Halloween Treats: Devilled Spiders Eggs

If you had told me a couple of years ago that one of the most popular and most made recipes on this site would be for Devilled Eggs (these Devilled Eggs Royale, inspired by Eggs Royale, filled with a hollandaise-inspired yolk mixture and topped off with smoked salmon, caviar and dill from my Christmas Kitchen series to be precise) I’d have thought you were crazy.

But, here we are. And I can tell you, I love eating and making devilled eggs (I’ve got a wild garlic-spiked Green Eggs and Ham version I can’t wait to share next Easter, which had to be axed this year down to the Covid egg shortage) so I thought it would be fun this year to create a ghoulish Halloween version. Meet my Devilled Spiders Eggs.

Devilled Spiders Eggs
How To Make Devilled Spiders Eggs for Halloween

Gruesome webs are created by steeping the hard boiled eggs in food colouring-laced liquid, before filling them up with a herby pesto filling, before being finished by some frankly quite horrid (but still delicious!) black olive, nori (roasted seaweed) and roasted red pepper garnishes. Now hands up who is going to be making these for Halloween?

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Devilled Spiders Eggs

  • Author: Rachel Phipps
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes (plus soaking time)
  • Yield: Makes 8
  • Category: Halloween
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Description

Spooky, ghoulish Devilled Eggs for Halloween flavoured with pesto and topped with black olive spiders and with creepy toasted seaweed legs.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tbsp white distilled vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp black liquid food colouring (natural or gel food colouring won’t work here)
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature 
  • 2 tbsp light mayonnaise
  • 2 tsp green pesto (jarred or homemade is fine) 
  • 4 black olives
  • small piece roasted red pepper
  • small piece nori (toasted seaweed)

Instructions

  1. Boil the eggs in a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and plunge straight into cold water. Leave them to cool completely. 
  2. In a large glass bowl or pint glass (something that won’t stain) combine the vinegar, food colouring and 700ml (3 cups) of cold water. Gently tap the egg shells all over with the back of a spoon to crack the shells (but without peeling them) before carefully dropping them into the black liquid. Leave them to soak for at least 3 hours, or in the fridge overnight.
  3. Drain and rinse the eggs before carefully peeling them – use disposable gloves to stop your fingers turning purple! They should have beautiful purple webbing.
  4. Half the eggs down the middle and, carefully trying not to break the white, scoop out the yolks into a small bowl.
  5. Mash the yolks together with the mayonnaise and pesto to make a smooth paste. Transfer this to a piping bag fitted with a star shaped nozzle and generally refill the middle of each egg.
  6. To make the spiders, half the olives down the middle and place a half on top of each egg. Cut tiny pieces of pepper to make the eyes, and cut 4 strips of seaweed per spider. Half these strips, and attach 8 legs on each – I find this easiest to do with the tip of a cocktail stick. 

Notes

These Devilled Spiders Eggs can be made up to a day in advance and kept in the fridge. Bring them up to room temperature before serving.

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