Chef John's Monte Cristo Benedict

I really like the method and the idea behind this recipe. For me personally there is a little too much cinnamon, allspice and sugar in the french toast, but that is me - others may really like that. I forgot about the chives, they are called for in the ingredients but not in the instructions, I assume they were supposed to be used as a garnish.

Just terrific! My husband, a huge fan of Eggs Benedict, was crazy about it, which surprised me a little, as he really enjoys a ridiculous amount of Hollandaise sauce on "normal" Benedict. This one's a keeper, and would be great for holiday guests, The only change I made was to substitute good sliced Swiss for the Havarti. Thanks for a great brunch, Chef John!

My daughter made this for my Mother's Day breakfast yesterday. All I can say is WOW!!!!! Due to the richness we only had one poached egg atop the delicious French toast, which was more than enough. It was savory, sweet and delectable. It was the perfect combination of my favorite sandwich, the Monte Cristo, and Eggs Benedict. Even my six-yr old son liked it. This recipe is now a keeper in our house.

I have made this twice, testing it before I serve it at a brunch for 50. The first time I made it as written but without the allspice. I thought the savory overpowered the sweet. I guess I am looking for more of a monte cristo and less of a eggs benedict. The second time I made it (again without the allspice and added a sprinkle of sugar to the batter) but didn't serve the poached eggs. Instead I drizzled it with maple syrup. The salty/sweet combo is perfect that way. That is what I'll be serving at the big brunch!

This was good....ok really. We ate every bite but I'm not sure I would make it again. We didn't really particularly care for the way the flavors meshed. It is so simple to make for a beautiful presentation and it could just be our palettes. I encourage people to try it because the idea of it all is quite awesome.

Delicious! I made this for supper. I don’t have a sweet tooth so I omitted the sugar and reduced the allspice and cinnamon to just a dash each in the batter. The whipping cream is sweet enough without the need for additional sugar. I also omitted the salt from the batter because I didn’t see any reason for it when the ham is already salty.

This was excellent. The taste is indulgent and memorable, like one would associate with a holiday tradition. My children, 12 & 6, enjoyed this as much as I did. Thank you for sharing this with us.

If you are reading reviews to decide whether or not to make this, just make it already. I make this all the time. This is a fantastic breakfast. I have substituted the Cheddar for Smoked Gouda at times which I really enjoy. I have also just used the french toast as is and served it up with maple syrup. Everyone who tries this really likes it. I bought a egg poacher pot specifically for this recipe to help save time because I wind up making this for large groups.

I made this for my husband for Father's Day brunch and he absolutely loved it. He said it was the best breakfast he ever had. So did the kids. They asked if I could make it again tomorrow??

Very tasty! I made several tweaks however. I decide to eliminate the sweet factor in the end and replaced the sugar with several spices I use for breakfast eggs, such as tarragon, garlic powder, paprika, and worcestershire sauce. I also added a couple slices of tomato once the cheese and ham were assembled. Turned out great!

made this for mothers day breakfast and it was a hit. The only difference was I fried the egg over medium. This will be a regular in our kitchen. Thanks Chef John Jose Alvarez

Nasty review, Don when you didn't even make it! I'm definitely going to make this, but since I'm not very good at poached eggs, I'll do over easy.

Didn't even try it. It's a typical Chef John recipe, if it doesn't have at least 10 ingredients it' not up to his "standards"!

Great recipe and video tutorial! My hubby and I loved this (we are big Eggs Benedict fans) when I made it for breakfast yesterday. I followed the recipe exactly for the extra pinch of cayenne at the end (I forgot). The trickiest part was poaching the eggs, but as long as I watched the pot it was fine.

Made this for Father's Day breakfast and it tasted better than my homemade Eggs Benedict which always gets rave reviews... So easy to make used muenster, Havarti, and Vermont extra sharp white cheddar... Made several and no leftovers :)

This recipe was very simple and tasted fantastic! It also taught me how to poach an egg; I overcooked it the first time, but then learned how to tell "by touch" when the egg was done. Thanks Chef!

