13 Things You Probably Never Thought To Do With English Muffins
English muffins are a popular breakfast food. According to Gold Medal Bakery, they have been around for more than 100 years, but their origins may differ from what you'd guess based on the name. While they were created by an Englishman, English Muffins were actually made in the United States. Samuel Bath Thomas came up with the recipe in his New York City bakery in 1880. It didn't take long for demand for this new breakfast treat to grow, and Thomas soon needed to open an additional bakery to keep up with the requests from customers.
However, while English muffins have traditionally been seen as a breakfast staple, there is a lot more that you can do with these tasty treats than you may realize. From making all sorts of sandwiches, to personal pizzas, casseroles, and even desserts, English muffins are super versatile. Read on to learn some new uses for English muffins that you'll definitely want to try.
French toast
This idea may still center around a breakfast food, but it certainly won't look the same as how most people eat English muffins in the morning. Rather than simply toasting your English muffin and spreading some jelly or butter over it, why not use it to make French toast? Slice the muffin as you would to pop it in the toaster, but instead drench each half in a mixture of egg, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Then, cook the two slices in melted butter on a skillet over medium heat. When cooked, the English muffin will have a soft and scrumptious texture. Just be warned — you may want a second helping.
Following a traditional French toast recipe like the one shared above is always a good idea. However, if you're feeling a little more adventurous, you can change things up a bit by adding fruit toppings or even mixing another ingredient into the milk mixture, such as pumpkin purée.
Burgers
Think outside the bun and try using an English muffin to craft the perfect burger. A toasted English muffin can help you escape from the ho-hum of a boring cheeseburger by adding a little crunch and a unique flavor to the mix. After grilling your burger, add your favorite cheese — be unique here too and try smoked Gouda, brie, or pepper jack — then place it atop the English muffin bun. Throw on your lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, and favorite condiments, and voilà, your masterpiece will be ready to enjoy. Or, stray from the ordinary with more exciting toppings such as barbecue sauce, fried onions, blue cheese, mushrooms, or even pineapple.
An English muffin can be an especially good choice to pair with a burger if you're looking for something a little flatter and less doughy than a traditional burger bun. You could even decrease the caloric content of your meal by choosing a light English muffin alternative.
Stuffing
You can't have Thanksgiving dinner without stuffing. Ok, maybe you can, but is it really going to be the same? However, nothing says that you have to stick with a traditional stuffing made with dried bread. The next time you host Thanksgiving dinner (or any time you're feeling ready to try something new), use English muffins to make your stuffing. With their unique texture, your guests are certain to be raving about how delicious and unique your stuffing recipe is.
You can fully customize an English muffin stuffing recipe however you see fit. If you want to simply substitute the English muffins for the bread (and keep the rest of the ingredients the same) to see how the two recipes compare, give it a shot. Or, you could change up your go-to recipe completely by adding some other ingredients that you don't always find in stuffing, such as mushroom, butternut squash, bacon, sausage, or nuts.
Grilled Cheese
Ooey gooey grilled cheese can make an amazing meal — especially when served with a hot bowl of tomato soup! While the buttery and cheesy goodness tastes great when prepared on white, wheat, or sourdough bread, what's stopping you from making your next sandwich using an English muffin. After all, English muffins taste great when toasted with plain butter. Imagine how much of an upgrade a few slices of cheese could make.
In addition to choosing the perfect bread — or in this case, English muffin — for your sandwich, there is one other important decision to make: What type of cheese you'll use. Traditional cheddar or American are always safe bets. However, if you want something a little more exciting, try Gouda, brie, provolone, or even blue cheese. A few other tips to make an English muffin grilled cheese even better include adding tomato, ham, bacon, or mushrooms to the mix. Don't forget to cook the sandwich over medium heat to get each side nice and golden brown. You could also try using an air fryer to cook the sandwich evenly from both sides at the same time.
Egg salad sandwiches
Egg salad can be a special treat any day of the year, but particularly on a warm summer day. The cool chopped egg mixed with mayonnaise and mustard is refreshing and rejuvenating. Putting your egg salad on an English muffin? Now that will elevate the entire meal to a whole new level. In addition to the refreshing taste of the egg salad, a toasted English muffin will add an extra crunch to the dish.
When preparing egg salad to pair with an English muffin, you can stick with a standard recipe with hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, dill pickles, salt and pepper. Alternatively, you could try using a few more upgraded additions, such as imitation crab meat, chopped onions, bacon, or avocado.
Freezer breakfast sandwiches
Keep yourself out of the drive-thru line in the mornings by being prepared. We're all so rushed in the mornings that it can be difficult to stop and make breakfast. However, if you do a little prep work one evening or weekend, you can set yourself up for success. Craft some delicious bacon, egg, and cheese, sausage and egg, or any of your other favorite recipes using an English muffin as the bun.
Build each sandwich to your liking, and resist the temptation to gobble them all up right away. Rather, leave them out on the counter to cool, just for a few minutes. Then, refrigerate them until they have fully cooled. Once chilled, place each sandwich into a freezer bag and seal it tightly. Be sure to label each bag with the date and the type of sandwich. Once labeled, toss them in the freezer until the night before you plan to eat them. In the morning, you can reheat your English muffin breakfast sandwich for a few minutes in the toaster oven or air fryer before heading out the door.
S'mores
By now, you're probably realizing that the ways to use English muffins aren't limited to breakfast. But did you know that you can even use them to make delectable desserts? That's right, an English muffin can help you craft a scrumptious twist to a classic s'mores recipe by filling in for the graham crackers. In fact, substituting a sliced English muffin for the two graham crackers can make an even more filling and satisfying dessert or snack.
According to History Daily, the first s'mores recipe was printed in 1927 in a Girl Scouts of America guidebook. As the original recipe says, eating these melty treats will leave everyone asking for 'some more.' The same will be true of this recipe variation that uses English muffins instead of graham crackers; everyone is certain to be asking for some more!
For a truly authentic experience, roast your marshmallows over a campfire, then place the gooey marshmallow on top of a piece of chocolate over the bottom half of the English muffin. Put on the top half of the English muffin, and the treat will be ready to enjoy. No campfire? No problem. You can melt the marshmallows by microwaving them. Alternatively, you can lay out all of the bottom halves of the English muffins, top them with the chocolate pieces and the marshmallow, and broil all the ingredients until the marshmallows turn golden brown.
Mini pizzas
Did you know that English muffins can also make a great base when making mini pizzas? Well, they definitely do. And, even better, the possibilities are nearly endless when it comes to crafting a mini English muffin pizza — you can find the perfect sauce, cheese, and topping combination for your likes and cravings. A classic tomato sauce topped with mozzarella cheese and pepperonis, mushroom, or sausage is always tasty. However, you can also try some different options, such as barbecue sauce topped with cheddar jack cheese, barbecued chicken and red onions, sliced Roma tomatoes topped with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil, or salsa topped with a Mexican cheese blend and grilled shrimp.
There's also no rule stating that you can only make mini pizzas for lunch or dinner. Keep the creativity flowing by crafting a satisfying breakfast pizza. Toast your English muffin and top it with a fried egg, tomatoes, cheese and any other ingredients that sound good to you. Then, put the pizza in the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese.
You can also try making a scrumptious dessert pizza by topping English muffin halves with drizzled chocolate, sliced strawberries, and chopped nuts. Other dessert pizza recipes to try include topping the English muffin with warm cinnamon apples with a cream cheese frosting drizzle, chopping up some chocolate sandwich cookies and mixing them with whipped topping and chocolate chips before spreading everything over the English muffin, or spreading peanut butter over the English muffin and topping it with sliced bananas and chocolate chips.
Copycat Egg McMuffins
If you love ordering breakfast from McDonald's, but don't love the added cost and calories, try making copycat Egg McMuffins. Egg McMuffins feature a few simple ingredients: an English muffin, cooked egg, Canadian bacon slice, and cheese. The trick is learning how to cook all the ingredients and layer them up so it tastes just like something you'd get out of the drive-thru window. Fortunately, this isn't as difficult as you may think, especially if you have the right tools.
The trick to getting your sandwich to not only look like the one from McDonald's, but also taste like it is to cook the egg in an egg ring. Using an egg ring stops the egg from running all over the pan and leaving you with a scrambled mess on your sandwich. Once you've managed to cook a perfectly round egg, preparing the rest of the sandwich is really basic: Toast and butter the English muffin, brown the Canadian bacon, and melt a slice of cheese over the cooked egg in the pan. Then, just layer the sandwich with the bacon topped with the cooked egg and cheese, and you're ready to enjoy a delicious homemade, but fast food-inspired, breakfast.
Breakfast casserole
This idea puts English muffins back with the meal that they are most traditionally associated with, but uses them in a new way. Your English muffins can make the perfect addition to a breakfast casserole that would otherwise feature bread, muffins, or even hashbrowns. The right way to craft this recipe can vary, as there are many different approaches you could take.
One idea is to make a cheesy sausage casserole using cut-up English muffins as the base. Once the English muffins are spread out to cover the bottom of the baking pan, you can top them using sausage and shredded cheese. Before baking, pour a few whisked eggs over everything, then bake for about 45 minutes.
Alternatively, try making a French toast casserole using English muffins. Whisk the eggs and milk with a little sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla, before pouring the mixture atop sliced English muffin pieces covering the bottom of a baking dish. Then, bake the casserole in the oven or Instant Pot (you can even let everything sit together overnight for extra flavor).
Tuna melts
If you enjoy tuna salad sandwiches, then step up your game with an English muffin tuna melt. As with other types of sandwiches, substituting an English muffin for the traditional sliced bread helps to make the sandwich feel more unique and works to deliver a nice crunch and added flavor for you (and any guests) to enjoy as you eat. Preparing English muffin tuna melts is pretty simple.
Start by lining a baking pan with some foil and spraying it with a bit of nonstick cooking spray. Then, slice the English muffins and place them on one side of the pan. Slice some tomatoes and lay them out of the other side. Then, mix some tuna with tartar sauce or mayonnaise. Add in celery or any other ingredients you desire, and place a heaping scoop of the tuna mixture on each tomato. Top it off with a slice of your favorite cheese, then place the baking pan under the broiler for a few minutes — you want the English muffins to look golden brown and for the cheese to melt. Assemble the sandwiches, and add some lettuce if desired.
Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict is a classic meal that many people enjoy for breakfast or brunch. The meal features a toasted English muffin topped with poached eggs, Canadian bacon, and creamy hollandaise sauce. However, many people only order this special meal when they are at a restaurant and don't realize that it is something they'd be able to make on their own at home.
While each component of this meal is relatively easy to make, the real secret to making delicious eggs Benedict is the timing. If your bacon finishes cooking well before the eggs are poached, you haven't toasted the English muffin by the time the hollandaise sauce is cooked, or you run into other delays with certain ingredients, it can throw everything off. You want to time things right to make sure that everything is hot and ready at the same time. This might take some practice, so be sure to plan to try the recipe a few times before serving it for a special occasion. But hey, it could be worse, at least these practice sessions should be rather tasty and enjoyable!
Bread Pudding
Bread pudding is a dish that has been around for centuries. The original recipes were actually developed as a way to avoid wasting bread that had gotten too stale to eat. To give it some new life and make it edible again, the bread was soaked in sweetened liquids and then baked. Because of its origins and its use in preventing food waste (which was more of a concern for those with less money), bread pudding used to be called "poor man's pudding." Over time, the recipes evolved, and now it is seen as a delicious meal for anyone — you may have even noticed that some upscale restaurants feature it on their menu.
While bread pudding was traditionally made with regular bread, substituting English muffins can help you create a whole new and delicious dish. Whether you want to make apple raisin bread pudding, strawberry rhubarb bread pudding, or chocolate bread pudding, simply replace the slices of bread with cut English muffin pieces and follow the rest of the recipe. The nooks and crannies of the English muffins will absorb the liquids you add, leaving you with a delicious concoction.