Croque Monsieur is a delicious French ham and cheese sandwich made with gruyere, parmesan, ham and a simple béchamel sauce, toasted in the oven.
Serve with a green salad and a small cup of French Onion Soup and you have the perfect Parisian meal!
This Croque Monsieur recipe (and my other favorite French recipes) are inspired by the two trips to France I’ve taken over the years. You can find a Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame sandwich on almost every restaurant menu in Paris.
The sandwich pictured above was from a patio lunch I enjoyed on the streets at Montmartre, Paris.
How to make Croque Monsieur:
1. Spread béchamel on bread. Lay all of your bread slices on the counter and spread a thin layer of béchamel sauce on each slice. (Béchamel is a simple white sauce made with butter, flour and milk.)
2. Add ham and cheese. Add one layer of ham and a sprinkle of cheese to half of the bread slices.
3. Top with bread. Top the ham and cheese with another slice of bread, making sure to leave the béchamel facing up.
4. Finishing touches. Sprinkle the top layer of bread with more parmesan and gruyere.
5. Bake. until bread is toasted and cheese is melted and bubbly.
For the Béchamel Sauce:
- Melt butter in a saucepan.
- Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes.
- Gradually add milk, stirring well until the mixture is smooth. Cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened.
- Season with a little bit of salt and pepper.
- Remove from heat and whisk in mustard and nutmeg.
A few tips for success:
1. Quality ingredients matter. Particularly fresh cheeses and good quality ham! Most of the places where we had Croque Monsieur in Paris used Emmental cheese, but I found that hard to find. I do know that Gruyere is commonly used as well, so either will work.
2. Make the béchamel ahead of time. The béchamel can be made one day in advance to cut down on prep. Make it as instructed, allow it to cool. Place plastic wrap directly onto surface and chill.
What is the difference between a Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame?
Both are very similar ham and cheese sandwiches but a croque madame is topped with a fried egg. The French word “croque” is based on the verb “croquer”, which means to bite or to crunch. The names croque monsieur and croque madame translate to “mister” and “mistress” crunch.
To make this into a Croque Madame sandwich, make the recipe as instructed, then fry eggs (one for each sandwich, sunny-side up) in a separate skillet while the sandwiches toast in the oven. Place an egg on top each sandwiches.
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Recipe
Croque Monsieur
Ingredients
Béchamel sauce:
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (½ stick)
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups whole milk
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
- dash of ground nutmeg
Sandwich:
- 8 thin slices white sandwich breads
- 5 ounces good quality ham about 8 slices
- 6 ounces Gruyere cheese ,or Emmental cheese, grated (about 2½ cups)
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
Béchamel sauce:
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes. Gradually add milk, stirring well until the mixture is smooth. Cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened.
- Season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Remove from heat and whisk in mustard and nutmeg. Set aside while you make the sandwiches, or make the sauce up to 1 week in advance.
Assemble sandwiches:
- Preheat oven to 425° F. Line a baking tray with parchement paper and set aside.
- Spread each bread slice with a layer of béchamel, spreading it all the way to the edges. Place 4 slices of bread, béchamel side up, on prepared baking sheet.
- Top each with a piece of ham, a handful of gruyere, and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Place remaining slices of bread on top, béchamel side up, then top with remaining gruyere and parmesan cheese.
- Bake at 425 degrees F for about 5-6 minutes, until cheese is melted, and then turn the oven to broil and broil until the cheese on top is lightly golden, 2-4 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe October 2016. Updated August 2020.
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Mistress does not only mean a woman who is having a extramarital, sexual relationship. Mistress also is defined as a woman in a position of authority or control. So the use of mistress is not necessarily incorrect.
this is very very good but it needs way more ham, and I mean WAYYYY more ham.
Great recipe for Croque Monsieurs! We loved them. Thanks!
Absolutely delicious! And so easy. Definitely a keeper!
I made them on fresh pretzel buns turned out really well I was asked to make them again
Brought Paris lunches back to my taste buds!! The béchamel sauce is perfect, thank you 🙂
Emmenthal cheese is known in the US as “Swiss Cheese,” so that’s why you couldn’t find it by the same name, and Vincent is right, Madame is Mrs., not Mistress.
What do you think MRS. stands for? 🤦♀️
Emmental and Swiss are not the same, though they’re close
Absolutely delicious! I used just regular Swiss cheese instead since I had on hand. Everyone loved it.
I have these almost every morning when I’m in France. Great recipe. One Correction; Madame is the proper way to address a married or mature woman. In English “Mrs.”
It does not commonly translate as “Mistress”.
Absolutely fantastic! Googled a recipe for a Croque after eating one at a restaurant and could not have chosen a better one. We added the egg. It was perfectly delicious! Maybe better than the restaurant.
