Simple and delicious Japanese egg salad sandwich with mayo, salt, and pepper. Pack the sandwich neatly in your kid’s favorite bento box for their on-the-go lunch.
I am usually pretty good at organizing and following my constantly updated to-do list. But once in a while life does get overwhelmingly busy and I fail to plan ahead especially when juggling too many things at the same time. What ends up happening is I call my husband at the office asking him to meet me and the kids at a restaurant for dinner at the last minute.
One of the drawbacks of not cooking dinner at home is that I don’t have “leftover” to pack for my son’s bento (lunch box) the next day. I try to save some leftover in the freezer for an emergency like these, but sometimes no luck. On those days, the easy sandwich comes in handy.
Now for those living in the States, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich might be a common menu for children’s school lunch. However, both of my children always preferred hot panini sandwich than typical soft bread sandwich like these.
The turning point was when we were in Japan last April. My mother loves bakeries and we often visited many local bakeries to pick up fresh bread.
My children really enjoyed freshly baked bread from Japanese bakeries and they especially loved Egg Salad Sandwich, or we call it Tamago Sando (たまごサンド). Japanese sandwich usually uses crust-less white bread slices, probably from British influence. Compared to typical American egg salad sandwich, the Japanese version is very simple – there are no celery, chives or green onions. The eggs are seasoned simply with Japanese mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and sugar.
Now speaking of mayonnaise, I receive several questions from some of you about Japanese mayonnaise. What’s the difference from regular kind? Well, you can read more about it here.
My son loves this Egg Salad Sandwich and this menu is now one of my favorite backup bento plans. I hope you will give it a try and enjoy this simple egg salad sandwich!
Check out my latest Japanese Egg Sandwich (Tamago Sando) recipe and video!
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Egg Salad Sandwich Bento
Ingredients
- 2 slices bread of your choice
- 1 soft or hard-boiled egg (peeled)
- 1 Tbsp Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- pinch sugar (optional; a little bit of sugar is a typical ingredient for Japanese egg salad)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Make a hard boiled egg on the previous day to save time in the morning.
- In a small bowl, mash the boiled egg with a fork.
- Add 1 Tbsp of mayonnaise and mix well. If it's not moist, you can add ½ Tbsp more.
- Season with salt and pepper (and sugar if you like). I like to add salt and pepper a bit more than what I usually add to give good flavor.
- Spread the egg mixture on top a piece of bread and put another slice of bread on top.
- [Optional] Cut off the crusts of the bread. Japanese sandwiches usually don’t have crusts. Tip: Don't throw away the crusts and repurpose them to make Shokupan Crust Rusks. These crunchy, buttery snacks are so delicious! You can make them now or freeze those crust strips and make them later.
- Cut the sandwich into 2-3 parts depending on the bento box size.
- Pack the sandwich in bento box and put some fruits and vegetables in the empty space.
I love Japanese egg salad more than almost anything else. I use 1/2 regular hard boiled eggs and 1/2 soy/marinated ramen eggs. It is so delicious!
Hi Candace! Wow, I LOVE your creativity on mixing two types of boiled eggs! Thanks so much for sharing your cooking experience with us!
Thank you for your recipe! I went to my local Japanese grocery store and bought the Japanese imported mayonnaise. I couldn’t find Japanese Pullman bread so I’ll use some soft white bread to try. Egg salad is my favorite.
Hello! You’re very welcome! I hope you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Who knew something so simple would be so delicious? My husband got spoiled with eating tamago sando in Japan and now I try o remember to trim off the crust. I think the Kewpie mayo makes all the difference, too!
Hi Donna! Yeah, I agree. Without the kewpie mayo, tamago sando won’t be the same! 🙂
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