Why are deviled eggs called that when there's no devil involved?

The fact that we casually call these eggs by their devilish name without a second thought speaks to their iconic role in side dish culture.

But there are some questions. For instance, could there be a version of Genesis where Eve's forbidden fruit is actually a stuffed egg? Do the halved eggs symbolize the fiery eyes of Satan? Or maybe the dish was invented by a man named John Devil?

Unfortunately, the answer is no to all of these questions.

The Devil You’ve Never Met

As early as the late 18th century, the term 'devil' was used to describe 'any of several highly-seasoned savory dishes,' according to the Oxford English Dictionary. In his 1788 work, *Brother Peter to Brother Tom: An Expostulatory Epistle*, English satirist John Wolcot references how 'diabolically hot' a 'downright devil' is and dedicates an entire stanza to describing what he meant by that:

'By *Dev’l*, (without thy being born a wizard)Though ought’st to know I mean a turkey’s gizzard;So christen’d for its quality, by man,Because so oft ’tis loaded with [cayenne]—This dev’l is such a red-hot bit of meatAs nothing but the dev’l himself should eat.'

Wolcot's suggestion that devils are named due to being too fiery for anyone but the devil to consume could be a stretch of imagination: Sources typically link this association with the fiery heat of Hell compared to the spiciness of a dish. The term was also sometimes applied to describe spices or the sensation of heat in general.

The word 'devil' was quite flexible when it came to parts of speech. It could be used as a verb, meaning 'to season with hot and spicy ingredients,' or as an adjective to describe food prepared in that spicy manner. So, you could easily devil a biscuit and enjoy a deviled biscuit.

The Devil Wears Paprika

The first documented mention of deviled eggs appears in Jacob Hazen’s 1854 memoir, *Five Years Before the Mast*, where he recounts his experiences on a whaling ship and a man-of-war. In one passage, his friend says, "I’ve had one supper to-night already, but I don’t care to go a second round with deviled eggs and Bologna sausages."

Whether those deviled eggs lived up to their fiery name is uncertain, but the recipes from the 1800s likely wouldn’t impress someone who keeps hot sauce on hand. A classic filling included egg yolk, melted butter, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper, with occasional additions like "a little red pepper," "curry," or "deviled ham."

Nowadays, deviled eggs often get their spice from cayenne pepper or paprika on top. If that’s not hot enough for your taste, there are many variations for “spicy deviled eggs”—which, as you can now see, is a rather redundant term.

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