Not your usual egg sandwich, the flavor-packed topping can be prepared in advance and then baked on the bread when ready to eat. Crunchy, creamy, and utterly delicious!
My most vivid Easter memories include the year my dog, Ruffy, ate the contents of my Easter basket while we were at church. I also had a general fear of the Easter Bunny and serious concern that my older sister would find more than her fair share of eggs.
We spent hours decorating those eggs. My mom boiled a dozen for each of us and equipped us with the supplies necessary to create colorful, patterned eggs that we always considered too pretty to eat.
As a mom, I now boil a dozen eggs for each of my kids, and they kindly share a few so that I may relive those fun childhood memories.
These masterpieces are not just for hiding and seeking, however. We eat them, and I have devised a few clever ways to take them a step or two above our go-to egg salad.
The prep-ahead aspect makes these sandwiches an especially convenient breakfast. A side of fresh fruit rounds out the meal nicely.
But these crunchy, creamy open-faced treats need not be saved for breakfast alone.
I often enjoy them as an easy lunch, and they make a welcome dinner when served with a crisp salad, sliced avocado, or a favorite green vegetable. When in season, sliced, vine-ripened tomatoes offer an equally delightful pairing.
What is the best way to hard boil eggs?
Frustrated by egg shells that don’t peel easily? My preferred method is Easy Peel Steamed Eggs, which has the added bonus of simple adjustments for soft, medium, and firm yolks.
We enjoy the yolks a touch under hard, so I steamed these eggs for 12 minutes. The best part is that the shells slip right off!
Do you need a gluten-free option? Or would you simply prefer to use bread instead of an English muffin?
I’ve made these sandwiches on regular and gluten-free toast with excellent results. Simply toast the bread until crunchy and proceed according to the recipe. You may also eyeball the amount of egg mixture rather than measuring precisely.
What’s the best way to cook bacon?
My preferred method is baking it in the oven at 400℉ for 15-25 minutes, based on thickness of bacon and desired level of crispness. But funny enough, I’ve been revisiting and testing a variety of other methods recently.
For the perfectly cooked bacon shown below, I started the bacon in a cold cast iron skillet and turned the heat to medium. As soon as the grease threatened to splatter, I reduced the heat to low. The center of the strips were cooking at a slightly faster rate than the ends, so I cut the strips in half so I could better move them around the pan.
The end result was golden, evenly crisp, and what I consider the ideal piece of bacon. Aside from the occasional moving around in the pan, the process was very hands-off－and there were no messy grease splatters!
The downside? When cooking the bacon on low, the process took nearly an hour! Given that, I recommend this method if you’d like a largely hands-off, splatter-free approach and are not in a hurry.
Open-Faced Egg Sandwiches (with prep-ahead options)
Ingredients
- 7 large or 6 extra large eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup (4 ounces) grated cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup (60g) plain Greek yogurt (fat content of choice; may use ½ cup mayo and no yogurt, if preferred))
- ¼ cup (52g) mayonnaise
- 6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
- ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (I use about ¼ teaspoon of each)
- 4 whole English muffins, split and toasted until crunchy (may substitute GF toast)
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients except the muffins. Cover and store in fridge until ready to use. Mixture will keep 4-5 days.
- Spread the egg mixture on the toasted muffin halves. In an oven preheated to 400℉, bake for three minutes, and then broil for one minute or until bubbly and golden brown on top. (Watch closely while broiling to avoid burning.) Leftovers, reheat well in the oven or toaster oven. Recipe doubles easily.
Notes
A few old photos and an extra idea or two…
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