Bacon Egg and Cheese Croissant

5 from 8 votes

Bacon Egg and Cheese Croissant

This bacon egg and cheese croissant nails the New York-area classic recipe. Here's how to make this specialty of delis, street carts, and bodegas just right at home.

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Breakfast and Brunch

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bacon egg and cheese croissant

Author: Carolyn Gratzer Cope

Ingredients

3 slices bacon
2 large eggs
⅛ teaspoon salt
1//8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 croissant
2 slices American cheese
Ketchup and/or hot sauce optional, for serving

Instructions

Place the bacon into a cold 10-inch skillet or dark nonstick frying pan. Set over medium heat. Cook, pressing with a spatula from time to time to flatten and flipping once or twice, until done to your liking. Drain on paper towels and cut each slice in half if they're too long to fit on a croissant.
Crack the eggs into a small mixing bowl and add the salt and pepper. Beat with a fork until homogenous.
Pour off all but about one tablespoon of bacon fat from the pan. (Depending on your bacon, you may not need to remove any.)
Pour the scrambled eggs into the skillet. Cook, dragging the edges to the center from time to time and swirling the pan once in a while to encourage the uncooked top parts to wend their way to the bottom.
When egg is just about cooked, place the cheese slices on top to cover the surface and let them melt a bit.
Carefully slice the croissant in half across the beltline.
To assemble the sandwich, place the cheese-covered eggs and then the bacon onto the bottom half of the croissant and top with the other half. Serve right away, with ketchup and hot sauce if you like.

Notes

It's really worth seeking out a good-quality, all-butter croissant. I bought the one pictured from the bakery department at Whole Foods. If you don't have a good source for fresh croissants nearby, you might consider seeking out high-end frozen ones that you can let rise overnight and bake in the morning.
In many contexts I prefer a really thick-cut bacon. For a bacon egg and cheese, I prefer something thinner so that it yields easily when you bite into the sandwich. You can use a standard supermarket bacon if you like for an authentic deli sandwich experience — I've included my own preferred source above.
For a classic experience, use regular yellow American cheese from the supermarket, such as the Kraft singles pictured above. Or level up, if you like, with an organic version. (Applegate Farms is my longtime favorite.)
You may prefer a fried egg, cooked any way you like (more here). Try adding a couple of thin slices of perfectly ripe tomato.
I don’t recommend making this recipe in advance. That said, if you would really like to make a big batch of these sandwiches for a party, you can cook the bacon in the oven ahead of time, and batch the eggs in a larger pan and cut into portions.
Sandwich leftovers are tricky and really depend on your tolerance for a croissant that's no longer performing at peak levels. If you want to go for it, I recommend wrapping the leftovers in foil and reheating in the oven or toaster oven until warmed through.

Nutrition