Green Sauce and Spam Eggs Benedict Makes a Perfect Simple Brunch (or Brunch for Dinner)🥪 🥙

What are the building blocks of an easy, inexpensive meal? For staff writer Kendra Vaculin, nothing does the trick quite like 3 Eggs and a Can. Follow this series for her mealtime moves based around that simple, versatile formula—and all the directions it can go.

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Under even the very best circumstances, I do not want to go to brunch. I adore breakfast food and consider myself a morning-ish person (morning-ish = brunch o’clock), but the whole production of going out to a restaurant for bacon and coffee is just not my thing. First of all, not to brag, but I have bacon and coffee at home! I can have them whenever I want without changing out of my sweatpants. Plus, it always seems like everyone in the whole world has decided to go to brunch at the exact same moment, creating hours-long wait times for—you guessed it—bacon and coffee. It is hard for me to see the upside, even when a few mimosas deep.

But just because going to brunch (especially right now) isn’t on my agenda doesn’t mean I don’t love eating it. Hash browns and pancakes rank among my favorite foods in any category, and if you haven’t noticed, I have a thing for eggs. I get my fix through off-hours brunching (catch me ordering an omelet with a waffle on the side at 7:45 p.m.) and fixing full spreads for myself on lazy Sunday mornings, re-creating my favorite dishes at home. Even eggs Benedict, what I view as one of the fanciest classic brunch items, can be had without the wait or price tag if you’re willing to break a few yolks.

In truth, eggs Benedict seems a lot fancier than it is. Because of the hollandaise sauce and generalized fear around poaching eggs, it has an air of being better left to the professionals. With a little practice, however (and an easy herb sauce instead of the emulsified French one), eggs Benedict can absolutely become a homemade staple. And don’t knock the Spam substitution until you try it; the salty crisped-up slices taste like the ideal mash-up of ham and bacon, so satisfying that you might forgo brunch excursions for the foreseeable future.

Here’s how to make it happen: After setting a large pot of water on the stove to bring to a boil, blitz your green sauce. Add all the good stuff to a blender: about 2 cups of tender herbs (parsley, cilantro, mint, dill, tarragon, and/or basil), 1 grated garlic clove, the zest and juice of half a lemon, and ½ cup of plain yogurt. Season with salt and pepper and add a serious glug of olive oil, then blend until completely smooth. This sauce is green goddess–esque and you’ll likely have leftovers, which you can toss onto chicken salad, use as a dip, or thin with a bit of water to make a bright salad dressing.

Next, poach your eggs. For a long time I considered egg-poaching to be outside the scope of what was possible for me, someone who sticks to sunny-side up rather than over easy fried eggs because I cannot nail the flip without spilling a yolk. I tried (and failed) poaching a few different ways—by creating a “whirlpool,” spiking my cooking water with vinegar, anything I thought would help me unlock the skill. It wasn’t until I learned to be gentler throughout the process (with lower heat and easier stirring) that poaching became a reliable part of my repertoire.

A lesson in delicate poaching: Crack an egg into a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl so the runniest parts of the white are drained off. Transfer the remaining egg into a small bowl. Tip it gently into your pot of boiling water and then immediately turn the heat down to the lowest possible setting. Let the egg cook for 3 minutes, stirring the water around the egg gently to keep it moving and maintain the rounded shape. Once the white is set, use a slotted spoon to transfer the egg to a towel-lined plate, and you’re done!

I poach two eggs at a time this way (each moved from its own little bowl to the pot before reducing the heat), bringing the water back to a boil between batches if I’m making more than that. Many recipes suggest doing four eggs at once, but I have trouble minding that many at one time—the more I have to worry about, the less neat they end up. You’ll need four total for two servings of Benedict.

Finally, prep your Spam and English muffins. I like to cut the Spam into planks longways to make one big slice for each muffin half; to do this, sit the Spam up like it’s still in the can on your cutting board and cut into tall pieces that are ¼"–½" thick. Fry the slices in a teaspoon or two of olive oil over medium-high heat for 3–4 minutes per side, or until lightly browned and crispy. Slice and toast your muffins (or throw those bad boys under the broiler for a few minutes per side if you’re toaster-less like me) and then spread a bit of butter on the cut sides, letting it melt and pool in the nooks and crannies.

All that’s left is assembly: muffin, Spam, poached egg, then a big spoonful of the green sauce, plus a sprinkling of sliced chives if you have them, or a few shakes of hot sauce if that’s your bag. It’s the perfect meal if you’re a restaurant brunch-avoider who still likes a fancy egg dish every once in a while—or if you just couldn’t get a reservation this week.