Breakfast
$1.12per plate
Prep
15 min
Breakfast · Breakfast Sandwiches
Breakfast Sandwiches
These breakfast sandwiches are sausage, egg, and cheese on a toasted English muffin, and they cost about $1.37 each against three or four dollars at a drive-through. The batch makes six at once because the oven does the eggs for you: twelve eggs go into a 9x13 pan, bake into one flat sheet, and get cut into six squares that sit on the muffin without hanging off the edges. Each sandwich lands at about 30g of protein, so it earns a place in our high-protein meals collection. They freeze well for a month, which is the point of making six, and they reheat in about two minutes. If you would rather wrap breakfast in a tortilla, our freezer breakfast burritos work the same way.
$1.37per plate
Estimated recipe total
$8.22 · serves 6
Cook
25 min
Total
40 min
Serves
6
Recipe from Budget Plates · https://www.budgetplates.com/breakfast-sandwich
Equipment
- 9x13 baking pan
- Skillet
Variations
- Use bagels, croissants, or split biscuits instead of English muffins.
- Use 2 slices of cooked bacon or a slice of deli ham per sandwich instead of sausage.
- Use cheddar or pepper jack instead of American cheese.
- Scatter chopped spinach, onion, or bell pepper over the eggs before baking, cooked and patted dry first.
1 How to make it
1
Heat the oven and line the pan
Heat the oven to 375 F. Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment and grease it with the butter or oil, going up the sides. The parchment is what lets you lift the whole egg sheet out in one piece and cut clean squares.
2
Bake the eggs into a sheet
Whisk the eggs with the salt and pepper until the yolks and whites are fully combined and no streaks remain, then pour into the pan. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until the eggs are just set and no longer wet in the center, and a knife tip in the middle comes out clean. Pull them the moment they set. Overbaked eggs are what turn rubbery in the freezer, and they will firm up a little more as they cool.
3
Cook the sausage patties
While the eggs bake, divide the sausage into 6 equal portions and press each into a thin patty a little wider than your English muffin, since they shrink as they cook. Cook in a skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes a side, until browned and cooked through to 160 F on an instant-read thermometer. Move them to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain, which keeps the finished sandwich from going greasy.
4
Toast the muffins
Split and toast the English muffins until they are lightly golden and dry to the touch. Do not skip this even if you are eating one right away. The toasted, dried surface is the barrier that keeps the egg and sausage from soaking into the bread, and it is the single biggest thing standing between you and a soggy sandwich later.
5
Cut the eggs and assemble
Lift the egg sheet out by the parchment and cut it into 6 squares roughly the size of a muffin. Build each sandwich bottom to top: muffin, sausage patty, egg square, then the cheese slice, then the muffin top. Putting the cheese straight onto the hot egg is what melts it, so assemble while everything is still warm.
6
Eat now, or cool completely to store
Serve right away while the cheese is melting. To store or freeze, let the assembled sandwiches cool completely to room temperature first, about 20 minutes. Wrapping a warm sandwich traps steam, and that steam is what makes a reheated muffin soggy.
2 Cheaper ingredient swaps
- Bagels, croissants, or biscuits. Any sturdy split bread works. Bagels are the most filling and hold up best in the freezer, croissants are the most tender but flake apart when reheated, and split biscuits are the softest. Toast whichever you use.
- Bacon or ham instead of sausage. Use 2 slices of cooked bacon or a slice of deli ham per sandwich. Both are leaner than sausage, so the sandwich comes out less rich and drops a few grams of protein; ham is the cheaper of the two.
- Cheddar or pepper jack. Swap the American slices one for one. American is used here because it melts the most reliably from cold; aged cheeses like sharp cheddar melt less smoothly when reheated from frozen.
- Fried round eggs instead of a sheet. Fry the eggs in a greased wide-mouth canning jar ring or an egg ring for the classic round shape. It takes longer for six and the sheet-pan method reheats more evenly, but the shape is nicer for eating fresh.
