Pampered Chef Breakfast Sandwich Maker review

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REVIEW – You’ve probably heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Given that, with our busy lifestyles we need a tool that can help us make quick, healthy choices for that most important meal.  The Pampered Chef Breakfast Sandwich Maker aims to do that by giving you a better, faster and more convenient choice than your local drive-through.  But can it live up to the expectation of a tasty breakfast sandwich?  That’s what we are going to find out today…

What’s in the box?

The Pampered Chef Breakfast Sandwich Maker consists of four parts: there is a ceramic deep bowl that is the base of the sandwich maker.  This is where you put the egg that is the centerpiece of your sandwich.  Next is a deep silicon tray where you can put any other sort of filling you want heated – Canadian bacon, a veggie patty or any other sort of pre-cooked item.  It is important to note that you cannot use frozen meats in the sandwich maker – all fillings need to be pre-cooked and at worst, refrigerated but not frozen.  After the filling insert is a shallow silicon tray for your bread.  An English muffin, a thin sandwich round or even a tortilla will work.  Finally there is a ceramic top.

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How does it work?

OK, so let’s get started.  I love an over-medium egg sandwich, so that’s what I will begin with.  After greasing the bottom of the ceramic bowl with butter as instructed, my lovely assistant is ready to crack a large egg into the bowl.

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According to the instructions, if you are making an over-medium egg you should use only 1 egg.  If you are scrambling the egg, you can use 1-2 eggs.  One egg it is.  I also like Canadian bacon, so we add the deep silicon tray with a single slice.

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We are ready for stage 1 cooking.  I place the ceramic lid on the bowl, place it in the microwave and begin.  The instructions state that cooking times are calculated for a 1200 watt microwave, and as my microwave is a measly 1100 watts, I adjust up from the suggested 30 seconds cooking time to 40 seconds.  And so the interminable wait begins.

Visibly 30 seconds older, I remove the bowl from the microwave and the top from the bowl.  Adding the shallow insert and a sliced English muffin, I return the lid to the top.  Another 30 second eternity in the microwave.

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Now comes the hard part: removing from the microwave, I have to let the bowl rest for a whole minute before removing the trays and assembling my sandwich.  Patience is a virtue, just not one of my virtues.

A minute later, I open the container to…disappointment.  The egg is not cooked.  At all.  It is still a liquid mess.  The Canadian bacon, on the other hand, is dried out on the edges, a classic sign of over-cooking.

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I replaced the lid on the pot and begin cooking the egg in 10 second bursts as instructed.  After an additional 30 seconds, the egg yolk is a hard mess but the white part is still mostly liquid.

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OK, so over medium is not going to work.  Did I mention that I love scrambled eggs?  After a thorough cleaning and then re-greasing the bottom of the bowl, my lovely assistant breaks a single egg into the bowl and we scramble it.  Despite what my high school guidance counselor said, I learned from my mistake last time.  This go-around I put the egg in the microwave by itself and cook for 30 seconds per the instructions for a single-egg scramble.  After 30 seconds, I remove the bowl, add the tray with another slice of Canadian bacon, and cook for 10 seconds.  Yes, I know, I am going off script here, but I am trying to reach the happy center of the experience – a fully cooked egg, Canadian bacon that does not look like it spent 6 months in the Sahara, and an English muffin.

After the initial 40 seconds, I add the muffin and cook for a final 30 seconds.  Another minute wait, and another disappointment.  While the Canadian bacon is fully cooked and in pretty decent shape, the egg is still mostly uncooked.

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After two more tries making scrambled eggs, I am completely unable to get a nicely cooked egg.  Either it is horribly overdone or undercooked.

What I like

The Pampered Chef Breakfast Sandwich Maker is nicely made.  My wife loves the pieces and will re-purpose them for other uses.  Unfortunately, you just can’t use it to make breakfast sandwiches.

What needs to be improved

I’m not sure – it seems to me that there are 2 issues at work here.  First is that a “one approach fits all” way just doesn’t work.  There are too many variables, specifically in the microwave part of the equation.  The second is that in order to get past the first you have to have some sort of innate cooking skills, or the patience and time to go through many failed experiments to find the combination that works for your ingredients, your microwave and your time.  And with a limited selection of ingredients that are compatible with the sandwich maker (and the associated breakfast boredom that would set in with those choices), it seems like a lot of work for a very limited return.

All I know is that I have to go back to the old, less convenient way of making breakfast sandwiches.

Final thoughts

The Pampered Chef Breakfast Sandwich Maker seems to fail at its basic function: cooking an egg for a breakfast sandwich.  My microwave is as standard as they come, and no amount of tweaking the cooking time yielded a nicely cooked egg.  I suppose I could have used a pre-cooked scrambled egg patty, but then if I did why would I need the sandwich maker?

Another concern is the bread.  A good sandwich (in my humble opinion) has a toasted bread.  The sandwich maker gives you a steamed muffin.  Adding the muffin is a crucial part of the cook timing, so if you choose to toast and not use the sandwich maker for your bread, there is even more adjustment you need to do to ensure your ingredients are not overcooked.

