 |
Homemade Egg McMuffin |  |
Surprise: The Egg Is Cooked in the Microwave!
Thank my sister for this fast and healthy breakfast idea — her Homemade Egg McMuffin recipe creates an unexpected "wow" factor. Start with sheer deliciousness. Then add healthy, cheap and substantial. And the eggs themselves? They’re cooked in the microwave! It’s no wonder that my sister’s family makes special requests for her "Egg McMoms". They’re fabulous, simply fabulous.
Real Food, Fast. Budget-Friendly. Weekday Easy, Weekend Special. Weight Watchers Friendly. High Protein. Kid Friendly.
that I'm adding it to a special collection of easy summer recipes
published every summer since 2009.
Watch for new "summer easy" recipes all summer long!
With a free e-mail subscription, you'll never miss a one!
Egg McMoms: Healthy, Homemade Egg McMuffins
My sister Adanna raised two strapping always-hungry boys on a budget. No surprise, she developed an arsenal of frugal meal ideas – techniques too basic, really, to call "recipes" per se but healthy food on the table, nonetheless.
But call me amazed when she shared how to cook an egg in the microwave to yield an eggy disk exactly the right size and tender texture for a Homemade Egg McMuffin.
No wonder her boys call these quick and healthy breakfast sandwiches "Egg McMoms".
All that’s needed is a Pyrex liquid measuring cup, the practical one-cup size for a single egg, a two-cup version for two eggs. Find either one for $2 - $3 in the housewares section in nearly any grocery store.
But don’t get the idea that Homemade English Muffins are "better" just because they’re cheaper and made with whole ingredients. They’re "better" because they taste better, way way WAY better.
RESOURCES If your grocery store doesn't carry Pyrex liquid measuring cups with spouts, then try these sources.
one-cup Pyrex liquid measuring cup two-cup Pyrex liquid measuring cup I bought a three-piece set years ago, a one-cup, a two-cup and a four-cup. They stack so don't take up much room in the cupboard and use them all very regularly. My Disclosure Promise
The Lure of Melty Cheese
Ha! Who thinks that melty cheese might have something to do with Homemade Egg McMuffin goodness? Yep. Me too.
No broiler is needed to melt the cheese and warm up the Canadian bacon. The egg is so hot, it melts the cheese and warms the meat. Sweet, eh?!
More Quick Ideas for English Muffin Meals
One summer, I rented a room in a fraternity house while going to summer school. The big commercial kitchen could easily feed 100 but I lived on English muffins and a toaster. My favorites were English muffins smeared with peanut butter, English muffin sandwiches made with liver sausage, mayonnaise and lettuce or slices of ripe tomatoes and cheese. All these years later, I still love English Muffin sandwiches!
What about you? How do English muffins figure into your sandwich life?
Real Food, Fast: HOMEMADE EGG McMUFFIN
Time to table: 5 minutes
Serves 1
-
TRADITIONAL FIXINGS for a HOMEMADE EGG McMUFFIN
- 1 English muffin, toasted
- 1 slice ham or Canadian bacon
- 1 slice cheese
(cost estimate $.70 versus what, anyone know the current price of an Egg McMuffin?)
-
MY FIXINGS for a HEALTHY HOMEMADE EGG McMUFFIN
- 1 English muffin, toasted
- 1 slice tomato
- 1 handful alfalfa sprouts
(cost estimate $.60)
-
MICROWAVE EGG
- Cooking spray
- 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon chopped onion or 1 green onion, chopped
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 large egg
YOUR CHOICE of FIXINGS What does your Egg McMuffin look like? Traditional with ham and melty cheese? Yum! A few vegetables? More my style, for sure. Everybody gets to decide! Have the other fixings ready to go, this is going to move fast!
TOAST THE ENGLISH MUFFIN Drop the English muffin into the toaster. (No toaster? "Toast" the English muffins in a skillet. Just brush the cut-sides with a little oil, then "toast" cut-side down in a skillet.)
MICROWAVE EGG For easier clean up later, spray a one-cup Pyrex liquid measuring cup with cooking spray, the bottom and up the sides a bit. Add the oil, green onion, salt and pepper, stir together with a fork. Cook the green onions in the microwave on high for about 15 seconds, just until soft. Add the egg to the measuring cup and whisk well with a fork. Return to the microwave, cook for 10 or 15 seconds, stir, then cook for 10 or 15 seconds at a time until done, as few as 10 or 20 more seconds, as much as a minute. The egg is done when all the egg is cooked, there's no more egg liquid, lift up a corner with a form to check underneath. Be careful, it's hot!
