Scrumptious grilled cheese bagel breakfast sandwich with sliced apple, pear, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, arugula, and sunny-side up egg – a melt-in-your-mouth experience for any meal of the day.
There comes a time in every person’s life when he or she must throw caution to the wind, take a flying leap of faith off the trust cliff, and have confidence that his or her chute will deploy properly.
Or that your squirrel suit tear-free and ready to take flight…whichever’s your choice mode of gravity defiance.
M’dear, that time is now.
This grilled cheese bagel sandwich is about to blow your mind in the best way possible.
As you cross your arms, close your eyes, stiffen your body and intentionally fall backwards into my scrawny arms, remember that I have your best interest in mind.
With pure intentions, I give you the bagel sandwich that changed my life.
It may seem odd – combining sliced apple, pear, and cheddar cheese with caramelized onions, arugula, a sunny-side up egg, and fig jam sandwiched between a toasty everything bagel, but my darlings, it jives.
Side note: If you want to try your hand at homemade bagels, my Keto Everything Bagels made with almond flour are absolutely delicious AND easier to make than traditional bagels!
When you take a bite, it’s like you’re sinking your teeth into a sweet, buttery, crunchy fantasy that you can hardly wrap your mind gnomes around.
And can you just imagine using a cinnamon-raisin bagel? Ohhhhh momma, now that would just jettison us into an alternate dimension.
Let’s talk cheese. Do you love the apple-cheddar combo? I certainly do!
I find apples and pears were made for pairing with cheese, and a classic cheddar always whets my whistle.
I know what you’re thinking…caramelizing an onion for a sandwich seems like a lot of prep for just a sandwich.
But folks, this isn’t just any sandwich, and I promise you, caramelizing the onion is well worth it!
Plus, you can multi-task while the onion is caramelizing, and you can also caramelize it ahead of time. I guarantee, taking the time to caramelize an onion will never result in regrets.
Recipe Adaptations:
Looking for ways to change up this breakfast sandwich? Boy oh boy do you have options.
- Omit the sunnyside up egg to make it vegan.
- If you’re a meat eater, throw on some crispy bacon or a hunk of ham.
- Use only apples or only pears if desired.
- Caramelize the fruit in a skillet in coconut oil to heat it up, soften it, and give it a sweeter, buttery flavor.
- Substitute spinach in for the arugula.
- Use a cinnamon-raisin bagel or any multi-grain or gluten-free bread of choice.
- Omit the fig preserves or use any jam/jelly of choice. Hot pepper jelly would be marvelous.
Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner?
I’m calling this bagel sandwich an anytime of day meal.
Just be sure to go heavy on the cheese to help glue the grilled cheese together. Plus, the more cheese, the better I always say.
More Delicious Breakfast Recipes:
- Zucchini Herb Sausage Breakfast Casserole
- Roasted Veggie and Avocado Breakfast Burritos
- Sweet Potato Porridge Breakfast Bowl
- How to Build the Ultimate Healthy Breakfast Bowls
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag me at @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
Pear Apple Cheddar Caramelized Onion Grilled Cheese Bagel Sandwich
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
- 2 heaping handfuls arugula
- 2 eggs sunnyside up
- 2 everything bagels toasted, I used gluten-free
- 4 slices Cheddar cheese or cheese of choice
- 1/2 ripe apple sliced (I used an Envy apple)
- 1/2 ripe bosc pear cored and sliced
- 4 tablespoons fig preserves
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the sliced onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until onions begin to sweat and turn translucent, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden-brown and caramelized, about 45 minutes more.
- Preheat the oven to the high broil setting.
- Slice the bagels in half and place them on a baking sheet. Toast on the top shelf of the oven under the broiler until golden-brown, about 1 minute. Remove bagels from the oven and add a slice of cheddar on all four slices of bagel. Place back in the hot oven until melted, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Smear 1 tablespoon of fig preserves over each cheesy bagel slice.
- Top the bagel bottoms with wilted arugula, sliced apple, pear, caramelized onions, and a sunny side up egg. Place the bagel tops on top, slice in half and serve.
Nutrition
Ok so this was amazing. I ended up putting bacon on it and I for the life of me could not find fig jam so there’s 3 of us in my family and we all had a slightly different variation. My 8 year old had no dressing, my husband had it with guacamole, and I put some apricot jam I had in the fridge on mine. Delicious and highly recommended!
OOOOH that sounds fantastic! Why have I never tried it with bacon?! Thanks so much for the inspiration…I’m happy you and your family enjoyed it! xoxo
Holy crap this is goooooooood! So, I didn’t have fig preserves……but I did have spicy mango chutney! Blew. My. Mind. Thank you thank you! ?
Ooooooh mango chutney sounds amazing!! I’ll have to try this out! xoxo
My partner cooks part time at a friends B&B – he made this for guests one morning (adding roasted sweet potatoes as a side) and everyone nearly died it was so good. EVERY guest wanted the recipe.
AMAZING! I love hearing my recipes contribute to the human experience 😀 So thrilled you told me! xoxox
We made this for a big family brunch. We couldn’t find fig jam, so we omitted it but otherwise, we stayed true to the original. They were seriously awesome! So much flavour and complexity. Absolutely worth the extra time and effort!
I’m so happy to hear it, Teri! Thanks for letting me know! xo
You guys, this is a REALLY good recipe! I made these sandwiches for my husband and me! I adapted the recipe a little and used Dave’s Killer seed bread rather than bagels but the basic flavors were the same! Seriously great sandwich, looking forward to making this again!
Thanks so much for singing your praises, Christina! I’m so glad you and your husband enjoy the sandwiches! xoxo
Whoa!! This made my mouth water just looking at it! I will be adding it into a weekly meal plan SOON! Thank you for sharing.
it looks so delicious that i want to crawl my eyeballs out =))))
Lol! Thanks, Sabrina!! I was very pleased with the way it turned out! Cheers to bagelwiches! 😉
I’ve never had or heard of a grilled cheese bagel sandwich, where has this been all of my life? It aligns perfectly with my values lol. I love how you played with the sweet and savory, pears and 2 sunny side eggs you are a genius. 🙂
Here I am trying to ease my way into the heavier fall foods without going completely insane, and you come out with this. I think I may have died and gone to comfort food HEAVEN. Something tells me to save it for Christmas when I can make it with my brother and share the amazingness that is bound to be this bagel sandwich (also, everything bagels = life)
Drool.
This has to be the most epic grilled cheese I’ve ever laid eyes on. The apple cheddar combo is my favorite but I’ve been trying to eat less dairy. So basically I need to pick me up some Daiya and make this STAT!
Guuuuurl, It’s AMAZING! The caramelized onions + fig spread are key. Definitely a mouth-watering experience 😀
Oh my, that sounds so delicious! I cannot wait to try this SOON!
YAAS! Let me know when you do, Annie!
Goodness gracious this sandwich sounds good!!!! Gah! Between the caramelized onions … the cheddar … the fig preserves?? Love it so much!!
Thanks, gorgeous! It’s basically the best sammie I’ve had in weeks 😉
Whhhaattt what what. I want this in my hands, RIGHT NOW.
You and me both, sister…it’s savage!
Oh My Goodness – this is the ultimate in sandwiches!! There are too many good things happening between that bagel. I want to eat this for every meal.
I hear ya! I had it for for bk, lunch, and dinner..I definitely approve it for an any-time meal 😉
Seriously drooling like a doofus over here over this sandwich. GIVE ME.
One bagelwich, coming right up! 😉
You already had me, and then you said FIG JAM. This is next-level stuff here and I am all about it!!!
ahhhhmygeeerd the fig jam is the BEST! Hope you try it, Becky!