Rich, Comforting Monte Cristo Skillet
This Monte Cristo Skillet recipe flips the classic, dipped sandwich into a simple, shareable skillet bake. Using cast iron ensures you still get those crisp, buttery edges while the inside stays rich, custardy, and loaded with savory meats!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- ✅ Recipe Name: Rich, Comforting Monte Cristo Skillet
- 🕐 Ready In: 55
- 👥 Serves: 8
- 🥣 Main Ingredients: Martha White Cotton Country Cornbread Mix, cooking spray, chopped cooked turkey, chopped cooked ham, shredded Swiss cheese, eggs, milk, mayonnaise, honey mustard, salt, pepper, currant jelly, powdered sugar
- ⭐ Why You'll Love It: You'll love this Monte Cristo Skillet recipe because it's part lunch, part breakfast, part sandwich, part dessert, and all the way good! There's no bad time to whip this up.
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A Humble, Award-Winning Brunch Favorite!
This Monte Cristo Skillet was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2006 National Cornbread Festival. It caught my eye because I recently had my very first Monte Cristo Sandwich and absolutely loved it. Southern Living sent me to Charleston to do some presentations for the Taste of Charleston Festival. Have you ever been to Charleston? Oh my goodness gracious, is that a beautiful town! With every sight and sound, I became more determined to bring my family back there someday so I could experience it with them (it is hard to enjoy a trip without the folks you want to share it with beside you).
As I’ve started traveling from time to time, I’ve taken a cue from my adventurous counterparts at SL and started making it a point to try something new in each place if possible. In Charleston, I had my first Monte Cristo Sandwich, and it was right up my alley. I ate it in the cafe of a beautiful hotel right downtown. The flavors were a unique combination for me: Ham, cheese, battered and toasted bread drizzled with a sweet fruit preserve and sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. It was part lunch, part breakfast, part sandwich, part dessert, and all the way good!
So when Martha White offered to guest post, I got nosing around for what recipe I thought would appeal the most to everyone, and as soon as this skillet came before my eyes, my heart just settled on it. This recipe is quick to throw together and feeds six people. I like strawberry preserves with mine, but feel free to use whichever you like best.
What You’ll Need to Make the Monte Cristo Skillet:
- Martha White Cotton Country Cornbread Mix
- cooking spray
- chopped cooked turkey
- chopped cooked ham
- shredded Swiss cheese
- eggs
- milk
- mayonnaise
- honey mustard
- salt
- pepper
- currant jelly
- powdered sugar
How to Make a Monte Cristo Skillet
1. Bake and Cube the Cornbread
Whip up your cornbread mix according to the box directions, but bake it right in your 10 1/2 inch cast-iron skillet.
Because the pan is wide, the cornbread will turn out thin, which keeps the final dish from feeling too heavy. Once it’s done, pop it out to cool for a few minutes, then slice it into bite-sized cubes.
2. Build the Layers
Set your oven to 350°F. Wipe any loose crumbs out of your skillet with a paper towel and hit it with a good spray of non-stick oil. Drop those cornbread cubes right back into the bottom of the pan, then layer your turkey, ham, and cheese evenly over the top.
3. Whisk the Egg Mixture
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, mayonnaise, a tablespoon of mustard, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk until it’s completely smooth, then pour it evenly over everything in the skillet so the cornbread can start soaking up that savory custard.
4. Bake Until Golden
Pop the skillet in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when the center is completely set, and the cheese on top is melted and lightly browned.
5. Whisk the Sauce and Serve
While that’s going, warm your currant jelly slightly in a small bowl until it loosens up. Whisk in a tablespoon of honey mustard until smooth.
Slice the hot skillet into wedges, hit it with a quick dust of powdered sugar, and serve it warm with that sweet-and-tangy jelly sauce on top or on the side!
Ingredients
- 1 6 oz. package Martha White® Cotton CountryTM Cornbread Mix
- Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
- 1-1/2 cups chopped cooked turkey
- 1/2 cup chopped cooked ham
- 1-1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons honey mustard divided
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 cup Smucker’s® Currant Jelly
- Powdered sugar
Instructions
- Prepare the cornbread mix according to package directions, except bake in a 10 1/2-inch cast iron skillet (cornbread will be thin). Remove cornbread from skillet; cool and cut into cubes. Wipe out skillet with paper towels; spray generously with no-stick cooking spray.
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Place cornbread cubes in skillet. Top with turkey, ham and cheese. In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon mustard, salt and pepper until well blended. Pour evenly over ingredients in skillet. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set and lightly browned.
- Melt currant jelly by warming slightly. Add 1 tablespoon honey mustard; whisk to blend.
- Remove skillet from oven. Cut in wedges, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with currant jelly and mustard sauce.
This recipe looks yummy and can’t wait to try It. Now I just need to invest In a really good cast Iron skillet. Don’t have one of my own and have always wanted one. Just never got around to getting one, but that will change soon enough! I remember Mom had a couple of them and used them alot. It seemed like everything she made with them tasted so much better then what she made using other pan types.
Some of my earliest memories are of watching my mom fry bacon and eggs in her cast iron skillet. I now have her cast iron skillet – or it could be my great-grandmother’s on my dad’s side. Either way it still cooks great! And for some reason my husband still isn’t convinced that cornbread from a cast iron skillet is the best cornbread on earth. (But it goes back to the fact that his mom didn’t use cast iron, I think.) Anyway, I love my cast iron and the memories it holds!
My mom made the best fried chicken ever, always in her cast iron skillet. She would also make a skillet full of cream gravy to eat over warm toast. imiss her and her good cooking so much.
I have my mother-in-law’s cast iron skillet. I never met her, she passed away before I met my husband, but he handed her skillet over to me when we got married. I use it for everything, bacon, corn bread, frying chicken, Christy’s Lima Bean Casserole, anything that I can think of. My husband uses it for frying fish. I guess eventually I will have to pass it down to one of my step-daughters but I love it too much to give it up yet. And I think I just found my recipe for dinner tonight. Thanks Christy.
When my husband and I got married, he brought with him 3 VERY well loved cast iron skillets. My family had never used a cast iron skillet so I wasn’t familiar with how it got better with age. The thought of cooking in them – with all of that burnt on food and bubble edges – made me sick so I threw all 3 away. Weeks later he asked about one so that he could cook some cornbread and without hesitation I told him I had thrown them all away. And 15 years later, I am still paying for my mistake.
When my grandmother’s house was being cleared my mother asked me if there was anything special I wanted as a keepsake. I immediately replied, “Her cast iron skillets!” I received two. One was used only for bread and the other for frying. They both had interiors like satin from over 75 years of use. Everytime I use either of those pans I recalled the wonderfully warm times spent with my Grandparents and the biscuits, cornbread, fried chicken, fried corn, okra, well, you all must have memories like that if you inherited cast iron. My mother in law passed away and both of my sons only request was for her cast iron skillets. I know they hold the same type of family memories for them too. Funny isn’t it, how we can tie memories of happy times with family to skillets?
Christy, Thanks for Southern Plate and all you do.. My cast iron memory is when at 15 my surrogate “mom”, Lena, fried 2 Large chickens in 1 Lodge Cast Iron pan. That day was a learning experience of what it takes to go from feathered bird to Southern Fried Chicken.