Even if you’re in a hurry, you have time to make melted sandwiches. They’re quick and so good. And there are all kinds that you can make. We’ll start you off with six simple recipes. Each is made with a toasted English muffin, spread with a filling, and topped with cheese. The sandwiches are cooked under the broiler element, the top element in your oven, until the cheese melts.
Crispy Crab Sandwich
If you pick a good crab salad, this is scrumptious. Just stop by the deli on the way home and pick up your favorite crab salad. You’ll need some English muffins. Prep time for four sandwiches is less than ten minutes. Here’s how:
- Toast the English muffins.
- Load each with the crab salad. Top each with a slice of cheddar cheese.
- Put your sandwiches on a baking sheet and slide it under the broiler element in your oven. Cook them for about five minutes or until the cheese melts. Serve them hot.
Pulled Chicken and Cheese
You know pulled pork. This is an easy version made with chicken. It’s only made with three ingredients. (This takes a little more time than the others but it is still quick and easy.) This recipe will make four English muffin sandwiches.
1 chicken breast
1/2 large sweet onion, sliced
3/4 cup barbecue sauce
Sauté the chicken breast in a skillet. Let the chicken cool. While it is cooling, sauté the onion in the same pan.
Using your fingers and a fork, pull the chicken breast apart into strands. Return the chicken to the pan with the onions. Add the barbecue sauce and stir.
Now that the filling is complete, you can assemble and cook the sandwiches as before. We topped the chicken filling with provolone cheese.
Chicken Salad and Cheddar
You can make your own chicken salad, but for convenience, stop at the deli for this salad also. Once the salad is made, assemble the sandwiches and prepare them as for the crab sandwiches. Consider mozzarella or provolone for the cheese topping.
Of course you can make exactly the same sandwiches with tuna salad or a canned salmon salad.
California Turkey, Bacon, and Avocado
So far, we have created fillings for our sandwiches. Now we will use sliced sandwich components. You can use whatever you like. But this is very good.
Spread the English muffin with a little mayonnaise. Top that with turkey and then a couple half slices of crisply cooked bacon. Top the bacon with sliced avocados and tomato slices. Top with the cheese of your choice and broil until the cheese is melted.
Rueben’s Melt
This is a take on a Rueben sandwich. 
Spread the toasted muffin with thousand island dressing. Topthat with a couple layers of thinly sliced corn beef from the deli. Spread a spoonful of sauerkraut over that. Top it with sliced Swiss cheese and broil.
We found this sandwich a little overwhelming if we didn’t keep the toppings sparse. It was very good with a just a couple layers of roast beef and single spoon of sauerkraut spread evenly over the meat.
Melted Sandwich #6. Summer Tomato, Fresh Basil, and Mozzarella
This a classic summer combination when the tomatoes are ripe and fresh basil is available. Since this is a meatless sandwich, you’ll probably want extra cheese.
Put a little butter or mayonnaise on your toasted English muffins so that the juice from the tomatoes does not soak as readily into the bread. Layer tomato, then fresh basil, then cheese onto the muffin. Broil until bubbly.
To Make or to Buy
You’ll make great sandwiches with store-bought muffins but homemade always seems a little better . . . and satisfying. English muffins may be the easiest yeast bread to make, not much more trouble than pancakes. You do have to wait 40 minutes for the yeast to work and you do have to use English muffin rings to contain the batter. Other than that, it’s pretty much like cooking pancakes. Because they are thicker, they take a little longer on the grill.
