Croque-monsieur
Croque-monsieur
Ham, cheese, béchamel, grilled — the French café sandwich. Add an egg and it is a madame.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: Croque-monsieur.
0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
A croque-monsieur is good bread, ham, Gruyère or Emmental, and usually a smear of béchamel, grilled or baked until the cheese slumps. It is a café lunch, not a toastie with a French sticker. A fried egg on top makes a croque-madame. Dijon in the béchamel is a house extra. Use close-crumbed white bread or pain de mie, good cooked ham, and a cheese that melts cleanly — Gruyère or Emmental. A thin béchamel on the inside, or as a lid, is the café move; Dijon in the sauce is a house extra. Grill or bake until the top slumps and the edges catch. A fried egg on top is a croque-madame. It should be hot through, not a cold ham sandwich with a French sticker.
Ingredients
- Bread4 slice
- Pork, good ham100 g
- Melting cheese, Gruyère, grated120 g
- Butter30 g
- Wheat flour15 g
- Milk200 ml
- Nutmeg1 pinch
- Salt1.2 ml
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Béchamel: butter, flour, milk, nutmeg, salt, a handful of cheese.
8 minStep 2
Spread béchamel on bread, ham, cheese, close, more béchamel and cheese on top. Bake at 200°C 10–12 minutes until blistered.
12 min200°CStep 3
Rest 2 minutes. Salad if you must. Egg if it is a madame.
Adapt this recipe
The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 10 October.
Substitutions
Ham → Mushrooms
A croque-végétarien. Still béchamel.
Tips
- Pain de mie or a sturdy sandwich loaf. Baguette is a different crunch.
- Dijon in the white sauce is allowed.
History & culture
Paris café and brasserie food that the whole country cooks. Eat it with a salad if you want to pretend. Paris cafés and provincial brasseries both put this on the lunch card. A green salad on the side is how you pretend it is light. Home versions skip the béchamel and still work if the cheese and ham are decent. It is weekday food in a city that also does far more complicated cooking. Eat it with a knife and fork if the lid is molten.
Early 20th-century Paris. The name is a joke about a crunchy monsieur. The béchamel lid is later café standard. The named sandwich is early twentieth-century Paris, with a joke title about a crunchy gentleman. Béchamel as a standard lid is later café habit. It sits in a line of hot ham-and-cheese toasts rather than in haute cuisine. You do not need a origin-myth café name to justify buttering both sides of the bread.
Traditional
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips — not a chatbot.
How long does Croque-monsieur take?
30 min all in — 15 min prep, 15 min cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 2 sandwiches. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Easy.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Wheat, Milk. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Nut-free.
What does it cost to cook?
Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Saucepan, Oven.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at ¼ tsp.
What can I use instead?
Ham → Mushrooms. A croque-végétarien. Still béchamel.
Any tips from this recipe?
Pain de mie or a sturdy sandwich loaf. Baguette is a different crunch. Dijon in the white sauce is allowed.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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