14 Ways To Give Your Breakfast Sandwich An Upgrade
Those days when you wake up super hungry or want a slap-up fry-up, a breakfast sandwich hits it just right. Just imagine salty bacon and a runny egg between two thick slabs of carby bread. It's so mouthwatering. It's hardly haute cuisine or a gourmet experience. It's basic food at its best, and that's why it's such a popular choice. But it can seem a little too much like the same old thing, and to truly enjoy simplicity, you sometimes need a change.
Maybe you want to give it a snazzy brunch-style boost with fancier ingredients. Or perhaps, you want to keep it simple but pair different ingredients. You can also use the same produce you usually do but prepare it differently. Or maybe you want to look to other cuisines for a truly alternative take on a U.S.-style breakfast.
There are some incredibly tasty ways to give your breakfast sandwich an upgrade. Here are just a few to try.
Make Korean gilgeori toast
Stepping outside your culinary comfort zone is a wonderful way to start a new day. Trying a dish you've not tasted before is a way of opening your horizons and changing your perspective. This can have repercussions far beyond a plate of food, and even give your mindset a refresh. It's easy to get stuck in a rut eating the same foods all the time, just as it is approaching your world in the same way. And a Korean gilgeori is a tasty breakfast sandwich to try if you haven't already. It's an omelet sandwich with a difference. Add thin slices of cabbage, carrots, and green onions into whisked-up eggs. You can also throw in some bacon and onion if you want to load it up. Fry up the mixture, cut it into squares, then add it to bread toasted in a skillet. You can spread on some ketchup before serving.
For a more filling sandwich, add sliced cheese and ham as well as mayonnaise. Sprinkle on a little sugar to balance the savory flavors and create a sweet and salty bite. If you prefer, spread on some fruit jelly in place of the sugar. The crunchiness of the veggies and toast against the softness of the eggs is so moreish. You can also pan-fry the ham to give it a hot, caramelized taste and add shredded cabbage to make the texture even crunchier. Who'd have thought that cabbage and carrots for breakfast was a thing?
Ditch wheat for cloud bread
If there's one ingredient most breakfast sandwiches have in common, it's bread, right? However, if you want a lighter bite or at least cut down on the carbs in the morning, you can. Before you resign yourself to slamming yummy fillings between some lettuce leaves, try a light and fluffy alternative: a cloud bread breakfast sandwich. Whisk egg yolks with cream cheese and a pinch of salt. Fold egg whites into this that you've whisked with cream of tartar into stiff peaks. Bake on a lined baking tray for 30 minutes. They will rise and brown like puffs of golden cloud.
Make breakfast patties with pork, fresh rosemary, and fennel seeds, adding garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and crushed red pepper. Sear in a skillet, and add slices of sharp cheddar. Cook through so that the cheese melts. Add to your cloud bread with a folded-over chive omelet. Give this breakfast sandwich upgrade an added touch and taste sensation with hot honey drizzled on top along with hot sauce and avocado slices. You won't miss the bread with this keto-friendly recipe. You can also add the cloud bread to a pan once it's done and fry it in butter with cheese on top. Once browned, add cooked bacon, guacamole, and salsa for a Mexican-themed cheesy, creamy, salty, spicy version.
Swap links for merguez sausages
In the United Kingdom, a classic breakfast sandwich is sausages and brown sauce, which is a spiced fruity condiment. In the U.S., it's more commonplace to serve links, which are known as chipolatas across the pond, or patty-like country sausages. One of the tastiest ways to give your breakfast sandwich an upgrade is to switch up the sausages that you use. One sandwich variety that's becoming increasingly more popular in gastro-style breakfast eateries is a hunk of bread with an uber-tasty merguez sausage in the middle.
