Japanese Egg Sandwich (Tamago Sando)
I saw this sandwich on the internet and thought “it’s just an egg sandwich.” I was wrong. It’s ART. Japanese egg sandwiches — tamago sando — are pillowy milk bread filled with the creamiest, most perfectly seasoned egg salad you’ve ever tasted, and they’ve ruined every other egg sandwich for me permanently.
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 3-4 tablespoons Kewpie mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- Pinch of salt and white pepper
- 4 slices Japanese milk bread or the softest white bread you can find
- Optional upgrade: 1 teaspoon chilli crisp
Method
Perfect Soft-Boiled Eggs
-
Lower eggs into boiling water. Cook exactly 8 minutes for jammy centres, 10 minutes for fully set but still creamy. Ice bath immediately for 5 minutes. Peel carefully. The yolks should be slightly soft in the centre — not runny, but not chalky. This creamy yolk is what gives the egg salad its luxurious texture. Overcooked, grey-green yolks make dry, crumbly egg salad. We’re not doing that.
Make the Egg Salad
-
Roughly chop the eggs — some pieces chunky, some finely mashed. This variety of texture is important: you want both creamy bits and substantial chunks. Mix with Kewpie mayo, sugar, salt, and white pepper. The sugar sounds odd but it balances the tang of the mayo and is traditional in Japanese egg salad. Taste it. It should be creamy, slightly sweet, savoury, and incredibly smooth. If you want the Polish Mom upgrade, stir in a teaspoon of chilli crisp. The smoky crunch in creamy egg salad is addictive and my personal addition that nobody in Japan asked for but everyone who tries it loves.
Assemble
-
Take two slices of milk bread. Spread a thin layer of Kewpie on each slice (butter the bread with mayo — this creates a moisture barrier and adds flavour). Pile the egg salad on one slice. Close the sandwich. Using a sharp knife, cut the crusts off all four sides. Then cut diagonally into two triangles. The crustless, triangular presentation is what makes this look like it came from a Tokyo convenience store. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes before eating — this lets the flavours meld and the bread compress slightly around the filling.
Notes
Regular mayo is made with whole eggs, distilled vinegar, and a neutral flavour. Kewpie uses only yolks (richer), rice vinegar (tangier), and a touch of MSG (more savoury). The result is a mayo that’s creamier, more flavourful, and specifically designed to enhance rather than just lubricate. I now use Kewpie for everything — egg salad, coleslaw, spicy mayo for bang bang shrimp, even as a spread on schabowy burgers. My Polish taste buds have been colonised by Japanese mayonnaise and I have zero complaints.
Japanese Egg Sandwich (Tamago Sando) — 10-Minute Lunch
I saw this sandwich on the internet and thought “it’s just an egg sandwich.” I was wrong. It’s ART. Japanese egg sandwiches — tamago sando — are pillowy milk bread filled with the creamiest, most perfectly seasoned egg salad you’ve ever tasted, and they’ve ruined every other egg sandwich for me permanently.
The difference is Kewpie mayonnaise. Kewpie (KOO-pee) is Japanese mayo, and it’s not the same as Hellmann’s. It’s made with only egg yolks (not whole eggs), uses rice vinegar instead of distilled, and has a richer, tangier, almost umami-quality flavour. The first time I tasted Kewpie, I stood in my kitchen squeezing it directly from the bottle onto a spoon and eating it like that. My husband walked in and said nothing, which was the correct response. Once you try Kewpie in egg salad, regular mayo feels like the store-brand version of itself.
The bread matters too. Japanese milk bread (shokupan) is impossibly soft — dense yet fluffy, slightly sweet, with no crust to speak of. It’s what Wonder Bread dreams of being. If you can’t find it, the softest white bread you can buy works. But if you have an Asian bakery nearby, get the milk bread. The texture difference is significant and elevates the sandwich from “good” to “transcendent.”
Ingredients
- • 4 large eggs
- • 3-4 tablespoons Kewpie mayonnaise
- • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- • Pinch of salt and white pepper
- • 4 slices Japanese milk bread or the softest white bread you can find
- • Optional upgrade: 1 teaspoon chilli crisp
How to Make It
Perfect Soft-Boiled Eggs
Lower eggs into boiling water. Cook exactly 8 minutes for jammy centres, 10 minutes for fully set but still creamy. Ice bath immediately for 5 minutes. Peel carefully. The yolks should be slightly soft in the centre — not runny, but not chalky. This creamy yolk is what gives the egg salad its luxurious texture. Overcooked, grey-green yolks make dry, crumbly egg salad. We’re not doing that.
