Bacon, Egg and Gruyere Breakfast Sammich with Sriracha

Sometimes I just want to eat regular shit in the classiest way possible. By that I mean that I’m sometimes in the mood for something basic with upgraded ingredients. I was never really much of an English muffin-lover to be quite honest, but there’s something about this combination of ingredients that really makes this ‘sammich’ hit different. And by the way, my crumb-snatchers love it!

I was really selective with my ingredients for this recipe because I’ve always had a weird relationship with breakfast. I’m not a morning person, and while my brain is still getting out of bed, my taste-buds are ready to jump straight to lunch. The spiciness of the sriracha, combined with the sharp taste of Gruyere cheese and the saltiness and crunch of thick-cut bacon really satisfies my craving for savory and gives me that spicy kick that I need to get my day started.

While we are on the topic of ingredients, you may be asking yourself “Wtf is Gruyere cheese and where do I even buy it?!” If this is the case, listen up because I’m only gonna school you once.

Gruyere cheese is a type of Swiss cheese that is firm, pale-yellow in color and made from whole-milk. It has a flavor that is often described as earthy, nutty and slightly sweet. When it comes to stocking my kitchen, I generally like to buy ingredients that lend themselves to other recipes. In case you’re wondering what else you can use it for, I like to use it to top french onion soup and I also use it to make mac and cheese.

As flattered as I would be if you actually thought I wake up in the morning to hand-grate this shit, I’m going to confess that I buy it bagged and pre-shredded. I told you I’m not a morning person! I discovered the shredded version at Trader Joe’s for $5.99 a bag (eek!), but recently started buying it at Aldi for about half the price, and it’s just as good.

For all my health-conscious readers, feel free to sub whole wheat English muffins for this recipe, which is what I should probably do! I also try to use bacon that’s nitrate free (for health reasons), and thick-sliced (for the best flavor!). High-quality bacon is slightly more expensive, but you can swing it since I just saved you about $3 by suggesting that you buy the cheese at Aldi. Still not interested in shelling out extra money for upgraded bacon? That’s ok, regular bacon will do.

Some other important tips:

Tip #1:

First and foremost, I can’t even begin to stress the importance of not over-cooking scrambled eggs. Nobody, I repeat NOBODY likes hard rubbery eggs, and if you do then you and I need to have a serious talk! Believe me, all the sriracha and gruyere cheese in the world won’t fix bad eggs! Once I pour the egg mixture into the pan and the eggs start to bubble up and get firm around the edges, I use a silicone spatula to turn the eggs every few seconds, rather than whisking them. This creates lighter, fluffier eggs. As soon as I notice that the eggs are fluffy and no longer runny, I turn the heat off so they don’t over-cook.

Tip #2:

Don’t overcook the spinach and be easy on the salt or skip salting the spinach altogether. The spinach will get enough salt and spiciness from the sriracha. Because spinach wilts down to basically nothing you have to be very careful not to over-season it and remove it from the heat as soon as it starts to wilt, as shown in the photo below.

Tip #3:

Drizzle that sriracha to your little heart’s content! Whether you’re sensitive to spicy or love spicy and want smoke coming out of your ears, I’m not gonna tell you how much to use. For those of you who don’t have much of a tolerance for spicy food I would use it sparingly, or cut it out all-together, especially if you’re preparing the sammiches for little ones.

So there you have it! Looks like one damn-good sammich if you ask me!

Now go get your grub on and make someone else wash the dishes!