Is This Breakfast Sandwich Maker the Key to Better Mornings?
On this week’s episode of Like It or Leave It, we put a popular breakfast sandwich maker to the test.
Can a single kitchen tool mean the difference between a healthy breakfast—even a healthy egg breakfast—and an unsatisfying one, or even no breakfast at all? You bet. Breakfast may be the most neglected meal of the day: Waking and mustering the energy to whip up a filling, nutritious meal can sometimes feel like too much, especially on workdays. Fortunately, smart solutions are out there to make the whole experience much easier. Unfortunately, not all these breakfast-savers and egg-related tools are as great as they’re cracked up to be.
On this week’s episode of Like It or Leave It, two Real Simple editors put an internet-favorite breakfast sandwich maker to the test. Is it worth buying? Does this breakfast sandwich maker really make life easier? Can a single gadget really reframe an entire morning?
In a word, yes. The breakfast sandwich maker we tested—the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker with Timer (To buy: $25; target.com)—met all our expectations, and then some. And at just $25, it’s an affordable add-on to any kitchen.
target.com
The sandwich maker was super easy to use; it is important to read the instructions (otherwise you may forget to grease the trays, which would be a true calamity), but after a quick read, use is simple and straight-forward. Simply grease the trays and let it preheat; once the breakfast sandwich maker has reached its optimal temperature, pile your sandwich ingredients inside. The basic ingredients are an English muffin, cheese, an egg, and some sort of pre-cooked meat (like cured ham or pre-cooked bacon), but you can get creative with bagels, sausage patties, avocado, and more.
This breakfast sandwich maker has a built-in timer, so you can set your timer—the most common cooking time is five minutes or less—and move away to work on another task, whether that’s whipping up some breakfast smoothies or cleaning up from dinner the night before. When the sandwich is finished, the timer will beep, and you can enjoy your first-class breakfast sandwich. (Maybe just let it cool for a minute first.)
In our test, we tried the breakfast sandwich maker out against making a breakfast sandwich the old-school way: toasting an English muffin and frying an egg, then building the sandwich. The sandwich maker cut down on the number of dishes dirtied, reduced cook time, and made a better breakfast sandwich, with meltier cheese, a perfectly cooked egg, and a delectably warm center. Plus, it allowed for multitasking, so users can make coffee, wash dishes, or go search for their shoes while they let the sandwich cook, instead of standing by the stove top.
The one caveat? This gadget is best for breakfast sandwich aficionados. If you prefer a yogurt breakfast or a nice bowl of cereal, this tool may not get much use—and may not be worth the storage real estate if it’s used infrequently. (As with all cool gadgets, you need to balance the space it takes up with how often it’ll be used.) If you dream of eating a breakfast sandwich every morning, though, this affordable breakfast game-changer is well-worth the investment.
