Making eggs Benedict the traditional way requires mastering the technique of poaching eggs and getting the hollandaise sauce to blend just right. It requires enough fuss that I rarely make them that way.
Instead, this eggs Benedict Florentine recipe takes 10 minutes and is easy & quick enough for even a weekday breakfast. The creamed spinach creates the Florentine 'sauce' - a decent stand-in for the hollandaise.
This is also a high-protein breakfast, packing in almost 15 grams per single-egg serving. If you eat two, that's a double the protein.
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Recipe
Equipment
- 1 large skillet
Ingredients
Eggs Benedict ingredients
- 2 English muffins
- 4 ounces spinach
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream (or 1 tablespoon milk + 1 tablespoon butter)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 large eggs sitting at room temp for 15 minutes
- 4 slices deli ham or prosciutto
- salt, to taste
Garnish
- ½ tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 lemon for fresh squeezed juice
Instructions
Prepare everything
- NOTE: Everything is cooked in 1 pan, and we skip the fancy hollandaise (which is just a ton of butter, a couple egg yolks, and lemon juice). The sauce is replaced with the spinach Florentine.
- Toast the English muffins, preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Make sure that skillet has a matching lid. It needs to fit 4 eggs, then some crowded spinach, and the ham can go in anywhere. (If it won't all fit, cook the spinach first, remove and set aside).
Cook eggs, ham, and spinach
- As the pan heats up, add ½ tablespoon olive oil in the pan and swirl to coat. Set temperature to medium heat. Add the spinach and cook until wilted. Add heavy cream and salt to taste, then move to the side of the pan.
- If using a stainless steel skillet: before you add the eggs, make sure it's hot enough or the eggs will stick. Get your hands wet and flick some water onto the pan - if it sizzles off, it's not hot enough yet. If the water beads up and dances around, it's ready. (You can also use a nonstick for this recipe).
- Add some more olive oil, then crack the eggs into the pan. Sprinkle with salt, then put lid on the pan. Cook for 3 minutes. (The lid helps cooks the tops of the eggs so you don't need to flip them).
- Remove the lid and add the ham, you can even lay it on top of the spinach. Replace lid and cook for another 3 minutes. Check the eggs to make sure they are done and the whites are properly set.
Assemble the eggs Benedict Florentine
- Lay English muffins open face. Add spinach, ham, and then the egg. Add a tiny dab of butter, a fresh squeeze of lemon, chives and cayenne pepper if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
High protein breakfast
Eggs Benedict is typically high in protein, thanks to the eggs and ham. The spinach used for the Florentine sauce adds about an extra gram per serving. Note that I listed a serving as 1 open-faced 'sandwich,' although most people eat two.
If you eat two, then your breakfast will be about 500 calories packed with 26 grams of protein. You can add even more protein with extra ham.
You can also make a similar recipe with my shortcut eggs Benedict with asparagus in spring.
Spinach for the Florentine eggs Benedict
Fresh spinach is usually sold by the bundle, or in containers or bags. They are usually prepackaged in 5 ounce, 8 ounce, or 16 ounce containers.
This recipe calls for 4 ounces (1 ounce per egg Benedict Florentine), but you can use the whole 5 ounce container to prevent waste. You'll barely notice the extra spinach.
Spinach cooks down dramatically. The photo above shows 2 ounces of fresh spinach before and after it's cooked. That's half the amount you'll need for 4 individual eggs Benedict.
Cooking the spinach with heavy cream creates the Florentine sauce, which adds a nice richness to the eggs Benedict. This works especially well with this shortcut recipe that doesn't use a hollandaise sauce, which is made with a ton of butter, some egg yolks, and lemon juice.
Cooking the spinach
Since the volume of raw spinach is so large, I have you start that in the pan first. Add a little bit of oil and cook the spinach until it starts to wilt.
Add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream, and toss to combine and add salt. If you have a large enough pan, move the spinach to a small section to keep it warm, then cook the eggs in the same pan.