These long North African lamb sausages are pretty hot as they're packed with harissa, which is a chili paste, and other spices. Because of the rich taste, you might prefer to make this on a leisurely weekend rather than when you're in a rush during the week. Another idea, suggested by British chef Gordon Ramsay, is to fry pieces of merguez with garlic. Throw in chopped herbs and capers at the end once it's cooked. Cut the top off day-old croissants and sear in a pan with the juices from the sausage. Make a little well in the bottom croissant, add the sausage mix, and top with Fontina cheese. Broil briefly until the cheese melts. Add the croissant tops, and serve.
Crisp the bacon on the outside
When you want to keep breakfast sandwiches simple, you can't go wrong with this easy bacon butty, which is slang in England for a bacon sandwich. Cooking the bacon in the oven on a foil-lined tray frazzles the fat up nicely and gives the meat a nice charring. You can also fry it. Add the cooked slices, or rashers as they're called in England, to lightly toasted buttered bread. Add ketchup on top, and cut the sandwich in half so you've got two triangular shapes. Then serve!
A fantastic upgrade if you love crispy bacon is to turn this idea inside out to frazzle the salty slices even more. Make this bacon lovers grilled cheese sandwich, and enjoy it for all its crispy, melted middle glory. Put cheese slices between two slices of white bread. Lay out five slices of uncooked bacon, put the cheese sandwich on top, and wrap the meat over the edge so that it curves on top of the sandwich. Lay out five more bacon slices, flip the sandwich, and lay it on top with the edges of the meat facing downward. Wrap the bacon over again. If the bacon is dry and won't stick to the bread, spread a little butter on first. Fry the sandwich on both sides so that the bacon turns wonderfully crispy, knowing that the cheese inside is turning into molten gooeyness. There's nothing fancy about this breakfast sandwich upgrade, but the taste is awesome.
Create a waffle sandwich
You know you can't beat homemade crispy waffles like in this recipe. What about adding crispy bacon and a fried egg and making a savory breakfast sandwich with crunchy, sweet waffles instead of bread? The batter is lighter than a rustic loaf and on point as a morning food. If you want to start the day with a stodgier, more filling meal, then making waffles using mashed potatoes is a great idea. And it's just as easy. It's also the perfect way to use up leftover mash. Add mashed potatoes to milk, flour, and bicarbonate of soda, along with salt and sugar. For peppery color, throw a few chopped green onions into the batter, too. If you're not big on bacon and eggs, then what about smoked salmon and créme fraîche in your waffle sandwich?
Another delicious waffle breakfast sandwich idea is to dip ready-made waffles in whisked-up eggs. As the whisked eggs are cooking in a skillet, dip two waffles in the runny eggs, turn the waffles over, and place them side by side like an open sandwich on top of the eggs. Once the eggs are cooked enough, flip so that the waffles are on skillet and the eggs are on top. Add cheese and cooked bacon, and fold the waffles together to create a sandwich. Let the cheese melt before serving.
Swap tomato ketchup for hot sauce
Spread on a sandwich or squirted into a dollop on the side for dipping, ketchup is the quintessential breakfast condiment. The tomatoey, sweet flavor complements crispy, salty bacon. While some may balk at the idea of ketchup and eggs, it's a popular combination, and it definitely pairs well with charred sausages, cutting through the meatiness. If you can't imagine a breakfast sandwich without sauce, then you're going to love a simple upgrade, which is to use hot sauce instead. A few drizzles of Cholula, Frank's RedHot, or Sriracha can give your first meal a fiery flavor that powers you on for the rest of the day.
Make the ultimate egg sandwich with toasted English muffins. Cook the eggs in a skillet using a cake ring the same size as the muffins. Top with a cheese slice and cooked bacon. What takes this breakfast sandwich to the next level is spreading Sriracha butter on the hot muffin halves. Mix the hot sauce with softened butter for a spicy, creamy spread. You can also puree chipotle peppers in a blender to make hot sauce and add this to a grilled cheese sandwich with an over-easy egg for a smoky taste. You could always add Worcestershire sauce for a spiced umami boost.