Make the Egg Salad
Roughly chop the eggs — some pieces chunky, some finely mashed. This variety of texture is important: you want both creamy bits and substantial chunks. Mix with Kewpie mayo, sugar, salt, and white pepper. The sugar sounds odd but it balances the tang of the mayo and is traditional in Japanese egg salad. Taste it. It should be creamy, slightly sweet, savoury, and incredibly smooth. If you want the Polish Mom upgrade, stir in a teaspoon of chilli crisp. The smoky crunch in creamy egg salad is addictive and my personal addition that nobody in Japan asked for but everyone who tries it loves.
Assemble
Take two slices of milk bread. Spread a thin layer of Kewpie on each slice (butter the bread with mayo — this creates a moisture barrier and adds flavour). Pile the egg salad on one slice. Close the sandwich. Using a sharp knife, cut the crusts off all four sides. Then cut diagonally into two triangles. The crustless, triangular presentation is what makes this look like it came from a Tokyo convenience store. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes before eating — this lets the flavours meld and the bread compress slightly around the filling.
Why Kewpie Changes Everything
Regular mayo is made with whole eggs, distilled vinegar, and a neutral flavour. Kewpie uses only yolks (richer), rice vinegar (tangier), and a touch of MSG (more savoury). The result is a mayo that’s creamier, more flavourful, and specifically designed to enhance rather than just lubricate. I now use Kewpie for everything — egg salad, coleslaw, spicy mayo for bang bang shrimp, even as a spread on schabowy burgers. My Polish taste buds have been colonised by Japanese mayonnaise and I have zero complaints.
Tips
💡 Pro Tips
✓ Don’t overwork the eggs. Rough chop, mix gently. Overworked egg salad becomes paste.
✓ White pepper, not black. White pepper has a subtler heat that doesn’t leave visible specks. Traditional and aesthetically cleaner.
✓ Refrigerate before eating. 15-20 minutes lets everything settle. The sandwich tastes better slightly chilled.
✓ Sharp knife for clean cuts. A dull knife squishes the bread. A sharp knife gives you those clean, Instagram-worthy cross-sections.
Variations
• Chilli crisp egg sando: My version — stir chilli crisp into the egg salad. Crunchy, smoky, spicy, creamy. The best thing I’ve ever done to an egg sandwich.
• Katsu sando: Replace egg salad with a sliced chicken katsu cutlet, tonkatsu sauce, and shredded cabbage. Different sandwich, same milk bread magic.
• With pickled cucumber: Add thin slices of Polish ogórek or Japanese pickled cucumber inside. The crunch and tang elevate the creamy filling.
How to Store
Wrapped tightly in plastic: 24 hours in the fridge. The bread stays soft and the filling stays creamy. After 24 hours the bread starts to get soggy. These are best same-day. Egg salad alone keeps 3 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I find Kewpie mayo?
Asian grocery stores (always), the international aisle of large supermarkets (often), or Amazon. It comes in a distinctive squeeze bottle with a baby on the label. One bottle lasts weeks and costs about $4. The investment changes your mayo-based cooking permanently.
Is this really just an egg sandwich?
Technically yes. Practically no. The quality of each component — perfectly cooked eggs, Kewpie instead of regular mayo, milk bread instead of sandwich bread — compounds into something that transcends its humble ingredients. It’s the same principle as pierogi: it’s just potato and dough, technically. But the care in each element is what makes it special. Japanese egg sandwiches taught me that simplicity and extraordinary aren’t opposites.
Can I make my own milk bread?
You can — there are great recipes online that use the tangzhong method (a cooked flour-water paste that makes bread impossibly soft). It takes about 3 hours including rising time. If you bake regularly, it’s a fun project and the results are stunning. If you don’t bake regularly, buy it from an Asian bakery and spend those 3 hours doing literally anything else. I’ve done both. The bakery version costs $4 and saves me an afternoon. The homemade version costs $1 in ingredients and gives me bragging rights. Both are valid choices depending on whether my week has been “I have energy for hobbies” or “I’m surviving on caffeine and determination.”