Eggs Benedict with Bacon & Asparagus

In the mood for eggs and bacon? Make this simple Eggs Benedict with Bacon dish in under 30 minutes! Bonus: We have a super simple Hollandaise sauce that you will LOVE. 

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What is Eggs Benedict, Anyway?

Eggs Benedict is a popular American dish that typically consists of two halves of an English muffin topped with Canadian bacon, a poached egg and Hollandaise sauce. While typically served for breakfast, we actually like to make Eggs Benedict for dinner! Our Eggs Benedict with Bacon dish is surprisingly quick and simple to make, so it's a great weeknight meal. And of course, my kids are delighted to have bacon at dinnertime.

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Other Egg & Breakfast Dishes to Try...

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INGREDIENTS 

Notes on ingredients:

• Best to use pasteurized eggs (if you have the option) for the hollandaise sauce so as to avoid the risks that come with consuming raw eggs. You'll need a dozen eggs in total: 8 to poach, and 4 yolks for the sauce. Maybe get a few extra in case you break some yolks.
• Time saving tips - use dried chives instead of fresh, and bottled lemon juice instead of having to squeeze fresh lemons

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How to Make Eggs Benedict 

This may seem complicated, but it's really not. For me the hardest part is poaching the eggs, but we have helpful tips on that below!

Step 1: Bake that Bacon

Oven-bacon is way less messy than pan-fried-bacon. Lay your bacon on wire baking rack (if you have one) that sits on top of a rimmed baking sheet. That way, all the grease falls under the bacon and you can more easily dispose of it (or save it) when you're done. Plus, the bacon will cook more easily and you don't have to flip in halfway. Checkered Chef's baking sheet with oven-safe rack is the kind of thing I'm talking about.

🥄 Kids Step: Set oven temperature. This is a great opportunity to talk to kids about what heat does to food at different temperatures.

Step 2: Poach the eggs

To poach your eggs, you will simply be cooking them slowly, outside of their shell, in very hot water (but not boiling!). When done, lay them on a plate wrapped tightly in plastic wrap (with holes poked through) so they can drain.

🥄 Kids Step: Crack eggs into bowl. Be careful not to puncture the yolk. Once added to the pot, kids will love seeing the egg whiten in the hot water.

Step 3: Prepare Hollandaise sauce

Simply combine sauce ingredients in your blender, and slowly add in your melted butter.  

🥄 Kids Step: Measure and add sauce ingredients to blender. We used our glass Pyrex to pour melted butter into the sauce mixture, and we love our Vitamix for blending the sauce.

Step 4: Cook asparagus & toast english muffins

We opted to cook asparagus in water to make things a little healthier and crisper.

Slice English muffins in half, and toast and butter them.

🥄 Kids Step: Trim the asparagus in one of two ways. Kids can snap off the ends (there's sort of a point on each stalk where the fibrous bottom gives way to the more tender part). That's super fun, although the asparagus will be pretty uneven. OR line up your asparagus and cut off all the bottoms as once (where they start to discolor and get harder) using one of these kids knives that we always recommend: Curious Chef Knife Set or Opinel's Le Petite Chef Knife.

Step 5: Assemble Eggs Benedict

Layer each English muffin half with 2 pieces of bacon, poached egg, 2+ spoonfuls of hollandaise sauce and a pinch of chives. Serve asparagus on the side. Maybe add some fresh greens or fruit.

🥄 Kids Step: Assemble Eggs Benedict. Kids will love seeing this delicious meal come together, so let them take over this step!

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TIPS & TRICKS

EGG SAFETY

Buy pasteurized eggs. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, eggs are pasteurized by being heated quickly and kept at a minimum required temperature for a specified time. This process doesn't "cook" the eggs or change their form. It simply destroys any food-born illness or dangerous bacteria, like Salmonella, to make the raw eggs safe to consume.

"Pasteurize" the eggs at home. While it's always safer to buy pasteurized eggs from the store, there are some ways at home to bring the egg yolks' temperatures up to a safe level. We had great success using some tips from The Spruce Eats on How to Pasteurize Eggs in the Microwave. The Egg Safety Center also provides some great guidelines on the proper temperature to cook eggs. Slowly heating the egg yolks with their sauce ingredients over the stove is also a great way to bring up the sauce's temperature without causing the eggs to curdle.

Use a Vitamix or high-speed blender to heat egg yolks to proper temperature. The friction of the blender paired with hot steaming butter can raise the egg yolks' temperature to a safe level. And this is the strategy we used for our hollandaise sauce. Of course, it can be hard to know the exact temperature, so I still believe that using pre-pasteurized egg yolks is the safest bet.

EGG POACHING

Don't bring water to a full boil: The water should just be simmering slightly. Otherwise, the eggs will cook to a solid form very quickly.

Don't overcook the eggs: The Egg Safety Center recommends cooking the eggs until the whites are completely set and the yolks begin to thicken, but are not hard. This usually takes about 5 minutes.

Pro tip about draining poached eggs: Take a plate and wrap it tightly, several times over, with plastic wrap, so that it creates a tight seal. Then use a fork to punch a bunch of small holes through the top. Use a slotted spoon to transfer your poached eggs from the pot to the plate. The excess water on the egg will sink down under the plastic wrap through the holes, so that the egg will be less soggy when you're ready to serve it.

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TIPS FOR PICKY EATERS

🍅Keep things separate! For your kids, you can plate this Benedict by separating out the poached egg, bacon and buttered english muffin. Sauce, of course, on the side 😂

🍅Cook eggs longer. While we did suggest poaching your eggs for 5 mins (or even less, depending on the heat of the water), you can certainly cook them longer. If your kids fear runny eggs or prefer their eggs hard boiled, leave the eggs in for a few mins longer and the yolks will harden more.

🍅Make a face! Make a face with the hollandaise sauce on your kid's plate. Make 2 dollops for eyes and use a knife to sculpt a mouth underneath.

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CRAFT FOR EGGS BENEDICT:

Egg Carton Treasure Chest. What to do with empty egg cartons? Your kids can create an adorable Egg Carton Treasure Chest for all their special belongings!

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