Fill with filled frittata
Everyone needs a simple frittata recipe, and if you're not sure what this is, it's basically an omelet with lots of fillings. You can add bacon, mushrooms, and potatoes into the eggy mix, with bell pepper, spinach, and cherry tomatoes. Feta cheese crumbles are fabulous to add, too. But have you ever thought about turning your frittata into a breakfast sandwich? If you're making a special breakfast to share, then start with a bundt loaf and stuff it with a frittata that's fitting for the time of day. Fry breakfast sausage pieces until they're cooked through, before pouring on beaten eggs and baking in the oven. Split your freshly baked bread, and spread roasted red peppers on the lower half. These come in jars and are easy to source. The next layer is the sausage frittata, followed by cheese slices, and the top half of the bread. Stick the loaded loaf in the oven so that the cheese melts.
Keep it simple by baking eggs whisked up with milk in the oven so that you have a sheet without any fillings. Use a circular cake ring to make cutouts of your eggs to fit bagels or toasted English muffins. Instead of adding other ingredients to the eggs, you are simply cooking them in the same way as you would a frittata. Add bacon or sausages, or both if you like, on top of the egg.
Include hash browns
Homemade hash browns are tasty, but there's nothing wrong with grabbing a few out of the freezer. After all, breakfast is way more leisurely if it's not too challenging. Either way, one of the tastiest ways to give your breakfast sandwich an upgrade is by adding hash browns as a filling. Toast a slice of buttered bread in a skillet and top with cheese and cooked hash browns. Load it up with cooked egg and bacon. Another cheesy layer finishes it off, with another slice of buttered bread on top. Flip the sandwich, carefully, to toast the other side. Since you'd happily eat bacon, egg, hash browns, and toast, the concept makes sense. And it gives your breakfast sandwich a moreish crunch.
If bread and potatoes seem a little too carby, then you could use hash browns to hold your breakfast sandwich together instead of the bread. Imagine two crispy hash browns with sausage, cheese, and egg sandwiched between. If you want to lighten the load a little, change up the fillings and use bacon and avocado with your egg. There aren't any fixed rules, so combine whatever foods you love. Cheese always has a place in a sandwich, and if you want a little sweetness, then jelly or slithers of fresh figs are superb.
Sandwich with pancakes
Everyone knows how good a stack of fluffy pancakes tastes with crispy bacon on top and a drizzle of maple syrup. It's a classic American breakfast beloved the world over. If you can't decide between this dish and a breakfast sandwich, then combine the two. Add cooked pancakes to a skillet. Top with sliced cheese, a cooked sausage patty, an omelet, and another pancake. Cover and heat through. You could serve with maple syrup or add the syrup to the batter before you cook the pancakes. Bacon is an obvious filling too, and you can cook this with maple syrup if you want a sticky-sweet glaze rather than a runny sauce.
Sandwich the fillings between several pancakes if you're super hungry, and experiment with different ingredients. Keep it sweet with peanut butter and jelly if you don't want a savory bite, or combine the two. Bacon and bananas are wonderful together, too, as strange as it might sound. For a New Jersey-inspired breakfast, try layers of fried pork roll and eggs with cheese melted on top.
Use duck eggs
When it comes to eggs and a breakfast sandwich, you've got plenty of choices. You can fry, poach, and scramble, make an omelet or a frittata, or slice hard-boiled eggs. One option you're possibly not considering is what type of egg to use over and above buying produce that's free-range. Eggs are a fridge staple as they're so versatile and so often added to recipes. To give your breakfast sandwich a gastro eatery quality, choose duck eggs for a change. The darker yolks taste more luxurious, and they're perfect fried with crispy smoked bacon. Add tomato chutney, aioli, and arugula to extend the gourmet sandwich idea. You cook duck eggs in the same way as hen eggs, so there's no need to adapt for a breakfast recipe.
Make fluffy duck eggs by whisking them up with feta and chopped dill, and cooking in the microwave in a covered mug. Add to English muffins with whatever meat you like. Try peppered slices of deli-style beef for a change. To elevate a sandwich classic, fry duck eggs in the fat from frying slices of bacon beforehand. The velvety eggs and crispy bacon are perfect with thick slices of chewy sourdough bread and peppery arugula.
