Heart Healthy Eggs Benedict with Butternut Hollandaise

Classic Eggs Benedict with a healthy twist! This eggs benedict recipe delivers the classic flavor. You’ve got the ham (or even better, Canadian bacon). AND the perfectly poached egg. Yes, there’s even an English muffin hiding under there. Although I did use a whole wheat sourdough English muffin. There’s even a silky smooth hollandaise sauce to drizzle over top.

But it’s a healthy twist on the typical butter-laden sauce. THIS hollandaise uses butternut squash for a silky smooth texture, with a bit of olive oil or melted grass-fed butter, lemon juice, dijon mustard and a pinch of chipotle. I found the idea over at Kellie’s Food to Glow and was immediately intrigued. I love the simplicity of this blender sauce.

Yet when I tasted it, I was seriously surprised how much I love the sauce! With a hint of sweet, a little bite from the mustard and that enticing silky texture, I found this butternut hollandaise sauce is just divine over a poached egg with ham and the quintessential English muffin. And since THIS hollandaise sauce boasts lots of health benefits, you don’t have to worry about how much you use. Feel free to indulge and splurge. (I may be planning my next use for this incredible sauce already.)

Also a bit of kale snuck into my eggs benedict. Because you’ve got to have a few greens in the equation, right? Kale brings the perfect counterpoint to butternut squash and ham. However, if you don’t like kale, feel free to substitute your favorite greens (or, if you must, leave them out). I promise I won’t be offended.

Celebrate your Heart

Did you know February is American Heart Health month? I try my best to eat heart healthy every day, but I couldn’t let the month slip away without celebrating! While Eggs Benedict is considered the classic heart-attack-on-a-bun hangover cure, I wanted to show you that it doesn’t have to be. With a few modifications, you can enjoy Eggs Benedict even if you’re on a low-cholesterol, heart-healthy diet.

I’ve always thought Eggs Benedict looked beautiful, but I shied away from it because of the Hollandaise sauce on top. I knew that wouldn’t be good for me. Your typical hollandaise sauce has multiple egg yolks AND 1/2 cup of butter in it. Yikes! When I found this healthy alternative that uses up some of the many many butternut squash I have on hand, I just HAD to try it.

Tips to Keep this Eggs Benedict Recipe Heart Healthy

• If you’re watching your sodium, use lean low-sodium smoked ham that is nitrate free.
• Another option for the meat is to use Canadian bacon because it’s nice and lean. Smoked salmon offers even more heart health benefits!
• Skip the fat-laden traditional hollandaise and make this heart healthy butternut hollandaise sauce.
• Use free range chicken eggs from chickens who have a healthy diet. You’ll know they’re good if the yolk has a nice dark gold, almost orange color.
• Use whole grain English muffins for the base. Or swap out the bread for a round of roasted butternut squash, a wedge of roasted cabbage, sweet potato “toast” or a roasted cauliflower steak.
• Include some greens! Most of us don’t get enough green, leafy vegetables in our diet.
• Add a slice of fresh garden tomato and/or serve with fresh fruit.

How to Perfectly Poach an Egg in the Microwave

Cooking the perfect poached egg is key to this recipe and a challenge that many home cooks struggle to achieve. But with a little practice, you can achieve perfection in about a minute in your microwave.

1. First, pour 1/3 cup of water into a small bowl or cup. Add 1/4 teaspoon vinegar.
2. Next, carefully crack your egg into the water, taking care not to break the yolk. Or crack the egg into a separate bowl, then slide into the water gently.
3. Then immediately set in the microwave and cook on high for about 1 minute. You may want to stop shortly before the minute is up to check your egg. Then microwave a little more, checking every 10 seconds.
4. As soon as you see the whites are cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove the egg from the water. You want an egg with partially cooked, but still runny yolk.

Since microwaves vary, you might need to give it a few tries before you determine just the right cooking time for your microwave. But once you’ve figured out the right timing, you can achieve poached egg perfection anytime you want!

For me, I found that about 55 seconds achieved the best results. Yes, I did have to try it a couple times. I ended up eating two eggs for breakfast that day. But I’m super glad that I know now what works.

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