The Perfect Short Cut Trick for Homemade Egg McMuffins

Months ago, I put this picture on Instagram (beautyandbedlam) with the caption, “Breakfast of Champions.”

Anyone that knows me, understands my deep down delight in all things french fries, as well as the fact that I am a City Girl turned Country “Chicken Farmer,” title held loosely, so I have an arsenal of egg recipes up my sleeve.

I received many requests to explain about that egg picture, with my promise, “I’ll get it up on the blog soon.”

Saturday morning, I put the above picture on my Balancing Beauty and Bedlam facebook page with the caption, “One of my fav quick weekday meals, bulk bacon and eggs in oven = Perfect Egg McMuffins. Assembling now.”

Well, as a blogger, I need to stop saying, “Coming soon” because my “soon” is never ending.

So, here is  my service to society on how you can make your own Egg sandwich convenience foods, thereby saving not just your sanity, but time, money, as well as offering a much healthier alternative to store bought.

My kids love all varieties of breakfast sandwiches. Often, I make up fried eggs sandwiches to order and yum, there’s nothing better, but  in the morning rush, attempting to make multiple egg sandwiches just complicates what’s already a crazed morning getting out the door.

Since I’ve been making up bulk batches of bacon in the oven for years, I also apply that same bulk principal to other breakfast foods. When I speak on meal planning, one of my tips encourages everyone to walk down the frozen food aisles to browse what is offered. Anything that you can buy in the super market, you should be able to duplicate at home, including the Perfect Egg Sandwiches.

Muffin tins just aren’t for muffins, right? I cook lots of things in muffins – brownies, meatloaf muffins, cookie dough and yes, eggs. Since I cook often for large groups, it’s an easy way to have my “hands off”  to do other things.

My one recommendation encourages using a non stick or a silicone muffin tin. The egg cups will pop right out.  If you don’t have either, I can’t recommend a metal, tin pan because I’ve heard that the eggs stick to the pan.

There is no true recipe for this. It’s more of a technique, and I have fancy terms for it. There’s the crack and dump method, which gives us that very cool look that you all saw in my first photo, but many like their yoke spread out a bit more, so then you just want to break it up and scramble a tablespoon of milk in it, and personalize with what ever goodies you have on hand. I’ve used broccoli, peppers, eggs, tomatoes, spinach, turkey, ham, onions, yep – anything.

Since our family eats most of these the same day I make  them,  I always cook my bacon and sausage separately, but one neat trick that mimics the McDonald’s Egg Mc Muffin is to put a piece of cooked Canadian bacon at the bottom of the tin and then pour the scrambled eggs on top of the bacon. It’s perfect. (I wish I like Canadian Bacon.)

Here is the MAIN CONCERN I want to warn you about – rubbery eggs. This will happen if you over cook these. I bake them at 350 degrees for ten minutes. Every oven heats differently plus, once you remove the eggs, they will still continue to cook a bit until they have cooled down, so set the timer for 7 – 10 minutes and check. I always take them out then but you may need five more minutes. I always recommend having the yoke on the soft side (but I like mine runny), rather than over cooked.

You can use any kind of bread that you want. Our favorite breakfast sandwiches are on fresh biscuits, but obviously, English muffins are delicious as well.

When I’ve been in a pinch, I’ve even served it on Raisin Cinnamon bread, although that was not my first choice. 😉

The big question is on the best way to freeze these for later. If you will eating them within a few days, I let them cool and then put them in the fridge.  Anytime you want to reheat anything, you never want to store while items are still warm or condensation forms, then making them soggy. I then wrap the sandwich in a paper towel and reheat. If I have a few extra minutes, I will put them in the toaster oven for even a better texture.

If I am freezing them, and have extra time, I let them cool and then first do a little “flash freeze” method. I do not wrap them yet. I stick them on a sheet in the freezer and let the freezing process begin, thereby making sure there is no condensation. After about 30 minutes, I take them out, wrap and stick back in freezer.

If I’m in a hurry, I do skip that step. Either way, make sure that you wrap them very well. If you are making these for the kids to do themselves, wrap in paper towel, and then put in freezer safe bag, so the kids can just pop it out of the bag and reheat immediately. I always double wrap; first in either freezer wrap or tin foil (for toaster oven), and then I slide in a freezer bag.

Since I make up a lot of eggs at one time, I don’t always finish the entire assembly process and will freeze the eggs as is. Again, you MUST make sure there is not condensation or you will have freezer burn. You could wrap them in paper towel to again absorb any water. I don’t these these reheated plain. I have a texture thing, but when I reheat these and pop them on a freshly toasted English Muffin or biscuit, they are perfect.

This was going to be a short, self explanatory post, but based on the facebook questions, I gave more detail than you will ever need. Hopefully, you can enjoy this short cut as much as we do.

If you are looking for more delicious ways to add eggs into your diet, try my Five Minute Egg Puff Recipe (made it muffin tins – it’s SO, SO good) or my Easy and Elegant Egg Bake. Both are divine.

Easy, Elegant Egg Bake