Breakfast Toastie
A breakfast toastie works when everything is cooked before it goes in and cut flat. A sealed toastie maker only reheats and seals for about 4 minutes, so it won't cook raw bacon or sausage, and thick fillings stop the lid closing. Fry thin bacon, split the sausage lengthways and soft-scramble the egg until just set, then seal it all in with cheese. You get a full English you can eat with one hand.
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Recipe: Breakfast toastie
Ingredients
- 2 slices medium-cut white bread
- 2 rashers smoked streaky bacon (about 30g)
- 1 pork chipolata or 1/2 standard sausage, cooked
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp milk
- 30g mature cheddar, grated
- 1 tsp brown sauce or ketchup (optional)
- 10g salted butter, softened
- 1 small pinch salt and pepper
Method
- Fry or grill the bacon until crisp, then drain it on kitchen paper. If you're starting from raw, cook the sausage at the same time, for about 10–12 minutes, until it's cooked through with no pink.
- Cut the cooked sausage in half lengthways so you have two flat halves.
- Beat the egg with the milk and seasoning. Scramble it gently in the bacon pan over low heat for about 1 minute, taking it off while it still looks slightly wet. It will finish cooking in the toastie.
- Meanwhile, close the toastie maker and preheat it until the ready light comes on.
- Butter one side of each slice. Put one slice buttered side down on the bottom plate and scatter half the cheese over it, leaving a 1cm border.
- Lay the bacon and the flat sausage halves on the cheese, then spoon the scrambled egg on top, keeping everything 1.5cm from the edges. Add a thin line of sauce down the centre if you like.
- Scatter the rest of the cheese on top and put the second slice on, buttered side up.
- Close the lid gently. Cook for 4 minutes in a standard machine or 5 in a deep fill, until it's golden and piping hot. Rest for 1 minute before eating.
The technique: precook everything and keep it flat
A standard sandwich toaster has a filling cavity only a couple of centimetres deep at the middle, and it heats from the outside in. Two rules follow.
1. Everything goes in cooked
Four minutes isn't enough to cook raw pork safely, and the bread would burn long before it got close. Treat the toastie maker as the last step that reheats and seals. Leftover breakfast from the day before works perfectly, as long as it was refrigerated promptly and you heat it until piping hot.
2. Flat layers heat evenly
A whole sausage is a cylinder about 2.5cm thick. It pushes the lid up, so the edges can't seal, and it stays cool in the middle. Splitting it lengthways halves the height and doubles the area touching the hot cheese. Thin streaky bacon is better than thick back bacon for the same reason.
3. Underdo the egg
Egg keeps cooking from the heat of the toastie. If you scramble it fully first, it ends up rubbery. Take it off the heat while it still looks glossy and slightly undercooked. A runny fried egg isn't a good idea in a sealed machine: it bursts when the lid closes. For other ways to cook eggs, including in the plates themselves, see eggs in a toastie maker.
Fill limits
This is the most heavily filled recipe in our collection. In a standard machine, choose two of bacon, sausage and egg rather than all three if your lid won't close easily. A deep fill toastie maker takes the full version comfortably. Our deep fill vs shallow fill comparison explains the difference in capacity.
Other appliances
In a frying pan, use the same pan you cooked the bacon in. Wipe out most of the fat, cook the toastie on medium-low with a lid on for 3–4 minutes per side and press it down gently (see frying pan toastie). In an air fryer, cook at 180°C for 9 minutes, turning halfway. A panini press handles thick fillings well. Use a soft roll and cook for 5 minutes.
Variations
- Bacon, egg and cheese: the lighter classic, which fits any machine.
- Full English: add 1 tbsp of thickened baked beans, using the method in the cheese and beans toastie. Deep fill only.
- Hash brown breakfast: add a cooked hash brown, flattened, or see hash browns in a toastie maker.
- Black pudding: 2 thin slices of cooked black pudding instead of the sausage.
- Veggie breakfast: a halved veggie sausage, fried mushrooms (cooked until dry) and egg.
- Ham and egg: no frying needed. Use folded ham, as in our ham and cheese toastie.
Mistakes to avoid
- Raw meat: it won't cook through safely. Always precook it.
- Whole sausages: the lid won't seal and the middle stays cold.
- Greasy bacon: drain it well, or the fat leaks and smokes on the plates.
- Overfilling a shallow machine: see how to stop toasties leaking.
For a machine that handles big fillings, our best toastie maker guide flags deep fill models. More ideas are in toastie filling ideas.
FAQs
Can I cook bacon in a toastie maker?
Some people cook bacon directly on the plates with the lid closed. It's possible but messy, the fat runs off the edges, and there's a risk of damaging the coating. Frying or grilling it separately is cleaner and gives better results.
Can I crack a raw egg into a toastie?
In a deep fill machine you can make a well in the filling and pour in a beaten egg, but it's prone to leaking. Our eggs in a toastie maker guide covers this method properly.
Can I make breakfast toasties ahead?
You can cook the fillings the night before and chill them. Assemble and toast in the morning, making sure the centre is piping hot before you eat.