OH MY!! I made this for Fathers Day brunch with a side of fruit salad. It was a big hit in my house, my husband LOVED it. I was happy to find something different than the usual pancakes and eggs! I will make this again and not to mention LOVED that fact that I didnt have to "tweak" this recipe at all!

I made this for father's day and my husband loved it!!!! We will definitely make this again!!! Thanks for sharing!

We love Monte Cristo's and eggs Benny but this recipe wasn't all I thought it should have been.

Made this for my girlfriend and I for a Sunday brunch. She and I are in agreement that we will never feel the need to eat out in order to get decent Benedict. Due to ingredients in the fridge, we had to do a little substituting but it was still well worth it. Half-and-half instead of heavy cream, Dave's Killer Bread instead of French, turkey instead of ham, and we even omitted the Havarti. I'm sure it's that much better with the actual suggested ingredients.

Made this for my husband on Father's Day. He loved it.

It was delicious! Yes, I will make it again, it makes a special and unique meal

I've made this several times and followed the recipe exactly! Love it!!

Im not sure what I could have changed, but I think id much rather have a Panini or a fried egg sandwich instead.

Great recipe for eggs benedict without the hollandaise.

This was amazing!! Our family are big monte cristo and eggs benedict fans....a home run on this. Thanks Chef John, every recipe you've posted that I've made has been excellent.

FINE I think this can be good. Hubby liked , I dried it out. Left in oven for a few minutes to long while poaching and making salad. I will make again . Watch cayenne and salts.

I found the French toast too sweet to be combined with the ham/cheese/egg. I ended up dis-assembling and eating that portion separate from the French toast. I would make just the French toast portion again.

Big hit for Easter Brunch. My mom's going to use this at her bed and bfast.

The only changes that I made were to use sharp cheddar cheese and to cut the bread on the diagonal. This was delicious and now have made it three times in a row. This will become a weekly dish at our home. Thanks Chef John.

So so good!! My first time tasting Havarti cheese-good stuff! Yummy dinner, leftovers - only two of us - for breakfast was good too!!!

Great breakfast for my daughter and her friend. They loved it.

I will definitely make this again. It went together easily, and presented wonderfully. The family loved it. I am not very good at poaching eggs, but I followed Chef John's video, and it helped. Not beautiful (old eggs, I think), but perfectly cooked. Next time they will LOOK beautiful as well!

I used sourdough bread and Canadian bacon. It was deeeeeeeeelicious. My wife told me to make sure I don't lose this recipe

This recipe offers a wonderful combination of flavors; however, I’d cut back a smidgeon on the sugar the next time. We had mixed reviews on this one, my husband thought it was a 5 star and I thought it was 4. It’s definitely worth trying.

Made my husband very happy!

looks good, i'll not alter the recipe save to cook the yolks all the way through. the sight of runny yolks makes me nauseous, not to mention the taste of same

So yummy ...Will make it soon...another great recipe from Chef John. Thank you!

Made this for a large group of boys leaving on a very early flight. I thought the 30 minute bake time would give me a moment to check everyone's bags. They liked it and thought it was good but there was definitely no WOW factor. The general consensus was that it tasted like a breakfast sandwich with cheese on french toast. Some wanted the eggs scrambled and under the meat and cheese so that it could be folded and eaten by hand. I did make non-pork versions using beef bacon with the same results. They all added syrup but they're teenagers so who knows. Not sure why but it only took 18 minutes to bake.

Excellent recipe, very tasty. Would make it again.

It definitely needed the usual Swiss cheese, and a slice of turkey, and as we eat them here in New England, a side of warm maple syrup for dipping !

I liked the mixture of flavors. I used Canadian bacon and upped the cayenne since we like a little more heat. Delicious!

No one at breakfast raved about it, or even commented on it, so it wasn't just me who thought "meh, not terrible." It just wasn't as good as a benedict or as good as a Monte Cristo. Maybe I expected too much. Normally I tweak something and try again, but I'm just going to let this one be.

