Name: Ultimate Fried Egg Sandwich
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 3 min
Total time: 8 min
Cuisine: Eggs
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons mayonnaise; 1 teaspoon Mexican hot sauce; 1 teaspoon smoked paprika; 1 large ripe tomato; 2 leaves romaine lettuce; 4 slices whole grain, sourdough or artisan bread; 1/2 tablespoon butter (or olive oil for dairy free); 2 eggs; Kosher salt; Fresh ground pepper

This fried egg sandwich recipe will have your heart! Here’s how to make an egg sandwich you’ll want to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

How to make the best egg sandwich? You’ve come to the right place. Yes, Alex and I are cookbook authors and professional recipe writers, and we love “foodie” fare. At the same time, we both agree: there’s really nothing better than a great fried egg sandwich. This one is our ultimate: gooey, messy, requiring lots of napkins, and slathered with smoky mayo. Here we’ll show you a tutorial on how to make this thing of glory. It’s the best quick breakfast, easy lunch, or fast dinner around.

How to make an egg sandwich

There’s not a lot of technique required to make an egg sandwich, naturally. But to make the best egg sandwich? The one that you’ll be thinking about for days? That requires a little know-how. You’ll need to make perfectly fried eggs, and our trick to the best fancy mayo. Here’s how to make an egg sandwich:

Fry the egg (sunny side up): How to perfectly fry an egg? Heat butter over medium low heat. Then add the eggs and sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt and a few grinds black pepper. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the whites are firm but the yolk is still runny. Don’t flip them! See below for more options.
Make the mayo: Smoky mayo requires two things: hot sauce and smoked paprika. (More on that below!) You can mix them to taste, or follow the quantities in the recipe.
Accessorize with the perfect toppings: Let’s talk more about those down below, too!

Fried eggs 4 ways!

You can make a fried egg sandwich with any type of fried egg! There are 4 different ways to fry eggs. Here’s the basic and 3 more variations:

Sunny side up eggs: Use the instructions above to cook the eggs until the whites are set but the yolk is runny.
Over easy eggs: Cook the same as sunny side up, then flip and cook 20 seconds on the other side. The yolk should still be runny.
Over medium eggs: Cook the same as sunny side up, then flip and cook 1 more minute on the other side; the yolk should be partially set.
Over hard eggs: Cook the same as sunny side up, then flip and cook 2 more minutes until the yolk is fully set.

Best fried egg sandwich toppings

Once you’ve got your fried eggs and smoky mayo, there’s not much else to a fried egg sandwich recipe! But the toppings are also important to getting the best sandwich experience. Here’s why we chose each component of our sandwich toppings, and a few other ideas:

Tomato: Tomato makes the sandwich even messier, but it makes egg bite juicy and a little tangy. This makes for the best experience: but you can omit if you don’t have them on hand: especially in the winter!
Lettuce: Lettuce adds a little crunch, and makes for a nice color contrast.
Cheese (optional): This fried egg sandwich recipe is great without cheese. But if you love it, you could also add a slice: our picks are provolone, Monterrey Jack or cheddar.
Mashed avocado: Make it more filling by adding mashed avocado as a bread topping.
Bacon: Use real bacon to make it like a BLT, or vegan bacon like coconut or shiitake bacon.

Best bread for an egg sandwich recipe

What’s the best bread for an egg sandwich? Of course, you can use any style. But we prefer a hearty bread that’s whole grain or an artisan bread like sourdough. Here are some options, including homemade recipes:

Whole wheat sandwich bread like this Easy Whole Wheat Bread
Multi-grain bread like Multigrain Bread
Artisan bread like Easy No Knead Bread
Sourdough bread like Best Sourdough Bread Recipe

Variation: Substitute Russian dressing or Special Sauce

Want to take this fried egg sandwich recipe to new heights? Here’s a trick to make it taste a little like a Big Mac. Try Special Sauce or Russian Dressing instead of smoky mayo! Here’s what to know:

Special Burger Sauce: This tangy, savory sauce combines all your favorite condiments: ketchup, mustard, and mayo. It’s irresistible, if we do say so ourselves. Go to Special Sauce.
Russian Dressing: The sauce on a Big Mac is essentially Russian Dressing! It’s similar, but made of ketchup, mayo and chopped pickles and shallots.

More quick ways to eat eggs for dinner…or lunch or breakfast

What we love about this fried egg sandwich recipe is how versatile it is! It’s ideal for fast and easy meals literally any time of the day. Honestly, we usually eat it as a quick dinner (since our mornings are consumed by oatmeal). Here are a few more go-to egg recipes that save our behinds on the regular:

Don’t forget about egg salad! This ultimate egg salad sandwich is unreal
Try this 5 minute breakfast sandwich with pesto and arugula
These egg tacos have a filling that tastes like meat!
Eat this veggie scramble any time of the day
A Parmesan omelette is another meal that works anytime
Eggs on a pizza? Try Breakfast Pizza with Scrambled Egg or other top egg recipes for breakfast

This fried egg sandwich recipe is…

Vegetarian.