- Add vegetables. Scatter chopped spinach, onion, or bell pepper over the eggs before baking. Cook watery vegetables first and pat them dry, or the extra moisture will loosen the egg sheet and make it hard to cut.
3 Budget tips
- Six sandwiches for $8.22 is about $1.37 each, against roughly four dollars for a drive-through version, so one batch pays for itself the first week.
- Breakfast sausage is the biggest line. A store-brand roll costs about a dollar less than a name brand and behaves the same once it is seasoned and browned.
- English muffins freeze well, so buy them when they are on sale and keep a package in the freezer for the next batch.
- See more recipes priced per serving in the Budget Plates Index.
4 Storage, freezing & reheating
Fridge
Refrigerate assembled, fully cooled sandwiches wrapped individually for up to 4 days. Cool them completely before wrapping, or trapped steam softens the muffin.
Freezer
Wrap each cooled sandwich tightly in parchment or foil, then put them all in a freezer bag with the air pressed out, for up to 1 month. The double wrap is what prevents freezer burn. Label the bag with the date, since they look the same frozen.
Reheating
From frozen, unwrap completely, wrap in a paper towel, and microwave at 50 percent power for 1 minute, then in 30-second bursts at full power until hot in the center, about 2 minutes total. The lower power first is what thaws the middle without turning the egg rubbery. From the fridge, 45 to 60 seconds is enough. To reheat in the oven, keep the foil on and bake at 375 F for 20 to 25 minutes from frozen.
5 Nutrition (per serving)
Calories
550
Protein
30g
Fat
34g
Carbs
28g
Estimates per sandwich, calculated from standard ingredient data. Values shift with the brand of sausage, cheese, and muffin you use. Not a substitute for medical advice.
6 Frequently asked questions
How do you keep breakfast sandwiches from getting soggy?
Two steps do almost all the work. Toast the cut sides of the muffin so the surface is dry, which stops the egg and sausage from soaking in. Then let the assembled sandwiches cool all the way to room temperature before wrapping them, because wrapping while warm traps steam and that steam softens the bread overnight.
Can you freeze breakfast sandwiches?
Yes, for up to a month. Cool them completely, wrap each one tightly in parchment or foil, then bag them all together with the air pressed out. The inner wrap holds the sandwich together and the outer bag keeps freezer burn off. Reheat from frozen at 50 percent power first so the center thaws before the egg overcooks.
Why bake the eggs instead of frying them?
Twelve eggs baked as one sheet cook in a single 15-minute stretch instead of six rounds in a skillet, and they cut into flat squares that sit flush on the muffin rather than doming. Flat also reheats more evenly, which matters when the sandwich comes out of the freezer. Fry them in an egg ring instead if you want the round shape and are eating right away.
How much protein is in a breakfast sandwich?
About 30g per sandwich, from two eggs, a sausage patty, a slice of cheese, and the English muffin, calculated from standard food data. The exact number moves with the sausage and cheese you buy, so check the labels if you want a precise figure for your batch.
How is the price per sandwich figured?
About $8.22 for the muffins, eggs, sausage, cheese, and pan butter, divided across six sandwiches, which is roughly $1.37 each. The sausage is the biggest single line at $3.30 and the eggs are next at $2.28.
Helpful Tools for This Recipe
As an Amazon Associate, Budget Plates may earn from qualifying purchases.
- 9x13 baking dish. A 9x13 dish is the standard size for casseroles and baked pasta, so one dish feeds the whole table. Best for casseroles, baked pasta, stuffed peppers, and baked oatmeal.
- Mixing bowls set. A set of nesting bowls handles prep, mixing, and marinades without dirtying every dish in the house. Best for mixing meatball and patty mixtures, tossing ingredients, and holding prepped components.
- Measuring cups and spoons set. A basic set of measuring cups and spoons keeps amounts consistent, which keeps budget recipes reliable. Best for rice, liquids, and any recipe where the ratio matters.
- Instant-read meat thermometer. An instant-read thermometer takes the guesswork out of doneness, so lean or cheap cuts stay juicy instead of overcooking. Best for chicken, pork, and meatloaf, where a few degrees decides juicy or dry.
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