This low carb eggs benedict skips the English muffin entirely and loses nothing, a poached egg on a sausage patty under a mock hollandaise that will not break, at about 2 grams of net carbs. The muffin was always just the plate, so below is how to drop it and still get the dish right.
I love Eggs Benedict and honestly I don't miss the english muffin. To me it is all about the poached egg and the hollandaise sauce. I prefer to use a sausage patty instead of ham because I feel the need to have something to sop up all that yummy sauce. I use the Jimmy Dean turkey breakfast sausage patties because they are low in fat, carbs and (my favorite part) they are fully cooked. I feel that there are way too many steps already in Eggs Benedict so using pre-cooked sausage saves me a ton of time.
As for poaching eggs everyone has their favorite technique and for me is to just pour the eggs straight into a deep sauté pan of rolling boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Yep. That's it! I hate to tell you Julia Child, but you don't need vinegar in your water to make the perfect poached egg. You just need water at the perfect boiling temp. The other great thing about skipping the vinegar is your eggs don't get that sour vinegar taste.
Lastly I chose to use a mock hollandaise for this recipe due to the fact that we are already eating 2 eggs. I know living a low carb lifestyle means you don't have to be as concerned about the amount of eggs that you are consuming, but this is already such a heavy dish I feel that if I can lighten it up in even the slightest way it would be worth while. I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Drop the muffin, keep the sauce
A classic eggs benedict runs close to 30 grams of carbs, and almost every one of them is in the English muffin. The poached egg and the hollandaise, the parts that make the dish, carry barely any. So the low-carb move is the simplest one: set the egg on something savory instead of bread. A sausage patty does that and soaks up the sauce, no cauliflower crepe or fathead muffin to build. Hollandaise itself is one of the five French mother sauces, a lemony emulsion of egg yolk and butter, which is exactly why it has a reputation for breaking on you.
Poaching and the mock hollandaise
Two things trip people up here, and both have easy answers. Poached eggs feather apart when the eggs are old or the water is barely simmering, so use the freshest eggs you have and a true rolling boil, sliding each one in gently from a cup. And rather than fight a classic hollandaise that can split, the mock version leans on mayonnaise, which is already a stable emulsion, so it warms up silky and stays that way. One safety note on the runny yolk: it suits most healthy adults, but if you are pregnant, older, or immune-compromised, use pasteurized eggs or cook the yolk firm, which the USDA sets at 160 degrees F. Pair it with soft scrambled eggs for a crowd, a breakfast casserole, or a side of crispy baked bacon. It is the brunch centerpiece of my low carb breakfast guide.
Sources
USDA FoodData Central, nutrient references for eggs, butter, cream, and turkey sausage; safe egg cooking guidance.
Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire, on hollandaise as a French mother sauce.
Sugarfreechic test kitchen, low-carb breakfast notes.
