This is pretty much peak cheesy toast experience1: it is crispy, cheesy, very flavorful, yet filling like a generous slice of a savory cake. Plus, as a nice bonus, once you have the ingredients, you can just pile them up in the right order and be done with. There are no intermediate cooking steps or other elements that would make it a time-consuming process.

Ingredients (one toast):

  • two thick2 slice of bread,
  • two slices of cheese3,
  • two thin slices of pepperoni4,
  • a tablespoon of butter5,
  • one garlic clove,
  • one room temperature egg,
  • shredded cheese6,
  • salt,
  • pepper7.

Preparation:

Garlic-butter

  • soften the butter 10 seconds in a microwave8,
  • press the garlic and mix it with the butter,

Assembly

  • put one slice of bread on a cooking rack,
  • put one slice of cheese on it,
  • put the two slices of meat on it,
  • put one more slice of cheese on it,
  • press a glass (or your fingers) into the last slice to build a well then put it on top of the sandwich,
  • spread the garlic butter on the slice,
  • crack the egg into the well9,
  • sprinkle a heavy coat of cheese around the yolk,
  • sprinkle some salt on the yolk,
  • sprinkle a heavy amount of pepper onto the yolk,

Baking

  • Bake 25 minutes10 in a 350F (180C) oven11,
  • serve warm.

Credits:

Those are my notes on Emmymade’s $1 Crispy Cheesy Egg Toast.

  1. A message I sent after my first time cooking this dish reads: “This is what food is meant to be.” ↩︎

  2. We are talking really thick (my slices are usually 2 centimeters, 0.8 inches, thick). I particularly like Japanese milk break (shokupan) which is a sweet, brioche-like, kind of bread. ↩︎

  3. I use a Pepper Jack spicy cheese, but the original recipe calls for American cheese. ↩︎

  4. The spiciness of pepperoni is nice but any qualitative meat (such as a nice ham) would do the trick. You can also easily replace it with a non-meat-based equivalent (you should be able to find a lot of suitable slices at your local supermarket) in order to make this a vegetarian recipe. ↩︎

  5. I like the flavor boost from the garlic-butter, but you could also use a Japanese mayo as a faster no-garlic option. ↩︎

  6. A Parmesan or Gruyère would be nice. ↩︎

  7. Freshly ground, always. ↩︎

  8. The timing will depend on your microwave, but you want your butter easily spreadable, not melted. You could also leave it at room temperature long enough. ↩︎

  9. It will likely overflow a bit. That is fine, do your best. ↩︎

  10. Or until the egg whites are fully cooked, but the yolk still runny. ↩︎

  11. You can start from a cold oven as the baking time will vary anyway. ↩︎