🍳 Croque madame

Name: Croque madame
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: France · Paris
Ingredients: 4 slices sandwich bread; 4 thin slices cooked ham (about 120 g); 100 g Gruyère, grated; Béchamel: 25 g butter, 25 g flour, 300 ml milk, pinch of nutmeg; 2 eggs; 1 tsp butter for frying; Salt and black pepper

Origin: France · Paris

875kcal

per serving · 250 g

350kcal

per 100 g

45 gProtein18 g / 100 g

50 gFat20 g / 100 g

55 gCarbs22 g / 100 g

Croque madame is a croque monsieur crowned with a fried egg. Ham and Gruyère are sandwiched between slices of bread, covered with béchamel and more cheese, baked until golden, then topped with a sunny-side-up egg whose runny yolk acts as a second sauce. It is a rich café lunch, usually eaten with a knife and fork.

Diets

Not vegetarianbecause of: ham

Not veganbecause of: ham, gruyère cheese, béchamel sauce, fried egg

Contains porkbecause of: ham

Contains glutenbecause of: bread, béchamel sauce

Contains dairybecause of: gruyère cheese, béchamel sauce

Not keto22 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Eggs ⚠ Milk

What it is made of

breadhamgruyère cheesebéchamel saucefried egg

Recipe

2 servings30 min

Ingredients

4 slices sandwich bread
4 thin slices cooked ham (about 120 g)
100 g Gruyère, grated
Béchamel: 25 g butter, 25 g flour, 300 ml milk, pinch of nutmeg
2 eggs
1 tsp butter for frying
Salt and black pepper

Method

Make the béchamel: cook the butter and flour for 1 minute, whisk in the milk and simmer until thick; season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Spread béchamel on two slices of bread, add the ham and half the cheese, and close the sandwiches.
Top with the remaining béchamel and cheese and bake at 220 °C for 10–12 minutes until golden.
Meanwhile fry the eggs in the butter until the whites are set and the yolks still runny.
Slide an egg on top of each sandwich and serve at once.

How to make it lighter

Serve it open-faced on one slice of bread to cut the bread, ham and cheese.
Fry the egg in a non-stick pan with a few drops of oil, or poach it instead.
Use half the cheese and a lean ham, and add a big green salad on the side.

History

The croque madame is a variation on the croque-monsieur, which appeared on Paris café menus in the early 1900s. The name of the egg-topped version is first recorded in the mid-20th century; one popular explanation is that the egg resembles a lady's hat, but this is folklore rather than documented fact.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →