Healthier Portobello Eggs Benedict | Roasted mushrooms and a lightened-up tangy hollandaise sauce make this classic brunch more nutritious while keeping it completely delicious.
How do you decide what to eat? I ask for two reasons:
- I love you and I’m curious about your life.
- I’m looking for ideas.
No, seriously. Just thinking out loud here. See, if I’m cooking for other people I can feel out what they’re in the mood for versus what I’m in the mood for and eventually settle on something that makes us all happy. But when I’m here at school and cooking for myself, well… I actually have to make decisions.
For myself.
Scary sh*t.
Some days I wake up craving x and so I make and eat that. Easy peasy. It’s rare that I’m craving three meals and a bunch of specific snacks, though, so I formulate some healthy go-tos (don’t we all?). Those are the meals you don’t see here as much or on Instagram as much. Seriously, for every pretty meal I post, there are about 5 that involved me just throwing a third of my fridge into a skillet and calling it a meal. Glamorous, I know.
How do you decide what to eat? Cravings? Food holidays? Health? (Also, a healthier eggs Benedict recipe!) Share on XBut there are also days where my go-tos sound too boring and I’m not craving anything specific. What then? Well, lately I’ve fallen into the habit of looking up food holidays and seeing if that sparks anything. Seriously. Now, I objectively think food holidays are a tad silly, but is there really anything wrong with a little extra celebration in life?
You wanna know what we’re preparing to celebrate today? National Eggs Benedict Day and the Day of the Mushroom. They’re Saturday, in case you were wondering. And that gave me an idea.
Okay, to be honest, it’s an idea I’ve had for a while. I’ve had two really good Benedicts lately, and I’ve never made one myself. But I’ve been wanting to! Also, I love portobello mushrooms and I had a feeling runny yolks over roasty mushrooms would be pretty excellent.
It was.
So this meal is the result of a craving, and its deliciousness plus the upcoming double food holiday make the perfect excuses to share with you.
An eggs Benedict breakdown
Usually, eggs Benedict implies a toasted English muffin topped with Canadian bacon, a poached egg, and buttery hollandaise sauce.
In this version, I replaced the English muffin with a roasted portobello mushroom, ditched the Canadian bacon (though it would actually be awesome if you’re looking for some extra protein), added some spinach for color, and made a lighter, tangier hollandaise-style sauce.
This portobello eggs Benedict is a fun, healthy, pretty, delicious spin on the classic! Perfect for breakfast, lunch, brunch, or dinner.
A note: this technically does not take that much time, but it does dirty up a fair few dishes and you are doing several things at once. You can do it, I promise, but it’s a little bit messy. Also, I made two eggs for myself, but those are easily multiplied if you’re serving more people. The sauce makes nearly 3/4 cup, so no need to scale it up.
- 2 portobello mushroom caps
- 1 t. extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- 5.3 oz. plain Greek yogurt*
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 T. unsalted butter, melted
- 2 t. lemon juice
- 1/4 t. black pepper
- 1/8 t. salt
- 1/8 t. paprika
- 1/2 t. granulated sugar
- 1/4 t. spicy brown mustard, optional
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Wash mushroom caps and pat dry.
- Rub mushrooms with oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Roast for 10 minutes on one side (I used a stone, but a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick spray would be just fine). Flip and roast for 10 minutes on the other side. Remove from oven and set aside.
- While the mushrooms are roasting, bring a pot of water to a simmer and set a heatproof bowl above the pot. If you have a double-boiler, use that!
- In the bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt, egg yolks, melted butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper, paprika, sugar, and mustard.*
- Keep stirring the sauce regularly for about 15 to 20 minutes. It should thicken and be nicely warmed.
- On the stove, simmer water and add vinegar. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and slide them into the water. Simmer for 3-4 minutes before removing poached eggs.
- In the microwave, add a little over 1/2 c. water to a large bowl (I used a 2-cup one) and gently crack one egg into the water. Place a plate upside-down over the bowl and microwave for one minute. Remove the egg and repeat with the next one.
