Croque Madame

The Croque Madame is a traditional French grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg served on top.

If you ever have the chance to visit France, you must order a croque madame. I order them multiple times when I visit. They’re so incredibly delicious! Until you can plan that trip though, you can make them at home. It’s easy.

RecipeBoy originally made this recipe in 2015, when he was inspired by watching the movie The Hundred-Foot Journey (which was set in France).

Ingredients needed:

• butter
• all purpose flour
• whole milk
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ground nutmeg
• paprika
• Tabasco sauce
• Gruyére cheese
• firm white sandwich bread
• Dijon mustard
• thinly sliced cooked ham
• eggs

There are 5 French-based classic sauces: tomat (tomato sauce), béchamel (creamy sauce mainly consisting of milk), veloute (sauce mainly made of veal or chicken stock), espagnole (consisting mostly of roasted veal stock and served with meats), and hollandaise (mainly made of egg yolks and butter). The Croque Madame contains béchamel, which happens to be the most delicious sauce ever.

How to make Béchamel Sauce:

The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.

Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat, then whisk in the flour and cook the roux, whisking, for 3 minutes. Whisk in milk and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 5 minutes. Whisk in salt, pepper, nutmeg, paprika, Tabasco and ⅓ cup of the cheese until the cheese is melted. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

How to make Croque Madame:

The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.

Spread 1½ tablespoons sauce evenly over each of 4 slices of bread, then sprinkle evenly with remaining cheese (¼ cup per slice). Spread mustard evenly on remaining 4 bread slices and top with ham, dividing it evenly, then invert onto cheese topped bread to form sandwiches.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or spray with nonstick spray).

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low heat, then cook sandwiches, one at a time, turning once until golden (3 to 4 minutes total). Remove from heat and transfer sandwiches to the prepared baking sheet.

Preheat the broiler. Top each sandwich with ⅓ cup sauce, spreading evenly. Broil sandwiches 4 to 5 inches from heat until sauce is bubbling and golden in spots, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off broiler and transfer pan to lower third of oven to keep the sandwiches warm.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until the foam subsides. Then crack eggs into the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Fry eggs, covered, until the whites are just set and the yolks are still runny, about 3 minutes. Top each sandwich with a fried egg and serve immediately.

Does that look amazing or what? The béchamel sauce is crazy good with the grilled ham and cheese. 

Breaking the yolk on a Croque Madame is like sprinkles on soft serve ice cream, it simply has to be done. Usually the Croque Madame calls for a firm white bread, but we used sourdough. Enjoy!

The Best Sandwich Recipes:

• Tex Mex Shredded Beef Sandwiches
• Best BLT Sandwich
• Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwiches
• Cream Cheese Chicken Sandwiches
• Classic Monte Cristo Sandwich
• French Onion Steak Sandwiches

Croque Madame

RecipeBoy.com (adapted from Gourmet)

The traditional French sandwich!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Sandwiches

Cuisine French

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 5 tablespoons butter, divided
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• pinch paprika
• 2 to 3 shakes of Tabasco sauce
• 1⅓ cups (3.5 ounces) grated Gruyere cheese, divided
• 8 slices firm white sandwich bread (or sourdough)
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• ½ pound  thinly sliced cooked ham (pref. Black Forest)
• 4 large eggs

Instructions

 

• Make the sauce: Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat, then whisk in the flour and cook the roux, whisking, for 3 minutes. Whisk in milk and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 5 minutes. Whisk in salt, pepper, nutmeg, paprika, Tabasco and ⅓ cup of the cheese until the cheese is melted. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.
• Make the sandwiches: Spread 1½ tablespoons sauce evenly over each of 4 slices of bread, then sprinkle evenly with remaining cheese (¼ cup per slice). Spread mustard evenly on remaining 4 bread slices and top with ham, dividing it evenly, then invert onto cheese topped bread to form sandwiches.

  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or spray with nonstick spray).

  Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low heat, then cook sandwiches, one at a time, turning once until golden (3 to 4 minutes total). Remove from heat and transfer sandwiches to the prepared baking sheet.
• Broil the sandwiches: Preheat the broiler. Top each sandwich with ⅓ cup sauce, spreading evenly. Broil sandwiches 4 to 5 inches from heat until sauce is bubbling and golden in spots, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off broiler and transfer pan to lower third of oven to keep the sandwiches warm.
• Adding the eggs: Heat the remaining tablespoon of butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until the foam subsides. Then crack eggs into the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Fry eggs, covered, until the whites are just set and the yolks are still runny, about 3 minutes. Top each sandwich with a fried egg and serve immediately.

Keyword sandwich