Price: $29.95
Where to buy: The Pampered Chef web site
Source: The sample of this product was provided by The Pampered Chef.

20 thoughts on “Pampered Chef Breakfast Sandwich Maker review”




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  2. This company makes it difficult for sure! We do this all the time in DIY fashion. We just microwave a scrambled egg in a coffee saucer (dish) or ramekin. Must use Pam or similar food oil spray. Butter might work but the spray is easy. For Canadian, American or other nation’s bacon or sausage we just microwave it separately.

    1. David Ferreira

      My wife does a Sunday night dance party in the kitchen making breakfast sandwiches for the week. She prefers to fry her eggs over medium. It is very much a DIY effort, but she listens to reggaeton, and dances while putting everything together. So all in all, a more labor-intensive solution but a happier one.

  3. I actually have this product and did what you did the first time too! When I looked at the instructions again I realized that I wasn’t supposed tonhave the meat/silicone inserts in for the first 30 seconds. When I did my egg was an uncooked mess.

    When I went back and followed the instructions, it turned out great! I’d give it another go.

    1. David Ferreira

      I tried it that way. For me, the problem is I just can’t get the egg right in the microwave. Either it is overdone (hard yolk for over medium or a rubber patty for scrambled) or just not done enough.

      I don’t think this is a bad product per se, but it seems to have a very narrow space in which it works, and even then you have to like the results (like steamed English muffins).

      1. Did you offset your sandwich maker in the microwave? Don’t sit it in the center, offset so it goes all the way around the microwave to get the best cooking results.

  4. @Chris, That is the most hysterical Rube Goldberg machine ever, but looks like it works.

    @David, we all appreciate the work and torture you endured in the anticipation and disappointment departments. Glad your lovely assistant is keeping you from dying of starvation, though. 😉

    1. That’s what I thought when I took it out of the box, but it’s deceptively easy to use. The trick is that the egg cooks on it’s own plate, which swivels out of the way and drops it onto the bottom piece of bread when you remove the cooked sandwich.

  5. I use the breakfast sandwich maker nearly every day. I find that reading the directions can really help, especially the part about not putting it dead center in the microwave. I put in my egg and cook it for 35 seconds, along with a slice of Canadian bacon in the top section. I then add an English muffin and give it 30 seconds more. So in about one minute I have a delicious breakfast sandwich. I love egg McMuffins from McDonald’s and didn’t think I would like the steamed versus toasted muffin but I love them both but just for different reasons. And I do not need Oven mitts of any kind to remove it from the microwave.

    1. I agree with all of this!

      Breakfast is so hard for me to make at home while I’m trying to rush myself, my husband and two kids out the door. This pampered chef sandwich maker is awesome. I make 2 a morning and they are perfect and easy!

    2. Charysse Cashmen

      Yes , that way does work, I use it all the time , 2 scambled eggs ,45 seconds , add the Canadian Bacon slice for 15 seconds, I toast my muffin, because I prefer a crisp muffin . Dandy little cooker!

  6. I’ve used the breakfast sandwich maker for a couple of weeks. My son loves McD’s Egg McMuffin so he’s taken to this gadget and can make his own! My microwave is powered by gerbils running on a wheel (at only 900 watts) so I put my ham and single egg in for 50 seconds, open lid and set the muffin/top tray in and microwave for another 45 seconds. I’ve found it’s cooked every time. McD’s does steam their muffins so this has been a good fit for our family.

  7. Melissa Goodin

    I actually have this item and make a breakfast sandwich in it every other day and it’s amazing!! I do two scrambled eggs, frozen sausage (didn’t realize it wasn’t supposed to be frozen, but it works wonderfully so I am going to keep doing it) and an English muffin! I have had to up my time to 45-50 second Botha rounds of cooking because of the two eggs instead of one! It comes out so amazing and has saved me so much money because I used to grab breakfast every day on the way to work!

  8. I agree completely. As far as the “limited selection of ingredients that are compatible” part, I like cheese on my breakfast sandwich, but there’s no way to heat it so it’s just nicely melted instead of wilted and overdone.

  9. While looking up how to make a “sunny side up” or “fried egg” in my PC breakfast sandwich maker, I came across your review. I lost my instruction pamphlet and since they no longer make this product, needed to look for an online resource, though I do use mine regularly, I’ve only ever scrambled my eggs, and I dug a little deeper. I found a YouTube video that is from the Pampered Chef test kitchen…there are other products and recipes being shown but the sandwich maker is the second one in. You have to break the yolk, not scramble, but break the yolk…you aren’t going to get the “dipping” type of yolk that you’d get if you made the egg on the stove, you’re going to get the kind of egg you’d see at the fast food places.

  10. Hmmm I wonder about the microwave you’re using, because I just made one, came out textbook perfect. Maybe your microwave isn’t as strong as the one they based their time formula on…just a thought, loved your coverage. 😉

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