A simple and tasty egg salad tea sandwich recipe that’s easy to make. Get tips on how to make these ahead of time and tea pairing recommendations from a Tea Sommelier.

CONTENTS
Recipe Highlights
- Classic and traditional, egg salad tea sandwiches are served as part of the savory course at afternoon tea. Tea sandwiches are small and can be eaten in 2-3 bites. They’re crustless to give it a clean, delicate look and to make it easy to bite into.
- A basic egg salad sandwich is made of white bread, chopped hard-boiled eggs, and mayonnaise. Mine are given an extra zing with dijon mustard and Japanese mayonnaise.
- Egg salad tea sandwiches are the easiest to prepare ahead of time since the egg salad can be made a couple of days before assembling.
Wow your guests with these tea sandwiches: BLT Tea Sandwiches, Ham & Cheese Tea Sandwiches, Radish Rose Tea Sandwiches, and Cucumber Tea Sandwiches.
Ingredient Notes

- White bread
Fluffy white bread is best for tea sandwiches since they’re light and easy to bite into. - Eggs
These will be hardboiled so you can use any kind of eggs you have. - Mustard
Dijon mustard gives these sandwiches a nice subtle zing. - Mayonnaise
Japanese mayo is my secret to tasty sandwiches. You can use regular mayo if you like. - Sea salt
To season the egg salad, use these sea salt flakes which are absolutely the best. - Italian parsley
Use parsley or any small green leaves to give the sandwiches a fresh taste and look. Italian parsley is the flat kind, not curly.
Step-by-Step Instructions

For full ingredients and instructions, scroll down to see the recipe.
- Boil, peel, and chop eggs.
- Mix chopped eggs, mustard, mayo, and salt in a bowl.
- Cut bread into circles using a cookie cutter.
Avoid cutting the crust. - Assemble tea sandwiches.
From the bottom up: bread, egg salad, bread, and a sprig of parsley skewered on with a cocktail fork.

Photo Credit: amazon.com
Expert Tips
- To make 6 tea sandwiches, you’ll need 12 bread circles.
- Don’t chop the eggs too fine since that’ll turn the egg salad into mush.
- Cutting into frozen bread gives cleaner edges than room temperature bread.
- Mayo works to bind the chopped hard-boiled eggs and holds the egg salad in the sandwich. Make sure to evenly coat the eggs with mayo.
- You can use any cookie cutter shape you like, but don’t use one that’s too detailed since it’ll be hard to have the egg salad filling sit between the bread neatly.
- Use whatever round cookie cutter size that’ll cut two circles out of one slice of bread.
- Tea sandwiches should be served room temperature so don’t serve the egg salad cold.
Questions You May Have
Egg salad tea sandwich pair well with green tea (genmaicha) or a black tea like Earl Grey or English breakfast tea.
Make the egg salad the day a day or two before and keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Cut the bread into circles and cover with wax paper and then a damp paper towel in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This will keep the bread from drying out. Assemble sandwiches the day of.
Serve 4-5 tea sandwiches per person.
Eggs and water go into a pot with water an inch above the eggs. On high heat, bring water to a full boil then turn off the heat. With the pot covered, let it sit for 12 minutes. Peel the eggs under cold running water.

Related
- 21 Afternoon Tea Etiquette Rules
- Difference Between Afternoon Tea and High Tea
- Afternoon Tea Course Order
- How to Eat a Scone Properly
- Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
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Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches
INGREDIENTS
- 6 slices white bread
- 2 eggs
- 4 teaspoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- Pinch of sea salt
- parsley for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Boil, peel, and chop eggs.Put eggs and water into a saucepan or pot. Water should be an inch above the eggs. On high heat, bring water to a full boil then turn off the heat. With the pot covered, let it sit for 12 minutes. Peel eggs under cold running water. Give the hard boiled eggs a good chop. Not too fine that they'll turn into mush when you mix it with mayo and not too rough that they'll look too messy.
- Combine chopped eggs, mustard, mayo, and salt in a bowl.You can prepare this a day or two ahead and store in the refrigerator in a sealed container.
- Cut bread into circles using a cookie cutter.Use a round cookie cutter that'll cut two circles out of one slice of bread. Avoid cutting the crust.
- Assemble the tea sandwiches.From the bottom up: bread, egg salad, bread, and a sprig of parsley skewered on with a cocktail fork.
EQUIPMENT
NOTES
- Italian parsley is the flat kind, not curly.
- To make 6 tea sandwiches, you’ll need 12 bread circles.
- Cutting into frozen bread gives cleaner edges than room temperature bread.
- Mayo works to bind the chopped hard-boiled eggs and holds the egg salad in the sandwich. Make sure to evenly coat the eggs with mayo.
- You can use any cookie cutter shape you like, but don’t use one that’s too detailed since it’ll be hard to have the egg salad filling sit between the bread neatly.
- Make the egg salad the day a day or two before and keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Cut the bread into circles and cover with wax paper and then a damp paper towel in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This will keep the bread from drying out. Assemble sandwiches the day of.
- Tea sandwiches should be served room temperature so don’t serve the egg salad cold.
- Egg salad tea sandwiches pair well with green tea or a black tea like Earl Grey or English Breakfast tea.
i love the ideas for the sandwiches. this is fabulous
Made this for my daughter’s baby shower and they were a Hit 🙂
Great recipe. The classic egg salad with a bit of zing.