Today we have this beautiful creamy and delicious Croque Madame recipe. This is a riff off the traditional recipe, as we made them into toasts and just used egg yolks. You can definitely just make a fried egg instead and that is just as good!
What is a Croque Madame?
It’s a delicious french sandwich typically eaten for breakfast or brunch, but people do eat it during all times of the day. The sandwich is made with a toasted piece of crusty bread spread with whole grain mustard, then topped with thinly sliced ham, a soft creamy cheese and then another piece of toasted bread to close the sandwich. That is then smothered with a mornay sauce, and topped with a fried egg or poached egg, here we have opted just for the egg yolk.
What is the difference between Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame?
The only difference between the two sandwiches is the that the Madame gets topped with a fried or poached egg while the monsieur does not. All the other components of the sandwich remain the same.
How to make a Croque Madame sandwich:
This recipe is actually very easy to make. Here is a step by step:
1. Make the Mornay Sauce
2. Toast the bread
3. Spread toasts with mustard
4. Top with Ham
5. Pour Mornay Sauce over each toast
6. Top each toast with an egg yolk
7. Broil for a couple more minutes
8. Enjoy!
If you love this recipe, try our Croque Madame Flatbreads!
We love using gruyere in this recipe, but you can substitute with comté or swiss, or any other great melting cheese with a mild flavor that you love! If you leave near a Trader Joe’s, they have an excellent, well priced cheese section.
Croque Madame Toast
INGREDIENTS
mornay sauce
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅓ cup shredded gruyere cheese
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
assembly
- 3 slices sourdough bread, lightly buttered and toasted
- 3 tablespoons whole grain prepared mustard
- 6 ounces smoked ham, thinly sliced
- 3 large egg yolks
INSTRUCTIONS
mornay sauce
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir over the heat for 2 to 3 minutes to cook off the raw flour taste. Add the milk in a steady stream while whisking, then continue to cook and whisk until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Whisk in the mustard, ginger, gruyere, and parmesan. Continue to cook and stir until the cheeses melt and the sauce is smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
assembly
- Preheat broiler. Spread whole grain mustard onto one side of the toast slices. Top slices of the toast with the ham.
- Transfer the ham-topped toasts to a baking sheet and top each with a 1/2 cup of the mornay sauce.
- Carefully create a well atop each toast, with the ham and mornay sauce and drop each yolk into each well.
- Broil the toasts until the sauce is hot and bubbling, but the yolk is still soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Lightly season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
Did you make this recipe? We want to see!
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Loved the idea of stripping away the egg white so that all it needs is a couple of minute under the broiler.
wonderful, beautiful and very tasty, thank you! Hadn’t seen this before and with Mornay Sauce!
I’m sure it is very lovely but I’m sorry I just couldn’t face that bare, squishy egg looking up at me. Especially at breakfast.
Absolutely delicious!tried it this morning and tasted as good as it looked. Thanks for sharing
thank you!
I am not sure if I am able to get Gruyere cheese at my local supermarket, but I will still give it a try anyways!
Thanks for sharing!
Comte or even Swiss cheese makes a great substitute for Gruyere!
So good! I made this without the sauce bc I was short on time! It’s was such a pretty and yummy breakfast for my husband, me and my little kids.
This is just great way to use leftovers! Pinned already ! Thank you so much!
We used to call it “bacon and eggs on toast
These look amazing! I may have to whip them up this morning for breakfast :)