Followed recipe but omitted sugar (not necessary). Very good and well received by my picky eater. I did serve hollandaise on the side for my son who hates runny eggs. Thanks for this unique take on Monte Cristo sandwiches, which always are overwhelming due to deep frying.

This was a wonderful recipe. I actually made this as a breakfast in bed for my lady for Valentine's Day and she loved it. She actually loved it so much that she requested it for breakfast a couple days later. The first day I didn't have enough of the egg mixture to coat the 4th bread (Texas Toast), but that may have been because I left the first to absorb too much, I'm not certain. The second time, since there's just two of us, I cut the recipe in half and had enough mixture for both slices. I substituted Chipotle Chile Powder for the Cayenne, just because I didn't have any on hand. I also omitted the chives and all-spice, again because I didn't have any. But I think the highlight of this was definitely the Havarti cheese which neither of us had ever tried prior to this recipe. The cheese is very creamy and buttery. I just wanted to write in and say thank you to Chef John for this wonderful recipe.

This was fantastic. Whole family loved it. I will be making this one again soon.

Outstanding! I used 2% milk instead of cream, homemade crusty bread, and it was terrific! Thank you!

Nice twist to a normal eggs benedict. We definitely enjoyed it.

All the kids loved it! It was perfect for a cold New England night.

The flavors come together beautifully. My family really liked this. And as for the French toast...AMAZING! I will be using this recipe to make French toast from now on!

OMG! DELISH! The sugar is definitely a must!

My family loved it very indulgent

Made it as stated except used shredded cheddar cheese instead of slices. Excellent dish & am planning to make again!

This is a phenomenal recipe that my family absolutely loves. I have made it a few times for Mother's day and they talk about it for days afterward. Only thing I do different is make my eggs over easy instead of poached. I served it with roasted fingerling potatoes and asparagus. I did have a hollandaise packet that I opted not to use.

Chef John has really outdone himself with this one. Of course you can modify to your taste but, wow. This is good.

It sounded really interesting but I'm not sure I liked the mix of sweet and savory for this instance.

Used ingredients that I had available at home. Was great if you like yolked eggs! The eggs were the sauce. Topped with cayenne pepper and some green onion. Awesome!

Made it today with great success. Chef John is my go to guy. Followed the recipe had had a great breakfast treat. My wife asked to use left overs for dinner. High praise!

My husband preferred the swiss cheddar cheese combo. Delicious either way in my opinion.

My wife and I loved this. It was somewhat time consuming but not difficult. I did not have any heavy whipping cream so I used Half & Half instead and it worked just fine. Chef John is correct, you don't need Hollandaise sauce. This was creamy, savory and delicious.

Maybe I needed hollandaise.

Loved this recipe! The chives, ham, and cheese are a wonderful savory touch added with the sweetness of the french toast. I served it with sunny side up eggs instead of poached. The leftovers we reheated and and ate with Strawberry jam. Delicious!

This dish has great plate presentation! We substituted procuitto for the has d made our eggs over medium instead of poached. The cheese was creamy and the dish had great flavor. We will make again.

Made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit!! I did leave out the cayenne though.

Oh Yum! My cheese melted quite a bit more than staying on top and browning so just scooped it up. Can't wait to have again

I thought it was OK alot of work and it really wasnt that great.

Absolutely delicious!

I made this for the family Brunch and it was loved and enjoyed by all. Well received as a meal, I used Swiss and a blend of Italian cheeses that they all like. So thank you Chef John for a wonderful meal keep them coming. You make you and I look good. God Bless,Very Respectfully

Made it for mother's day for my girlfriend. She loves poached eggs and often makes French toast for breakfast. She absolutely loved it. We both like spicy food so a little more cayenne would have been good. Even as is this recipe is awesome. I used 1 slice leftover ham from the ham I made yesterday and 1 slice of prosciutto instead of 2 slices of ham.

We loved it :)

I made this for Mother's Day and even the grandkids loved it!