If your pan isn't big enough, remove the spinach and cover it to keep warm. Then use the now-empty pan to cook the eggs.
Eggs Benedict over easy
I love a eggs Benedict at restaurants, but almost never make it as home because of the fuss. I find I don't want to spend the time poaching eggs (correctly), or making the hollandaise sauce.
So I've come up with a much easier way to make eggs Benedict so that I actually make them at home. There are two tricks:
- Pan fry the eggs, covering the pan with a lid sets the tops instead of flipping them
- Add a pat of butter and squeeze of lemon for serving (instead of hollandaise)
Frying an egg this way is close enough to poached eggs, at least for an informal, fast & easy weekday breakfast. They even look (a little) like the poached eggs when they are cooked without flipping. To set the egg whites, just cover the pan with a lid and it will steam them until they are set.
To make the eggs, you can use your favorite non-stick or stainless steel pan. I've been wearing through non stick pans too much (the old teflon coated ones that I need to replace with a better technology). So I started cooking eggs in my stainless steel pan.
All Clad's website has a great article (and video) on cooking eggs in a stainless steel pan.
The eggs don't stick, as long as you get the pan hot enough (but not too hot). There's an easy test - flick some water on the pan and see what it does.
- Not hot enough: the water sizzles and evaporates
- Just right: the water beads up and dances around
- Too hot: the water droplets burst into tiny droplets
If you do want to poach eggs, or at least give it a shot, follow the guide from Downshiftology.
Options for hollandaise sauce
For my quick & easy eggs Florentine, I don't bother making a hollandaise sauce. The creamy spinach acts like the sauce instead.
You can make a hollandaise sauce if you want - it is basically butter, eggs, and lemon juice. To make enough sauce for this recipe, you'd use:
- 1 stick of butter (yes, that much!)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Cayenne pepper or other flavorings
That's a ton of butter (which is why the sauce is so delicious) - this makes 4 open-faced eggs Benedicts. If you eat two of those (which is common), that's a half-stick of butter!
I generally try to eat healthy and don't mind a good hollandaise sauce for an indulgent brunch. But for a random weekday or even just a lazy Saturday morning, I don't want that much butter (or fuss).
Instead, I top the still-hot eggs Benedict Florentine with a dab of butter and let it melt along with a squeeze of lemon. Once you cut into the eggs, the yolks run and mix with the butter, for a similar flavor to the hollandaise sauce.
It's not perfect, but it's healthier and takes almost no extra time. That said, I'm all for the extra effort of making a sauce yourself. I found a few options if you do want to go all out:
- Easy hollandaise sauce with an immersion blender (Serious Eats) - uses warm butter instead of warmed egg yolks
- Hollandaise sauce on the stovetop (heating butter and eggs while whisking) - from Preppy Kitchen
- Double boiler method of hollandaise sauce from Scotch & Scones
There are also ready-made packets sometimes in the refrigerated section of a grocery store, as well as powder mix packets where you find gravy.
Options for ham
There are a lot of ham options for your eggs Benedict Florentine. Choose whatever you have on hand, or leftovers from other meals.
- Deli ham
- Ham steaks
- Canadian bacon
- Prosciutto
- Leftover Easter, Christmas, or other holiday ham
Sliced deli ham is probably the quickest way to make eggs Benedict. The slices warm quickly and can brown up with just 30 seconds in the pan.
I've tried a lot of deli ham over the years, and my favorite is Boar's Head Tavern Ham. It doesn't have added water like other hams, including other versions of Boar's Head, so it has a much better flavor and consistency.
A ham steak is another good option, but you will have to make sure it has time to cook in the pan to fully warm up. A thinner slice of Canadian bacon could be a happy middle ground.
More recipes & resources
Looking for more eggs Benedict ideas? I have another shortcut recipe with asparagus (instead of spinach). It's also made in one pan.
Looking for more ways to use spinach?
If you're wondering what else is currently in season, check out my calendars to see what produce is in season each month (and coming up soon).
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