Lightened Up Eggs Benedict Recipe
A Lightened Up Eggs Benedict Recipe to Try at Home
Love Eggs Benedict but don’t love “spending” almost an entire day’s worth of calories first thing in the morning? Give this lightened up eggs benedict recipe a try for your next brunch in! You’ll save yourself some calories and some cash. Not to mention the hassle of putting on a bra and getting gussied up. You know, just to sit in the restaurant hostess’s queue as your stomach acids eat you alive from the inside out.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good brunch out. Lately I’ve even been making it a bit more of a recurring thing! I’ve gone to monthly weekend brunch with a couple mom friends for the past two months. Including another random weekday brunch with friends, I’ve gone out for brunch four times in the last 2 months! That’s a pretty big deal. Hooray for my wonderful husband and mom for watching the kids! I love getting out of the house and having undistracted adult conversation. Not having someone tell me they need to poop the second the food arrives is what dreams are made of. I also love mimosas, but day drinking is just hell to pay when you gotta mom so hard all. day. Long.
What’s your go-to brunch order?
When I actually do manage to go out to eat for my morning meal, Eggs Benedict is my go-to order. Nearly every single time! I love trying different versions and variations of this dish from different restaurants. I almost always gravitate toward the good ol’ Classic Eggs Benny, though. It’s irresistibly yummy, almost impossible to go wrong, and I’m pretty sure I could eat it every day. Unfortunately, it’s a fat and calorie BOMB between basically a dozen egg yolks and straight-up sticks of butter. But damn, is that hollandaise sauce GOOD.
With eggs benny, I’m throwing calorie caution to the wind. If I’m going to down a solid 1000-1500 calories worth of food in one go I want to enjoy myself. I’m sure as hell not gonna be frazzled, running kids to the bathroom, and blowing on kid’s meals between bites. I’m going to damn well enjoy the entire experience. Going out to eat, or anywhere for that matter, with a 6- and 3- year old just isn’t relaxing. So I decided to figure out a way to enjoy eggs benedict at home.
Cook at home and take control of your fitness goals
If not dealing with my kids wasn’t enough, I also like creating lighter versions of my favorite meals. This way I can have them more often. Splurging is great, and necessary from time to time. When you have weight loss goals, however, you need to regulate how often and how much you treat yo’self. Or you’re never going to see progress. Be mindful and intentional with your eating most of the time. So you can splurge and indulge some of the time.
This homemade, macro-friendly, lightened up eggs benedict recipe is the perfect compromise when you’re craving the finer brunchy-type things in life and wanting to stay on track with your goals. And you don’t even need to change out of your jammies or bust out the credit card. Really, the biggest splurge here is a bit of your time, attention, and effort.
Between poaching the eggs, whisking the sauce, and timing the english muffins and Canadian bacon to be done at the same time as everything else, it can seem a bit overwhelming. But I’ve found a no-fuss way to poach the eggs, and a hollandaise that doesn’t make me feel like I just drank a tub of liquid lard. So I really enjoy making it at home. Especially because my hubby is typically on kid-duty while I fix our family breakfasts on the weekends. It’s kind of our thing on Saturdays and Sundays. Luckily, I can give my lightened up eggs benedict recipe and preparation my full attention.
How Macro Friendly is this Lightened Up Eggs Benedict Recipe?
Well, to be annoying about it, I’ll say it depends on your macro goals. Everyone has different numbers and fitness goals. But, if you’re in the weight loss arena, it’s safe to assume you’d like to keep calories and fat in check with as much protein as possible. Sound about right?
This lightened up eggs benedict recipe, as written, will cost you just 366 calories, 27g of carbs, and 16.5g of fat, with a hefty 33g of protein.
Whole egg / egg white options
You’ll see below the recipe calls for just 1 whole egg per serving. One of the English muffin halves will be topped with egg whites only. If you’d like to have a whole egg on each muffin half, by all means do it! Your calorie and fat numbers will increase, as I’ve noted on the recipe card below, by 45 and 5 respectively. Runny yolks are all the rage when it comes to eggs benny, but I actually prefer my yolks on the harder side. Honestly, I don’t miss having a 2nd yolk. I find, however, that one yolk provides plenty of ooey-gooeyness to this dish, if that’s your thing.
