Recipes

Open-faced Breakfast Sandwich with Poached Eggs

A few days ago, I introduced how to poach an egg, noting that poached eggs often top off many a meal in my house. Today, I’ll introduce an incredibly simple recipe but a tried-and-true favorite. Many weekends at home, I’ll make some variation of this open-faced breakfast sandwich. While some of the ingredients may change, the basic premise remains: bread, meat, avocado, arugula all topped with a poached egg. This sandwich is reminiscent of eggs benedict minus the hollandaise, which I find unnecessary, and instead topped with simple salt and pepper with a drizzle of olive oil.

To be honest, I don’t even know if this constitutes a real recipe, but given that I just made it again this morning for the umpteenth time, I figured I might as well share it with the world. It’s guaranteed to get your day started off right. The primary version of this recipe down below for easy copy-and-pasting or printing, but I wanted to walk you through some of my notes from the recipe…

Protein options

Typically when making this sandwich, my meat of choice is bacon. I know there are healthier options around, but I sure love my bacon. Who can deny that crispy saltiness? But you could easily sub out bacon with sausage or ham, or even vegan chorizo crumbles. With bacon, some of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen people make is laying bacon in a hot pan and crowding the pan which effectively steams the bacon. Instead, keep the bacon separated, and lay the strips lengthwise in a cold pan before turning on the heat. You can flip the bacon regularly with tongs to ensure the strips cook evenly. You’ll want to cook until all of the fat renders out, and remember that the bacon stiffens up a little once you remove it from the heat. Drain on paper towels when done.

Sausage patties, pancetta, smoked salmon or prosciutto are also great options for your protein base.

Additional toppings

Living in California, we are all about avocados. We thankfully get a great supply year round, and I am in love with their creamy green goodness. One trick to always have ripe avocados on hand is to buy them in multiples even before they are ripe. Once they become slightly soft on the outside, with a little give as you squeeze them gently, place them in the refrigerator to stop their ripening. They’ll stay good in the fridge for a week or two, giving you perfectly ripe avocados whenever you need them. I like to slice them lengthwise, use a knife to remove the pit (see this easy tutorial from the kitchn), and then slice the avocado within the shell before scooping out the avocado flesh with a spoon.

I also love the peppery taste of arugula, although you can easily sub with baby spinach or leave out the greens entirely. Lots of various flavor combinations will work well for this simple open-faced breakfast sandwich.

Dig in!

You’ll definitely need to eat this open-faced sandwich with a fork and a knife, and could easily double up if you’re feeling extra hungry. I often serve this sandwich with some fruit on the side, and it keeps us full for hours. Perfect way to start the weekend, with as I like to call it — the real breakfast of champions.

Open-faced Breakfast Sandwich with Bacon and Avocado

Print Recipe

Serves: 2 Prep Time: 5 min Cooking Time: 10 min

Ingredients

1 English muffin
2 cheese slices of your preference
4 strips of bacon
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 avocado
1 oz of arugula
2 eggs
vinegar (for poaching)
sea salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat your oven or toaster oven to 325 degrees F.

Prepare the bread. Slice your English muffin in half so you have two rounds. Cover each half with a slice of cheese. Place in the oven. Bake for about 10 minutes until the cheese melts.

Boil water. As the bacon cooks, in a medium pan, bring about 3 inches of water to boil. Crack 2 eggs into a bowl.

Cook your bacon. Lay your 4 bacon strips lengthwise in a large pan. Cook over medium heat, turning regularly until crispy.

Poach your eggs. As the bacon cooks, poach your eggs in the pot of water. (See my how to poach an egg post for more details).

Remove the cooked ingredients. Once your bacon and eggs are cooked, drain both of them on paper towels. Remove the toasted bread from the oven and place on two separate plates.

Slice up your ingredients. Slice up your tomato and avocado in 1/4-inch slices. Cut your bacon in half lengthwise.

Assemble the sandwich. On top of each cheesey bread, lay 1-2 slices of tomato, then top with 4 pieces of bacon (two whole strips). I typically lay the bacon in a crosshatch for more stability as I stack. Top the bacon with a small handful of arugula. Then add about 1/4 of an avocado, sliced. Top with a poached egg, finished with some sea salt and pepper. Repeat for the other sandwich.

Serve immediately and eat!

Notes

This is our favorite variation, and I typically use pepper jack cheese with a whole wheat English muffin. But you can easily substitute a pretzel bun or slice of bread for the English muffin, ham or sausage for the bacon, swap out the cheese for cheddar or Monterey jack, spinach for arugula (raw or sauteed in the bacon fat), leave off the cheese, tomato or avocado and are still guaranteed to have a great breakfast.

I often layer in a few sprinkles of sea salt following the tomato and avocado layers for a bit more flavor. A little salt goes a long way but always makes a big difference in my books.