Make an eggs Benedict sandwich
Eggs Benedict is the ultimate luxurious breakfast. Poached eggs covered in creamy hollandaise sauce pair spectacularly with crispy bacon, spinach, or smoked salmon. Canadian bacon, which is a lot like ham, is another great choice. It figures that one of the most decadently delicious ways to give your breakfast sandwich an upgrade is to add an Eggs Benedict style filling. Instead of making sauce from scratch, make a lemony mayo by adding lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper to mayo. Add spinach to a toasted English muffin and fried ham steak. If poaching isn't your forte, fry an egg, and add that. Top with the mayo, and you have a variation on a gourmet brunch classic.
Another idea is to sandwich bacon and scrambled eggs in a toasted English muffin, and cover with homemade chipotle hollandaise. Instead of making the sauce with Dijon mustard, as is the traditional way, use minced chipotle with the adobo sauce that it comes in.
Sandwich fillings with French toast
A simple breakfast sandwich upgrade is to use French bread instead of toast. That way, you can incorporate eggs without adding them as a filling, which can be messy or bulk it out too much. And the buttery, golden brown eggs taste divine next to the soft, white bread. This works well if you love melted cheese in the middle. Cook the French toast, and add ham and cheese, or any other meat such as bacon or pastrami. Keep hot on the stove so that the cheese turns molten. Grilled bacon and fried sausage bits are tasty with a French toast sandwich, and you can make it richer if you use duck eggs.
Another way is to make the cheese and ham sandwiches first, and then dip these into the eggy mix rather than make the French toast separately. Feel free to add seasonings to the egg to give the dish a stronger savory taste or spice it up. Make a classic Monte Cristo sandwich with deli-style slices of roast ham and turkey, garlic mayo, Dijon mustard, and shredded Gruyère between two slices of white bread. Dip in beaten egg, without milk, and fry in butter until golden brown.
Use garlic bread
Garlic is a great ingredient any time of the day, and breakfast shouldn't be an exception. In Spain, a classic breakfast that you can turn into a sandwich starts by rubbing garlic on bread and toasting. Then build a sandwich, elevating the acidity of pulpy tomatoes and the saltiness of Serrano ham with a drizzle of olive oil. You might not want to fry whole cloves of garlic and pair them with bacon, but what about adding garlic mayonnaise to a breakfast sandwich? Or you could add breakfast ingredients to garlic butter bread.
What about a garlicky-filled breakfast croissant instead? Tomato ketchup is a standard breakfast condiment, and since garlic pairs well with tomatoes, why not serve a garlicky tomato sauce at the breakfast table? Make a condiment version with cherry tomatoes by charring and softening them in a dry skillet. Add minced garlic and olive oil and squash down into a pulp. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar, and cook further before adding butter. Taste how good this is with thick-cut bacon and chef-style scrambled eggs.
Sweeten bacon with jammy flavors
Add a sweet flavor to a breakfast sandwich, and you can transform it. The simplest way is with a fruity jam or jelly and smoked bacon. If you've got a panini press, sprinkle grated Parmesan on the buttered outsides of the bread slices for an extra salty, tangy taste. If not, a toasted sandwich maker will no doubt suffice. Pair the right ingredients, and you can keep a recipe simple while upgrading it. Nothing is stopping you from adding eggs and cheese slices to a morning sandwich that's sweetened with jam either. The fruit condiment will stand out and complement each of the flavors.
You can always make classic bacon jam by caramelizing sweet onions in brown sugar and adding crispy bacon bits. Brew enough coffee to drink, and add some to the pan to bring out the sweet and salty flavors, along with water, and reduce down. Stir in balsamic vinegar. Or make tomato bacon jam with sugar, garlic, and spices, along with cooked bacon. Savor on a sandwich, and make enough to enjoy another day.