Eggs Benedict Recipe
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This classic Eggs Benedict Recipe with English muffins, poached eggs, Canadian bacon, and hollandaise sauce is the perfect elegant breakfast. If you’re looking to impress some friends and family, then this easy-to-make recipe is for you.
There’s just something about making breakfast and serving it to family and friends. It is so comforting, always delicious, and one of my favorite meals of the day. If you want to try some new exciting recipes, then definitely check out my frittata recipe or my homemade buttermilk pancakes recipe!
Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict is a common breakfast or brunch dish of toasted English muffin halves topped with Canadian bacon, a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. There are a few stories out there about how Eggs Benedict was founded. The first is from the 1860s when Mrs. LeGrand Benedict went into the first fine dining establishment, Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York, and didn’t like what was on the menu. She demanded the chef make her something else, and poof, out came what we know as the traditional recipe.
The second version of the origin story is said to have happened in the late 1890s when Mr. Lemuel Benedict was hungover and went into the Waldorf Hotel in NYC and told them to stack up some toast, bacon, poached eggs, and hollandaise.
The hollandaise is the part of the recipe most home cooks get nervous about, so I want to walk you through it slowly. The first time I made it at home for my wife and daughter after I had been out of restaurants for a while, my hands moved on autopilot, the bowl came off the double boiler thick and yellow. So good! I highly recommend making this one on a Sunday morning when nobody is rushing you out the door.
Ingredients and Substitutions
These are the key ingredients I use to make my classic egg benedicts:
- Eggs – large eggs that are chilled or at room temperature will work.
- Lemon – Some freshly squeezed lemon juice is needed for flavor and emulsifying.
- Wine – This is optional, but I love the flavor and fluffiness texture white wine adds to the sauce. Any dry white wine like chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, or pinot grigio will work.
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter in my cooking and baking to control the sodium content. It is best to use clarified butter, but you can also use melted butter.
- English Muffin – A simple pre-made or homemade English muffin that is sliced in half and toasted is what’s needed.
- Bacon – The traditional meat used is Canadian bacon. However, you can substitute ham or even bacon.
- Spices – It is classic to finish hollandaise with a dash of cayenne. This is optional.
How to Make Eggs Benedict
Whisk the yolks, lemon, and wine: I whisk the egg yolks, fresh lemon juice, and white wine in a large metal bowl until the mixture is frothy, about 2 minutes.
Cook the base: I set the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water on low to medium heat and whisk hard and continuously for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is very foamy and there is no liquid egg pooling on the bottom of the bowl.
Drizzle: I whisk while I slowly stream in the clarified butter until the sauce is fully emulsified. I keep the pour slow and steady, especially in the first ounce or two.
Season and rest the hollandaise: I pull the bowl off the heat, season with coarse salt and a small dash of cayenne, give it one more whisk, and set it to the side while I work on the rest of the plate.
Heat the bacon: I melt a little butter in a saute pan over medium heat and lightly brown the Canadian bacon on both sides.
Poach the eggs: I simmer water in a medium pot over low to medium heat with a splash of vinegar in it. I stir the water with a spoon for about 10 seconds to create a vortex, drop 1 egg into the center so the whites wrap around the yolk, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the whites are set and the yolk is still runny.
Finish: I lift the egg out with a slotted spoon, season with salt and pepper, and repeat with the rest of the eggs.
Plate it up: I lay the toasted English muffin halves on the plate, top each one with a slice of the warm Canadian bacon, set a poached egg on top, and spoon the hollandaise sauce over the egg. A pinch of cayenne and a little fresh parsley or chives finish it.
Chef tip + Notes
If there is one thing I would tell you about this plate, it is that the hollandaise is the whole recipe, and the hollandaise lives or dies on temperature control over the double boiler. I keep the water at a bare simmer, never a boil, and I treat the bowl like a sauteuse, lifting it off the heat the second the eggs start to grab at the bottom. The other home-cook miss I see all the time is pouring the clarified butter in too fast at the start.
The first ounce in is the most fragile moment of the whole sauce, and a heavy hand right there is what splits the hollandaise before you have even finished pouring. I drizzle the first ounce in slowly, get the emulsion locked in, then I can move a little faster on the back end.
- Save the milk solids: When I clarify the butter, I scoop the white foam off the top, but I keep it. I melt it over popcorn or fold it into homemade breakfast sausage. There is too much flavor in there to throw away.
- Use the vortex for one egg at a time: I stir the simmering water hard to make a vortex, drop one egg into the center, and the whites wrap themselves around the yolk. For a crowd, my poached eggs post shows the basket method and the small-cup pre-crack method that scale better.
- Hold the hollandaise warm, not hot: I park the finished sauce in a thick ceramic or stoneware bowl, covered, off the heat. It will hold for about 30 minutes that way. Direct heat or a hot water bath will start to scramble it.
- Finish with fresh herbs: A pinch of minced parsley, chives, or both on top of the hollandaise sharpens the plate and makes the yellow pop.
Serving Suggestions
On a Sunday, I will set out a platter of these next to a stack of homemade bagels with cream cheese and sliced fresh fruit, pour coffee, and enjoy it. If I am cooking for a crowd, I will plate a second savory dish alongside, either a frittata cut into wedges or a slice of quiche Lorraine so the table has options that hold their heat while the eggs come out one at a time.
For a holiday brunch or a birthday morning, I will swap the Canadian bacon out for homemade gravlax and call it a Benedict for the cured-fish lovers at the table.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: I do not make this plate ahead. The eggs need to be eaten the second they come out of the water, and the hollandaise is at its best within the first 30 minutes. I prep my mise en place, get the muffins toasted, and start the hollandaise right before service.
How to Store: I keep the components separate, covered, in the fridge for up to 3 days. Hollandaise in a small container, Canadian bacon in another, and toasted muffins in a bag once they have cooled. The assembled plate does not store well.
How to Reheat: I reheat the hollandaise in a metal bowl over a double boiler while whisking hard, then I re-poach a fresh egg in simmering water for 1 to 2 minutes and re-toast the muffin in the oven.
How to Freeze: I do not freeze this one.
More Breakfast Recipes
Video
Eggs Benedict Recipe
Ingredients
For the Hollandaise:
- 4 egg yolks
- juice of ½ lemon
- ¼ cup chardonnay wine
- 4-6 ounces clarified butter
- coarse salt and cayenne to taste
For the Eggs benedict:
- 8 eggs
- 8 toasted English muffin halves
- 8 slices Canadian bacon, heated
- chopped fresh parsley and chives for garnish, optional
- coarse salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Hollandaise:
- Whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice and wine in a large metal bowl until it becomes frothy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the bowl to a double boiler over low to medium heat and whisk vigorously until it is very foamy and no egg liquid at the bottom of the bowl. This takes 3 to 4 minutes.
- Whisk while slowly drizzling in the clarified butter until it is completely emulsified. Remove from the double boiler, season with salt and cayenne, and set it aside.
Poached Eggs:
- Add some vinegar to a medium-size pot with water and simmer over low to medium heat.
- Stir the water using a spoon for 10 seconds to create a vortex. Add 1 egg to the center of it so the whites of the egg wrap around the yolk. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the egg whites are cooked but the yolk is runny.
- Remove the egg and season with salt and pepper. Repeat 7 more times with the rest of the eggs. You can also follow my poached egg recipe for multiple eggs at once.
- Place the toasted English muffin halves on a plate and layer on with the Canadian bacon, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and garnish of cayenne.
Enjoyed watching how to make the hollandaise…the music was so annoying but I stuck it out…
Thank you for watching!