Meals · Sandwiches, burgers & wraps
Croque-monsieur (French baked ham and cheese sandwich)
The Paris café sandwich at home: wholemeal bread with ham, Gruyère and a smear of Dijon, spread with nutmeg béchamel and baked until the cheese on top is blistered and golden. Eat it with a knife and fork and a green salad.
- Time
- 32 min (12 prep + 20 cook)
- Servings
- 4
- Per serving
- 422 kcal
- Protein
- 28 g
Ingredients
Béchamel
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup 1% milk
- a good pinch nutmeg
- a pinch salt
- 8 slices whole wheat bread, wholemeal sandwich bread (pain de mie), about 30 g each
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 7 oz ham, good cooked ham, in thin slices (jambon blanc)
- 1 cup gruyere, grated, or comté or Emmental
- a little black pepper
To serve
- 7 oz green leaf lettuce, green salad leaves
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
Steps
- Heat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute without colouring. Whisk in the cold milk a little at a time and bring to a simmer, whisking, for 2–3 minutes until thick. Stir in the nutmeg and salt and take off the heat.
- Lay 4 slices of bread on the baking sheet. Spread each thinly with Dijon, then a spoonful of béchamel. Add the ham and half the Gruyère. Spread the other 4 slices thinly with béchamel and press them on, sauce side down.
- Spread the rest of the béchamel over the tops, right to the edges so the crusts do not burn, scatter with the remaining Gruyère and add a little pepper.
- Bake for 12–15 minutes, until the tops are blistered and golden and the filling is hot. Rest for 2 minutes. Toss the salad leaves with the oil and vinegar and serve alongside straight away.
Good to know
How do I turn it into a croque-madame?
Slide a fried or poached egg onto each one as it comes out of the oven.
Can I use white bread?
Yes, white pain de mie makes a softer sandwich, at about 29 instead of 34.
Per
- Calories
- 172
- Protein
- (27%)
- 11 g
- Fat
- (41%)
- 8 g
- Carbohydrates
- (32%)
- 15 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 499 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1688 kcal goes into the pot and 1059 g of ingredients comes out as about 984 g of food: 172 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.