This was fun! I made as directed, but to really keep the Monte Crisco portion front and center, I placed good strawberry jam in a small silver cups. Wow- I had 12 people and everyone raved... and gobbled it all up.!

love making it I love how it tastes I'd make it again and I'm going to try new things with it to see if I can make it even better yet but I love the recipe

DEFINITELY NEEDS HOLLANDAISE

This was really tasty, and I did not even have all the ingredients I needed. Used provolone cheese because I had no havarti and I did not put the egg on top, just made the sandwich. Also I did not use all the sweet spices for the bread batter, was worried it would be too sweet and I wanted it to taste more like a meal and not a dessert. Even with all those changes it was so good! I will make this again for sure.

No cinnamon for me n3xt time, better just savory

Excellent recipe! Had to make more French toast batter for the 3rd and 4th pieces of bread. Next time I will make 1.5 times the batter. Used turkey bacon instead of ham and sourdough instead of French bread. Really rich and delicious.

Our family love it! It’s going to be a keeper for us!

I followed the recipe exactly, except I used a fried egg with runny yolks instead (faster). It's SO GOOD. These went over really big with my male-dominated household. Prep and cooking is super fast. It tastes like I spent much more time on these. Enjoy!

I used my own French toast recipe that has flour in the batter that made the dish more of a breakfast than a brunch but it was a big hit, my hat off to the original chief

After indulging in this fantastic meal, my husband raved about it to his mother (which is pretty darn impressive if I say so myself)! Delicious!

Made it as shown. Awesome

Great idea.... but with a couple tips. Slice the bread on the thick side, and allow time for soaking in the liquid bath. The key is allowing bread to become completely wet throughout. I used panchetta instead of plain, sliced ham and liked the taste. Prepare the perfect poached egg to ensure the yellow runs over the bread. Finally, reduced cooking time by 5+ minutes. Everyone was very happy.

I've made this twice, once with the cinnamon, allspice and sugar. It really wasn't what we liked. Next time I made it without the sweetness and made it herbal with a French herbal blend and I used the same cheeses, my husband and I liked this better.

this looked interesting but then i decided to check out the nutritional value of it (see "more information"). astounding! i'll pass on this one.

Didn't have any cream, used milk. Great recipe, will do it again. Really enjoyed it.

I made something very similar to this due to lack of all the ingredients. OMG it was good. I cant wait to have it as listed with the Harvarti...Extra Harvarti!

I only use matured cheddar because i love it. This is a easy dish with great results. Wil make it again.

Husband loved it; I definitely will make it again. I didn't have any cheddar, so I used Colby cheddar slices.

This is the best mixture of flavor! My taste buds were so happy. This is now a staple for me. I eat this multiple times a week. I can prepare it up until the egg and then refrigerate. I just take out the 'sandwich' when I want it and bake it for just a few minutes and it gets warm and doesn't get soggy. As that is warming up in my conventional oven, I make the egg. My point is, this is soooo good I have to make a bunch so I can eat it all the time!! :)

I have to give this 5 stars. My husband and I both loved it. Very easy to make. Nice presentation. I made exactly as written with the exception of the cheeses. I used what I had on hand which was pepper jack and Swiss. This is a keeper. Only problem is this must be loaded with calories. Next time I will only have one. Something a little different for Sunday breakfast.

I made this for my girlfriend and we both loved it. A very simple and tasty dish.

I loved this recipe! Not too sweet. A Monte made into benedict? Awesome! The only thing I did differently is that I used the microwave method to do the poached eggs. Easy peezy! Thanks Chef!

Surprisingly good and the family loved it. When I first went over the recipe, it seemed like too much cheese. But I stay true to the recipe as I do on all first attempts. I typically adjust all recipes to my own tastes after that, like a little more garlic a little more celery, but this one is spot on. I am a big fan of Chef John since I tried the New Orleans food recipes.

Quick & easy brunch

It was easy and delicious. Made it for Father’s Day breakfast. Family loved it.

Love this recipe. It’s a winner. Made it for brunch today.

Delicious! Absolutely perfect and a big hit.

This was really good, in spite of the fact that the name Benedict made me crave hollandaise sauce. I considered adding it but it’s already a ton of calories so I didn’t. Really liked the two cheeses. I am not usually a French toast fan, but the savoriness of the dish won me over.