We make this sandwich often and it is such a hit in our family. My son calls it the fancy grilled cheese.
Melty, crunchy, savory deliciousness.
Watching the movie “It’s Complicated” & had to find out what the sandwich is. Will definitely be making it.
Oh. My. GOSH. This is phenomenal – thank you. So, funny story – I am inspired to cook things based of something I have read or watched. In this case, it was “It’s Complicated.” I don’t really like ham, I don’t like ham and cheese. But I wanted to try it because it was in the movie – LOL.
1.) I used an uncured ham from the Wegman’s deli counter. It was very simple, slightly sweet.
2.) Also used a mild Gruyère and fresh Parmesan from their cheese counter.
3.) For the bread, I used bread from a local French bakery, “La Farm Bakery” – their signature bread loaf. Had considered their brioche, might try that next time. This bread is a gigantic loaf with a sourdough base, different types of grains – with a very light and crisp crust. It was perfect.
This was very, very easy to make and so delicious! We served it with a starter of French onion soup from this page, and had a side salad of sweet greens with a French vinaigrette. Delicious!
I’m literally watching “It’s Complicated” right now and googled croque monsieur recipe to see what it’s all about 😂
CJ B, same! 😂
The movie it’s complicated brought me to this recipe as well🤣
Yes! 😂
Absolutely delicious!!
Do you eat it with a knife and fork? I think I would if it’s messy.
Yeah, we always eat it with a knife and fork.
Turns it immediately into a wonderful lunch!!! Yummy!!! 🤤
I had no good cheese but still really wanted to try this, so I made it with cheddar. It was so good, and I can’t wait to try it with the proper cheese next time!
Really good. My son loves it. In fact, he loves when we have ham because he knows that Croque Monsieur are in his future.
These are perfect – *just* like the ones in Paris! It’s a rainy Sunday and I was craving this so badly. I didn’t realize the recipe would be so easy. I sort of guesstimated the measurements for the bechamel sauce (making only enough for 2) – and I also added garlic paste to the butter, letting it cook before adding the garlic.
This recipe is truly a keeper. Thank you!!
it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good it was the bets tasting ever
Good chose of recipes
Easy bechamel and very cheesy!
Love the recipe, thanks! I was thinking about it and I think Croque does not really mean crunch. It means more bite or munch in English, and since it is a perfect café or bistro food, I’d rather translate it as the Gentleman’s quick bite/munch. Cheers!
My dad and I made this right before I left for college— Amazing and easy recipe!! Very Very delicious 🙂
Just be sure you have dijon mustard!! It pulls the whole dish together and we forgot it 🙁
It is just perfect.
Easy and a crowd pleaser! Love this one.
Caramelized onions and put the on the first layer of sauce. Tasty!
This is such the perfect sandwich! Love that you can make this with leftover ham.
Amazingly tasty! Followed the recipe (except for nutmeg, which I didn’t have at home) and the result came out delicious. Wish I had prepared more 🙂
I missed the croque madame I used to have at my favorite restaurant, so I made this at home and served it with freshly made eggy potato salad. It was delicious 😋
Excellent recipe! Super easy to make, I love a recipe that seems impressive but is actually super easy.
Be careful using parchment paper with the broiler though. I’m not sure if it was the type of parchment paper I had or if the rack was too close to the broiler but the paper got completely burnt and started smoking intensely.
Thankfully my sandwich was fine!!
This tastes great! I’d recommend lightly roasting the bread before spreading the bachamel or it ends up a little soggy.
Def toasted my sourdough before spreading and baking.
Perfect, now my croque monsieur tastes right. My fiance loves the Madame I made him.
This was VERY GOOD! I woke up last night wanting some. I made mine with smoked Turkey deli sliced. OMG
Just made this as a special holiday brunch item. I followed the recipe exactly, and it exceeded my expectations. Decadent, fun texture contrasts, and delicious! The touch of dijon mustard in the béchamel sauce is a must! I confess that I used the béchamel while it was still slightly warm, but my bread was a touch on the stale side so all worked out well. Looking forward to making this again for dinner tomorrow night using the leftover béchamel. Thank you for an easy recipe, that is still fun and made the day seem special. I’ll try your recipe for chicken cordon blue next.
I set off my fire alarms making this- but it was worth it!
This is Amazing! I followed the recipe but used sourdough bread from Publix bakery!
This was a major hit with my family. Yummy
This was easy and spectacular! For our vegetarian daughter, I added asparagus tips to make it more interesting since she didn’t get ham. She loved it!
Wonderful recipe for a classic Croque Monsieur. I made these on home-baked bread with gruyer, parm and Black Forest ham! So-o-o-o-o Good! https://www.instagram.com/p/CO79oNIJjTY/?igshid=1cacz4cjsifnb
I love it! I used brioche bread, and managed to find emmental cheese too! This is so delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
Made this for the first time and loved it! Great recipe! I doubled the sauce because we’re ooey gooey sauce people! Delicious!
