camp meals

Camp Muffin Sandwich

English muffin, egg, cheddar, and Canadian bacon, cooked in one pan at the trailhead.

calories
470
weight
6.5 oz
cal / oz
72
protein
26 g
serves
2, scales
prep
5 min
cook
8 min
total time
13 min
water
none
cost
$

Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.

  • Breakfast
  • Canister stove
  • Grill grate
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Day hike
  • One pot
  • Grab and go
  • Needs a cooler
  • Basic

Ingredients

English muffins 2 split at home so you are not hunting for a knife
Eggs 2 carry in a hard case, or use a shelf-stable egg carton
Sharp cheddar 2 slices cut from a block, it keeps better than pre-sliced
Canadian bacon 4 slices sealed deli pack, cooler only until opened
Oil or butter 1 tsp

Method

  1. Set the pan over medium heat and toast the muffin halves cut side down, dry, until they take color. Pull them out.
  2. Lay the Canadian bacon in the same pan. About a minute a side, until the edges curl.
  3. Push the meat to one side, add the oil, and crack in the eggs. Break the yolks with the spoon and fold them until set. Runny yolk on the trail is a mess you carry all day.
  4. Put the cheddar on the hot eggs, cover the pan with a lid or a plate for thirty seconds, and let the residual heat melt it.
  5. Stack meat, egg, and cheese on a muffin bottom, put the top on, and press down.

This is one pan doing four jobs in sequence, which is the only reason it is worth cooking at a campsite. Toasting the muffins dry first gives the bread a crust that stands up to the egg. Everything after that lands in the fat the meat leaves behind, so there is nothing to wash between stages.

The cheese melts off residual heat under a lid, not over flame. Cheddar left on the burner splits and slides out the back of the sandwich. Cut it from a block rather than carrying slices; the block survives a warm cooler and a long drive, and it grates into the egg if you would rather melt it that way.

Packing

Muffins ride in a hard-sided container or they arrive as crumbs. Eggs, cheese, and Canadian bacon stay in the cooler; the bacon pack goes on the ice, not the lid.

Variations

  • Assemble at home, wrap each sandwich in foil, and reheat on a grill grate over coals for six minutes a side.
  • Swap the eggs for a shelf-stable egg powder and the meat for a foil pouch of ham if you have no cooler.

https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/how-to-make-the-best-breakfast-sandwich