HK Style Satay Beef Sandwich
- Katsu Sando
- Korean Street Toast
📖 Recipe
Quick & Simple Tamago Sando
Ingredients
- 6 mini brioche buns or sub with 12 slices of white bread
- 6 large eggs
- ⅓ cup Japanese mayo or sub with normal mayo
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon white granulated sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley optional
Optional but recommended:
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar add to boiling water to make peeling process easier
- ½ teaspoon salt add to boiling water to prevent leakage from potentially cracked eggs
Instructions
- First in a medium pot filled with enough water, bring to a boil over high heat. Optional: Add salt and vinegar here to make the peeling process easier. Carefully lower room temperature eggs into boiling water. Reduce to medium-high heat and boil eggs for 13 minutes covered.
- Once boiled, remove hard-boiled eggs with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a large bowl filled with cold water and ice (or an ice bath).
- Once eggs are cool to touch, crack and peel them with the back of the spoon starting from the less pointy side of the egg as there's a small gap where you can insert the spoon to easily peel away the egg shell.
- Carefully run a sharp knife around the yolk to gently separate egg yolks from the whites. Transfer whites into another large bowl.
- Then run yolks through a fine sieve set over a large mixing bowl. Use the back of a spatula or spoon to push the egg through the sieve until your egg yolks are finely grated. Make sure to scrape the back of the sieve for more egg yolk.
- Finely dice egg whites with a knife. Transfer egg whites into bowl with egg yolk.
- To your eggs, add salt, black pepper, sugar and Japanese mayo. Mix with a spatula until creamy.
- Cut your brioche buns into half about 95% of the way. If you're using sandwich bread, skip this step.
- Scoop an equal portion of your egg salad onto the bun or a slice of bread and close it with the other piece. Optional: Garnish with dried parsley. Enjoy!
Ewelin
Ideed splendid
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for making my recipe and for the positive review! So glad you enjoyed it!
Viktorija Birjukova
Love it! Truly delicious and fluffy! This salad definitely will be on my daily menu🙌
christieathome
Thank you so much Viktorija! I am so pleased to hear that you enjoyed my sandwich! I also appreciate your kind review on my blog as well 🙂 Have a wonderful day!
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
I am a huge fan of your egg salad! And piling your crazy good egg salad onto a brioche bun is the perfect finishing touch! 😋
Mark
So easy and very tasty. The brioche buns really make this sandwich extra good.