Bacon and Arugula Eggs Benedict
with roasted sweet potatoes / smoky paprika aioli
For a cool weather take on our popular Eggs Benedict, we're serving this meal with roasted sweet potatoes instead of fresh fruit as in 2019. There are a few moving parts in this recipe, but the result is a restaurant-worthy version of a brunch favorite.
Smarts: Need a few tips on how to poach an egg? Be sure to check out this video.
Ingredients
- Mayonnaise - 1/4 cup
- Hot sauce of choice - 2 tsp (more or less to taste)
- Paprika, smoked - 1/2 tsp
- English muffins - 4, halved
- Eggs - 8
- Vinegar, red or white wine - 1 tsp
- Bacon - 8 slices
- Arugula - 5 oz
- Oil, olive - 2 tsp
- Lemon juice - 1 tsp
- Sweet potatoes - 1 lb, wedges
- Oil, olive - 1 Tbsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make smoky paprika aioli - (If prepping right before cooking, get oven heating before continuing with prep.) Whisk together mayonnaise, hot sauce, and paprika. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Sweet potatoes - Slice into wedges. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- English muffins - Slice in half (if not pre-sliced).
- Eggs - Crack each egg into a small ramekin or teacup. (Don’t skip this step as it will help you to transfer all the eggs to hot water quickly so they cook evenly.)
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Make
- Heat oven to 425F / 218C.
- Set two plates lined with paper towels near the stovetop (one for the bacon and one for the eggs).
- Fill a large saute pan with water. Add vinegar (note: a little vinegar in the water helps the eggs to hold their shape). Place it over medium-high heat until water begins to simmer (a few small bubbles rising from the bottom). Once the water is barely simmering, reduce heat and maintain a low simmer until you are ready to add the eggs.
- Next, heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat. Add bacon in a single layer and cook on both sides until crisp, ~8 minutes total. Set aside.
- While bacon is cooking, toss sweet potato wedges with olive oil (portion for sweet potatoes) and some salt. Spread out on a sheet pan. Roast potatoes, flipping with a spatula halfway through cooking, until tender, 15 to 20 minutes (depending on size / thickness).
- Return to the pan of simmering water and gently tip each egg into the water so that none are touching.
- Simmer eggs to your desired degree of doneness - for cooked whites and soft yolks this should take 4 to 5 minutes (if unsure, remove one of the eggs and test it).
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer eggs to paper towel-lined plate.
- Toast English muffins.
- Toss arugula with olive oil (portion for Benedict), lemon juice, and some black pepper.
- Assemble Eggs Benedict by topping English muffins with aioli, arugula, bacon (break the slices in half if needed), and then eggs.
- Season eggs with some salt and pepper. Serve Eggs Benedict with roasted sweet potatoes on the side and any extra aioli for dipping. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
Most Helpful
For taste alone, I would give this a four or five. But even going into it knowing it would be labor intensive, it was such a pain I doubt I'll ever make it again.
2 Helpful22 reviews
I’m personally not a fan of breakfast for dinner, so we made this for brunch. I agree with others who felt this was a little time consuming with a lot of coordinating of elements for an otherwise simple meal. I made siracha mayo - subbed the hot sauce with siracha and this was delicious. I didn’t make the sweet potatoes, but want to now, just to dip them in the siracha mayo. I used toast instead of English muffins due to personal preference. While I enjoy eating poached eggs, I was not very successful with this poaching attempt and agree with other reviewers that next time, I will just fry the eggs.
0 HelpfulThe sauté bowls came out great - I did the paprika aioli and bacon ahead and used several shortcuts to make my life easier - like sweet potato fries instead of cutting and roasting my own, presliced mushrooms, and over-easy eggs instead of poached.
0 HelpfulThis was amazing! I didn't find it super laborious at all. I made the bacon ahead of time, it doesn't need to be hot, and I use the simplyrecipes.com method of poaching eggs so I did all 4 at one time. I toasted the English muffins while the eggs poached and then assembled. I made bagged potato fries just because we had them and I like them more.
0 HelpfulI agree with other reviewers about the labor intensity of what appears on the surface as a very simple meal. I might make again, but frying the eggs rather than poaching. Including really taste the aioli because I didn’t load it on, and coordinating the toasting, roasting, and poaching is a lot. I love breakfast for dinner, but I’d love a simplified version of this. I also sautéed spinach and garlic instead of using arugula.
0 HelpfulI thought it was a lovely meal and didn't have problems with the amount of prep or cooking needed as others have said. I did cook the bacon in the oven next to the fries and am used to poaching eggs, so maybe that made things easier. I thought this was an easy, dressed-up version of eggs benedict that the fam loved (no homemade hollandaise--yay). One change, omit the pepper from the dressing for arugula. It's already a peppery leaf, why add more? The dressing was perfect with lemon, oil, and salt and balanced the natural pepper flavor.
0 Helpful