Whether for a ladies’ lunch, an Easter brunch, or just because you’re hungry for something rich in protein and high in flavor, this Lightened Up Southern Egg Salad swaps out mayo for Greek yogurt resulting in a rich, creamy, and flavor-packed recipe.

I’ve shared my Lightened Classic Pimiento Cheese, my Balsamic Chicken Salad with Cherries, and today, I thought I would complete the Southern Salad Trio with my Lightened Up Southern Egg Salad.

The Southern Salad Trio

If you live in the south then you’re definitely familiar with the “salad plate,” “three scoop plate,” or as I like to call, the Southern Salad Trio. What is this? Three scoops of heavily (heavenly?) mayonnaise-based eggs, chicken, and pimento cheese salads ice cream scooped onto a bead of lettuce and served with crackers. It’s pretty darn tasty in small doses but the quantity of calories and fat in those lady’s lunch plates is likely astounding.

Here’s where I have to get honest though. I’ve loved, loved, loved chicken salad my whole life. I still do. I like it in just about every way, shape, and form I’ve tried it but it was only a few years ago that I started to go for pimiento cheese, and (cough, cough) TODAY that I started liking egg salad. I kid you not, I literally called my mom up to ask how she makes her eggs salads before creating this recipe. I wish someone could have seen me tasting my now favorite Lightened Up Southern Egg Salad though. I tasted it the way Ellie tastes most anything new. Deep breath in then without breathing and with my eyes slightly closed I put a tiny bite in my mouth. Eureka! YUM!! So then I continued to eat it on a tomato slice then on the ends of the Italian bread loaf I used to make the crostini, and then complete with toasted bread rounds, arugula, and some pepper for the finish. And then I went to my workout–not a good call. Let’s just say I’ll likely rethink an egg salad extravaganza before a 1 hour workout at Orange Theory. But hey, I was filled up with tons of protein.

There are main things I love about this recipe:

1. It uses my no-fail, easy-to-peel method for how to make hard cook eggs in the oven.
2. It subs out Greek yogurt for mayonnaise to offer additional protein, calcium, and vitamin D that you wouldn’t otherwise find in mayo. For this recipe, I used whole fat plain Greek yogurt to make it extra creamy but you could easily use a reduced fat or fat-free option.
3. It’s completely versatile! Eat it on a crostini with arugula, top it on some ago toast with a slice of tomato, or simply eat with crackers.

In case you missed the links earlier in the post, here’s how to round out my Southern Salad Trio:

Lightened Classic Pimiento Cheese on Sliders

Balsamic Chicken Salad with Cherries

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Lightened Up Southern Egg Salad

• Author: Holley Grainger
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 12 servings 1x

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Description

Make Lightened Up Southern Egg Salad by swapping these 2 ingredients resulting in a healthier version that tastes great and is still super creamy.

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Ingredients

• 12 large Hard boiled eggs (peeled)
• 3/4 –1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
• 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parley
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 in baguette loaf (sliceddiagonals and toasted)
• Arugula
• Pepper to taste

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Instructions

1. Roughly chop hard boiled eggs and place in a large bowl. (Note that you can boil, steam, bake, or buy pre “hard boiled.” Whatever your method-mine is baking-the entire process takes around an hour.)
2. Gently fold in yogurt, relish, mustard parsley and salt. Chill for 30 min.
3. When ready to serve, thinly slice baguette rounds on a diagonal, toast in the oven until golden, and top with arugula and Southern Egg Salad.