- Plate the roasted mushrooms, and top with a few spinach leaves, the poached eggs, and your desired amount of hollandaise. Enjoy!
- *I really love the slightly tangy flavor of this hollandaise, especially as I find regular hollandaise to be a little too creamy and one-note. If you want a less-tangy sauce, there are lots of options! You can use a Greek yogurt with a higher fat percentage, add another 1/2 t. sugar, and/or omit the mustard. An extra T. of melted butter is also pretty delicious.
- **Both of these methods work beautifully!
Click to view nutrition facts for Portobello Eggs Benedict
#yolkporn
How do you decide what to eat?
Are you an eggs Benedict fan?
Love that you used mushrooms instead of an english muffin, how creative!!! Thanks for making eggs benedict without the guilt 🙂
I also love my English muffins, though 😉 But it’s fun to switch things up!
I eat whatever is going bad first hahahaha Not always ideal, but most things I have can be improved with some peanut butter, so I win 🙂
LOL I sometimes end up doing that, too. And hey, peanut butter is always a plus!
These look scrumptious, and so great for those of us with Celiacs! Honestly, sometimes I decide what to eat based on what I’m craving, but other times I eat what I packed for the workday, whether it’s what I really want or not.
I think everyone ends up in that situation. We don’t always eat the thing that sounds absolute best, but we still do quite alright 😀
I always kind of go off of cravings. If a salad really doesn’t sound good, I don’t eat it. I think God made our bodies to know what it needs at a particular time. That’s probably why I don’t eat savory foods for breakfast. Those egg benedict look AMAZING!
It’s lovely that you’re able to listen to your cravings! Thanks so much, Emily!
Um, this is brilliant. Yes yes yes.
How do I decide what to eat? A combo of habit and emotion, I would say. And hunger level. Sometimes, I will want something, but if I know that it won’t satisfy my hunger, I might think twice. But I’ll usually eat it anyway. Let’s be honest.
Thank you!
And yes, I’m the same way. If I decide I want something, 999/1000 times I’m gonna eat it, whether it matches my hunger level (or lack thereof) or not.
I really have no idea how I decide what to eat… usually it’s just whatever’s around and whatever needs to be used up 😆 There’s the odd time where I’ll get a real craving for something, and that’s the best because it’s usually the most satisfying.
Hahaha I love cravings for that reason!
These look amazing!!!! I’m slyly emailing this to my mom in the hopes we can make this when I am home over the summer. 😉
Thanks, Julia! Enjoy 🙂
Girl, I just go with the flow!!! I like my tummy guide me 😉
Good system!
I love portobello mushrooms! I go through phases with what I eat, usually going my cravings and keeping good health in mind. I get in a rut too though with my meals, so thank God for Pinterest and bloggers for inspiration!
I have a lot of phases, too. And yes to inspiration from others! Reading blogs gives me so many ideas!
Healthier hollandaise… genius!!
Thanks, Emma! It’s just as creamy with a little extra tang – I love it 🙂
This looks sooo lish! Pinned and can’t wait to try it! Since I started blogging, I’ve found that I often decide to eat what I’ve already decided to feature on a recipe post. Art imitating life, maybe?
Hahaha I do that, too. More like life imitating art 😉
This looks awesome, like restaurant quality for sure! I’m super impressed. And I love the idea of using mushrooms in your eggs benedict!
Thanks so much, Liv! 🙂
I’ve never had real eggs benedict before, but I did have a Portobello salmon egg benedict dish at this brunch restaurant that was low carb and high protein–just the poached eggs on salmon and Portobello mushrooms! SO GOOD. This looks amazing and I cannot wait to try it out once I get BIIIIG Portobellos!
Oooh that salmon dish sounds awesome. Thanks so much, Cassie! 😀 And yes, make sure they’re big – they shrink a little when they roast!
I have never considered using a portobello as the base for a benedict but I love this idea. I cannot wait to try this recipe at home, thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Tia! I would love to know what you think 🙂