Tailor it for your numbers
Make this recipe work for you! Want more protein? Add another slice of Canadian bacon to each English muffin half for a mere 40 calories and 1 measly gram of fat. It’ll give ya a 7g protein boost! You could always use more egg whites to increase protein, as well. Watching carbs? Have 1/2 an English muffin instead. Need to lower fat content? Cook up half the amount of hollandaise sauce. It’s plenty enough to provide all the delectable eggs benedict flavors.
Equipment Needed to Prepare this Lightened Up Eggs Benedict Recipe
- Food scale – I linked the one I use. It’s affordable, reliable, and doesn’t take up much counter space.
- Muffin tin – this will be used to poach your eggs the easy way
- Non-stick spray
- Measuring spoons
- Toaster oven or toaster – something that holds multiple English muffins at a time is nice
- Double-boiler pot – you can use a small saucepan that will fit a glass bowl nestled on top
- Whisk – constant vigilance whisking with the hollandaise sauce!
Lightened Up Eggs Benedict Recipe
Equipment
- muffin tin
- measuring spoons
- toaster over or toaster
- double boiler
- whisk
Ingredients
- 2 whole Thomas’ Light 100 calorie English muffins sliced into top and bottom halves, if not pre-cut
- 8 slices Canadian bacon macros based on Jones Farm brand
- 2 eggs large, whole
- 92 grams 100% liquid egg whites can also use whites from whole eggs
- 6-12 tbsp water for muffin tin cups
- sprinkle paprika for garnish
Hollandaise Sauce
- 57 grams (1/4 cup) non-fat plain Greek yogurt I use and love Fage 0%
- 1 egg yolk only
- juice from 1/4 lemon approx. 2-1/4 tsp of bottled lemon juice
- 42 grams (3 tbsp) light butter I use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light Spread
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, prepare/slice your English muffins and set them in the toaster/toaster oven (leave heat off for now). If you’re using a toaster oven, line it with aluminum foil and set your Canadian bacon on it to prepare it for crisping. Otherwise, put a pan on the stove top with the burner off and set the Canadian bacon in it. You’ll come back to this.
- Spray 4 cups of a muffin tin lightly with cooking spray and fill every muffin cup with 1 tbsp of water (this will keep the empty cups from scorching in the oven).
- Crack 2 whole eggs into each of 2 of the sprayed muffin cups, and pour 46 grams of egg whites into each of the other 2 sprayed cups. Set aside.
- Using a double-boiler, or heavy saucepan large enough to fit a medium heat-proof glass bowl, heat a couple inches of water to a simmer.
- Whisk yogurt and egg yolk together in the top pot of the double broiler, or in the glass bowl, and place pot/bowl over the simmering water.
- Start toasting your english muffins in batches in a 2-slice toaster, or all at once if you have a big toaster or toaster oven.
- Put your muffin tin in the preheated oven and set a timer for 11-13 minutes.
- Whisk yogurt/yolk mixture in the double boiler constantly for 10 minutes, add butter and whisk for another 5 minutes, stopping only to remove the eggs from the oven when they are poached to desired runniness and to start crisping the Canadian bacon in the toaster oven or on the stove top. This is where it can get a lil stressful doing all the things, haha.
- Remove the pot from heat and stir in lemon juice.
- Assemble your eggs benedicts: Set your english muffin open-faced on a plate, set 2 slices of prepared Canadian bacon on top of each half, carefully remove and place 1 of the poached whole eggs on one half and 1 of the poached egg whites on the other half. Repeat for 2nd serving.
- Pour half of the hollandaise mixture on top of each prepared eggs benedict. Sprinkle with paprika, and serve with a side of fresh fruit.
Notes
- Macros per serving, as prepared above (no sides): 366 calories, 27g carbs, 16.5g fat, 33g protein.
- Hollandaise sauce can be fickle. If it doesn’t thicken up don’t fret – it’ll still taste great.
- In the past I have made ½ of the above sauce recipe and split it between 2 servings to save fat and calories, so make it work for you and fit into your day however you need to.
- If you’d rather have 2 whole eggs on top of your English muffins, that’s totally cool – it’ll just add about 45 calories and 5g of fat to the meal. I prefer my poached eggs with a harder yolk anyway, so I don’t really miss the yolk. Super runny yolks kinda creep me out, but I know that’s the allure of the eggs benny for a lot of people.
Follow and connect with me on Instagram! I share my favorite meals and snacks as I maintain my 30 pound weight loss after baby number 2. My daily food diaries are in my story highlights with full calorie and macro summaries. Plus I share recipes I find and try for my weekly lunch meal prep! Pin this lightened up eggs benedict recipe to your Pinterest board for future reference.
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