Followed the recipe. Used brioche bread, but need the top and bottom more crispy. Do I need to brown bottom half in a cast-iron skillet, with a little butter, prior to baking and keep top under broiler longer? What say you?
A croque Monsieur isn’t supposed to be crispy. At least none of the ones that I had in Paris were. Because of the bechamel sauce and cheese the bread doesn’t toast up like it would otherwise.
Just tried this recipe today and it turned out amazing, will be a go to for me in the future. Next time I would like to make my own Dijon mustard though.
Valerie
It was absolutely delicious I had done this so often after months in France and it was great to be reminded and stirred into action once again
So easy and delicious!!
Delicious!
Used leftover baked ham which was such a tasty way to use leftovers. Very similar to what I frequently ordered in France.
Used this recipe for my first time making a Croque Monsieur, substituted bacon for ham (pre cooked of course) and it turned out amazingly! My girlfriend loved it and we’ll definitely be making this again!
Made it exactly as described and my roomateS and I loved it! This is very similar to my French Canadian mom’s recipe which is what I was craving and looking for. Added the fried egg in top too!
This was so easy to make and delicious! I served it on homemade bread, with a salad with homemade Italian dressing. Thanks for sharing this recipe- can’t wait to try it in France!
I made this recipe but i change the ham with tuna. It turns out very well. So delicious and it so easy to make it. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
We loved it. Thank you.
Had enough ingredients to make three sandwiches between my husband and I. We LOVED every bite and even though we were stuffed we we sad to be done! Wish I could show everyone just how beautiful it came out!
Is there a proper name for this sandwich if I replaced the ham with turkey?
Croque monsieur à la dinde. Most of the time if you jazz up a croque monsieur, you’d just add the au or à la before the ingredient in French that you’ve jazzed it up with :). Some exceptions are the croque madame (with a fried egg on top) or the Monte Cristo (fried in an egg batter)…
Delicious, will definitely make this again.
This recipe is AWESOME we loved it
Thank you
Thank you Lorraine! I hope you get to try more of my recipes soon!
This is an excellent recipe. It was better than other croque monsieur recipes I have tried. Instructions were easy to follow and times in the oven were spot on.
I’ve made this for my family many times. It’s a wonderful recipe! Thank you for sharing.
Great to hear, thanks Meagan!
I had a croque monsieur in Paris and kinda remember it being open faced- not two pieces of bread. Is there a version like that?
Just made your croque monsieur and it was outstanding. When I was in Paris years ago, I bought a croque monsieur almost everyday from the local bakery and this brings back frond memories. Thanks so much for posting it.
Made it twice—once to try it, the next to impress company! Both times were great.
Really good! I added a little more mustard to my sauce to give it a little more kick and used the cheese I had on hand (quesadilla cheese and shredded jack) but it still turned out amazing!
Made it for supper this evening. The recipe was easy to follow and the results were delicious. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for the wonderful recipe really loved the bechamel sauce.
I useD the Kraft brand Cheesy Melt …..mozzarella and cream cheese…..delicious…..
Tried it today for a quick lunch for my daughter and son in law and they loved it. I just used whatever cheese I had . Asiago and parmesan and it was amazing they said. I am a vegetarian! Also added some sliced red onions!!
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Back in the mid 70s I visited France for the first time and enjoyed many Croque Monsieur sandwiches. Not one of them was made with béchamel. The bread was buttered on the outside. The inside of the bottom bread had mustard and a slice of ham. On top was a slice of gruyère. The whole thing was put in the oven and then broiled. Delicious and not so caloric.
Thanks for sharing your experience–I’m not surprised someone else could have made it differently, and you could make it your own way if that’s what you’d like 🙂 In my trips there this is how it’s been served for me 🙂
This is amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe . We love it. Just bought sour dough bread to try out tonight and I can’t wait. This will be the 3rd time I’ve made this for dinner. One of my favorite sandwiches of all time.
I am so thrilled you’ve made this croque monsieur so many times! Thank you so much for your kind comment. I hope you get to try more of my recipes soon <3
Prepare tu receta y estuvo perfecta y el sabor delicioso, muchas gracias desde Queretaro, México
Deeeelishus!! Thanks for the recipe, they were inhaled!!
Used Jarlsberg Swiss and it came out great. Delicious and easy. YUM.
VERY GOOD!!!!!
Delicious and easy! Great way to use up holiday ham!
So happy you liked it! Thanks for commenting!
I made this for fun with my mother in law and they were amazing. The cheese was a little expensive but worth every penny!
Mon Dieu ! This is really something ! Very tempting ! Thank you !
Looks yummy!