Pair two of your breakfast and lunch favorites with this easy recipe for French toast grilled cheese sandwiches!

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Why we love this recipe
If there’s one thing I love, it’s having breakfast eats for dinner and lunch (which is one of the reasons I am the World’s Biggest Brunch Lover), and that’s what this cheesy sandwich is all about.
(Although you can definitely have this for breakfast too.)
This recipe takes the wonderfulness that is French Toast and adds it to the wonderfulness that is a grilled ham and cheese. And while I was figuring out this recipe a while back, not only was I excited but the Southern husband was ALL IN.
He gets to pick one of my already published recipes for each week’s menu, and I am 1000% sure that the minute he sees this post he will remember how much he loves them and they will get his dinner vote!
So if you love grilled cheese sandwiches and you love French Toast (and you want it all in about 20 minutes flat) this recipe has your name on it.
Ingredients you need
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Bread: We recommend the softest bread you can find (regular sandwich bread is a-ok) so that it soaks up all the egg mixture.
- Ham: We usually use thin sliced ham for this recipe, but if you have thicker ham slices those will also work just fine.
- Cheese: Not a Swiss cheese fan? American, Cheddar and Muenster are also delicious in this sandwich.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.
How to make this recipe
STEP 1: Whisk some milk and eggs together in a small mixing bowl.
STEP 2: Pour the egg mixture into a casserole dish – if you have a 9 x 13 dish that is perfect.
STEP 3: Spread some bread slices with mustard. Place those slices in a single layer mustard side up they can all soak up the egg mixture.
STEP 4: Layer half of the bread slices with cheese, then ham, then more cheese.
STEP 5: Take the remaining slices and lay them wet side UP on top of the sandwich bottoms (in other words, both outside bread slices are the ones that are wet with the milk mixture).
STEP 6: Melt some butter in a large skillet or a griddle over medium heat. Carefully place the sandwiches in the skillet or on the griddle and cook until the bottom of the sandwich is golden brown about 3 minutes.
STEP 7: Carefully turn the sandwiches over, cover and cook for another 3 minutes or until the other side is golden brown.
STEP 8: It’s going to be tempting to dig into these RIGHT AWAY, but it’s best if you let them cool for a minute or two before you take that first bite!
Recipe FAQs
You can, but the softer the better so it can soak up the egg and milk mixture.
What, you mean like my own Southern daughter? You can leave the mustard out and it will still be delicious!
Yep! Just make sure it is a nice melty kind – American, cheddar and muenster will all work. Basically if it will work in a regular grilled cheese sandwich, it will work fine here too.
Pop your question in the Comments section below and I will answer pronto!
Now, this dawned on me after I finished taking this sandwich’s picture, but we discovered that if you want to take it to even MORE glorious heights, you can sprinkle on a little powder sugar after it comes out of the pan.
And/or a drizzle of maple syrup.
I think my breakfast sandwich work is done here. FOR NOW. :)
Want to round out your meal?
We love a light and lovely Mimosa Fruit Salad with this sandwich, and in strawberry season a cool glass of Strawberry Lemonade is the best!
Other brunch sandwiches we love!
Looking for more sandwich inspiration? Here is our complete collection of sandwich recipes!
Could you leave us a review?
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section.
French Toast Grilled Cheese
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5 from 1 review
Pair two of your breakfast and lunch favorites with this easy recipe for French toast grilled ham and cheese sandwiches!
- Author: Kate Morgan Jackson
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 6
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Brunch
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 large eggs, beaten to blend
- 8 slices of bread
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- ¼ pound sliced Swiss cheese
- ½ pound thin sliced ham
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Whisk the milk and eggs together in a small mixing bowl and pour into a rectangular casserole. Spread one side of each piece of the bread with mustard. Place all the slices in a single layer mustard side up so they can soak up the milk mixture.
- Layer half of the slices with cheese, then ham, then more cheese. Take the remaining slices and lay them wet side UP on top of the sandwich bottoms (in other words, both outside bread slices are the ones that are wet with the milk mixture).
- Put the butter in a large skillet or a griddle over medium heat. Carefully place the sandwiches in the skillet or on the griddle and cook until the bottom of the sandwich is golden brown about 3 minutes.
- Carefully turn the sandwiches over and cook for another 3 minutes or until the other side is golden brown.
- It’s going to be tempting to dig into these RIGHT AWAY, but it’s best if you let them cool for a minute or two before you take that first bite!
Notes
-
- Bread: We recommend the softest bread you can find (regular sandwich bread is a-ok) so that it soaks up all the egg mixture.
-
- Ham: We usually use thin sliced ham for this recipe, but if you have thicker ham slices those will also work just fine.
-
- Cheese: Not a Swiss cheese fan? American, Cheddar and Muenster are also delicious in this sandwich.
Heather says
These are FABULOUS! The perfect sweet and salty breakfast combo.
Isn’t sweet and salty the best combo ever? :)
Cathy says
I think these would also be SO good with some additional mustard to dig the corners in or for a more Monte Christo-esques vibe some raspberry jam – slightly warmed.
Well, I just love BOTH of those ideas – thanks Cathy! :)
Cathy says
You’re so welcome – I use lots of your recipes and so enjoy hearing about your Southern daughter & husband and your shared generation home. How fun for all of you!
We’re not from Jersey but loved the t-shirt, too!
Cathy! Thank you so much – sweet comments like this make my day! And isn’t that T shirt great? We may be North Carolinians now, but NJ will always be in our hearts. :)