SANDWICH TIME! With a fork, lift the egg out of the measuring cup onto the English muffin. Add the fixings, letting anything that needs to warm up or melt right next to the hot egg (for example, put down the Canadian bacon first, then the egg, then the cheese, the hot egg will warm up the Canadian bacon and soften/melt the cheese). With your hands, gently press the sandwich to compress a bit. Dig in, it's time to eat!
MICROWAVES Microwave wattages vary – so the first time you make Homemade Egg McMuffins, watch to see what works, timing wise.
DON'T SKIP THE COOKING SPRAY Cooking spray definitely simplifies the cleanup. I've also tried just rubbing a little oil up the sides of the Pyrex measuring cup, it just doesn't work like cooking spray does.
ONE EGG OR TWO? Recently, I've started to make Homemade Egg McMuffins with two eggs. A two-cup Pyrex measuring cup works better for two eggs. With two eggs, I don't find it necessary to increase the amount of onion but I do up the salt and pepper a bit. With two eggs, it helps to gently lift the eggs after two or three cycles in the microwave, letting any uncooked egg move from the center to the outer edges.
MELTY CHEESE I find some cheese slices to be just too big, about 20g is perfect for me. I use a drinking glass to cut out a round of cheese, trimming off the corners.
The cheese melts all on its own, just put a slice between the hot English muffin and the hot egg. It does help to let the cheese slice warm up a bit beforehand, just by letting it sit out on its own while collecting all the ingredients.MEAT Similarly, the ham needn't be warmed up separately, just the heat of the egg and the hot English muffin warm it up to a perfect temperature.
Trader Joe's sells slices of Canadian bacon from Celebrity called "Healthy Canadian Style Bacon". It's even produced in Canada! Best of all it, each round slices only has 20 calories.ENGLISH MUFFINS Whole wheat English muffins are wonderful and worth seeking out and paying a little more for.
If you’re watching calories, check the nutrition labels on English muffin packages. I buy 120-calorie muffins but have seen them as high as 250. No English muffins? No problem. A tortilla would work, so would two slices of bread or a corn muffin.WATCHING CALORIES To save a few more calories, eat an open-face Homemade Egg McMuffin.
Egg Only 92 Calories; 7g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 211mg Cholesterol; 225mg Sodium; 1g Carb; 0g Fiber; 0g Sugar; 6g Protein.
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 2 & PointsPlus 2 & SmartPoints 3 & Freestyle 1 & myWW green 3 & blue 1 & purple 1With Traditional Fixings, Per Sandwich: 365 Calories; 18g Tot Fat; 8g Sat Fat; 254mg Cholesterol; 857mg Sodium; 24g Carb; 3g Fiber; 2g Sugar; 24g Protein.
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 8 & PointsPlus 9 & SmartPoints 11 & Freestyle 9 & myWW green 11 & blue 9 & purple 9With Healthy Fixings Per Sandwich: 232 Calories; 8g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 211mg Cholesterol; 451mg Sodium; 28g Carb; 5g Fiber; 5g Sugar; 13g Protein.
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 4 & PointsPlus 6 & SmartPoints 7 & Freestyle 4 & myWW green 6 & blue 4 & purple 4Actual McDonald's Egg McMuffin (Source): 300 Calories; 12g Tot Fat; 5g Sat Fat; 235mg Cholesterol; 840mg Sodium; 29g Carb; 2g Fiber; 3g Sugar; 18g Protein.
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 7 & PointsPlus 8 & SmartPoints 9 & Freestyle 7 & myWW green 8 & blue 7 & purple 7More Healthy Breakfast Recipes
(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)
Recent "Summer Easy" Favorites from A Veggie Venture
~ Tofu-Salad Sandwiches (Vegan "Egg" Salad) ~~ Strawberry Rhubarb Smoothie ~
~ Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips ~
If you like Kitchen Parade's recipes, you'll love A Veggie Venture, my food blog about vegetables with more from-scratch recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, home to the famous Alphabet of Vegetables and vegetables in every course, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.
Shop Your Pantry First
(helping home cooks save money on groceries)~ eggs ~
~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~
Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.
Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2010, 2019 & 2020 (repub)
My daughter got me a Back to Basics toaster for Christmas a couple of years ago. It has an egg cooker attached. It is easy to poach an egg and heat a slice of cooked ham or Canadian bacon while the English muffin is toasting. The egg is cooked very evenly and comes out a perfect size to fit the muffin. Now Paula Deen and Westbend have similar toasters. Amazon sells all of these.
ReplyDeleteI'm in chemotherapy now for squamous cell cancer. I try to minimize use of the microwave in my cooking. This toaster is perfect for what I need to make a quick breakfast. For poaching, it will make two eggs at one time. It will also make hard or soft boiled eggs or you can steam single servings of vegetables.
I have a microwave egg cooker that cooks 2 eggs at a time. I am not very happy with how they look, but between the english muffin, they aren't very visible.
ReplyDeleteYou do have to 'poke' the yolk before cookihg or they tend to explode. Who would'a thunk it to 'scramble' the egg first. I learned something today! A good day!
I love the idea of the sprouts and the green onions and will incorporate those in mine.
Hubby is a traditionalist and doesn't like those 'squiggly green' things that taste like peas. He doesn't like peas much either, come to think of it....unless it is made into green pea soup! Go figure!
My favourite is Elliott
Braunschweiger (with butter and mayo), Clausen's Bread and Butter pickle rounds with lettuce, a tomato slice and sprouts! Talk about heaven in your mouth! Try that one. Even on regular toast. English muffin bread or a good hearty dark pumpernikel is a treat toasted with all those goodies.
Huggs, Cait
Dave,
ReplyDeleteMy best wishes for your chemo and cancer. Remember that chemotherapy can't be all that bad....it has 'Mother' in the middle for all that it entails.
You have a marvelous daughter in getting you that gift. I wanted one as soon as I saw the advertising came out.
I still don't have one.
Guess I had better put it on my wish list. You have given me a wonderful list of how to use it.
My best to you, Cait
I roll my eyes at those copycat recipes, but this one sounds delicious! I like the healthy version best.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! Cooking eggs in microwave is tricky. I like it!
ReplyDeleteDave ~ Your toasted sounds just perfect, perfect, for a "one pot" breakfast. What a good daughter ... all the best with your chemotherapy, I hope you keep your tastebuds, it makes a huge difference.
ReplyDeleteCait ~ My sister's a genius, isn't she? I need to check to see if you have two measuring cups, if they can cook together. If it's "squiggly green things" your husband doesn't go for, maybe he'd like the chopped onion my sister uses? PS Thanks for your sweet note to Dave!
Anonymous ~ Thanks, me too! This to me isn't a copycat, it's a made-better, keeping the convenience, keeping it at home.
Ellie ~ Until now, I would have said that cooking eggs in a microwave is tricky. But this, this is just too easy. Try it, you'll see!
McDee's sausage and egg mcmuffin is my favorite breakfast~only reason I go to Mcdonalds. I actually eat it 3 to 5x week. Thanks for the homemade version. Thank you, thank you for saving my waist.
ReplyDeleteI do something similar, but put the egg/cheese/whatever combo from the microwave between 2 Eggo waffles fresh out of the toaster.
ReplyDeleteAnd instead of spraying the bowl to cook the egg in, I just use some wax paper sprayed with Pam to line the bowl and add the raw egg mixture to that. Zero egg residue in the bowl. Works like a dream!
Just wanted to share with you the success of your sister's egg method for breakfast eggs.
ReplyDeleteWhen asked what hubby wants for breakfast, he says 'your microwave eggs'. That is due to you and your reporting that your sister just mixes the eggs up and puts them in glass bowls.
I now do the same, spraying them with Pam butter spray first, then adding one scallion for the three egg bowls and about a 1/2 oz shredded sharp cheddar after they are cooked. Hubby really likes his eggs that way and it's good, as I don't have a stove top (glass top is cracked) and cook an awful lot in the microwave or the electric skillet.
I have trouble getting eggs out of the skillet (it is not a non-stick electric frying pan) unless they are semi fried/poached. I add butter, start the eggs, then add water to 'steam' them done. I like them that way and we both like them cooked with the yolks hard.
But with your sister's method, that is how he asks for his breakfast eggs now, all the time.
Thanks, and be sure to tell your sister a big Thank you too.