‘MasterChef’ Judge Tiffany Derry Says This One Mistake Can Ruin Your Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict is the kind of brunch order that makes you think, “I’ll just let the restaurant handle it.” After all, there are poached eggs to nail, hollandaise that can break in seconds, and more multitasking than pulling off Thanksgiving dinner solo.

As MasterChef heads into its two-part season finale—with Part 1 airing Wednesday, September 9, and Part 2 following the next week—the brunch classic is still fresh on judge Tiffany Derry’s mind. Earlier this season, contestants were challenged to put a global spin on eggs Benedict in an episode created in partnership with Eggland’s Best. The challenge later inspired the brand to team up with Derry on a series of egg recipes, including her own take on the brunch favorite.

Watching contestants juggle perfectly poached eggs, silky hollandaise, and creative toppings under pressure revealed one mistake Derry saw over and over again.

“They waited too long to poach the egg,” Derry tells Good Housekeeping. “Now you’re running out of time, and now everything is just kind of rambling.”

According to Derry, home cooks fall into the exact same trap. None of the individual components are especially complicated, but they all have to cross the finish line together. That’s where home cooks—and even MasterChef contestants—get into trouble.

Here’s how she avoids it.

The biggest mistake: Waiting until the last minute to poach the eggs

While many home cooks worry most about hollandaise, Derry says timing is actually what trips people up.

“If you don’t adjust your schedule... some of the failures I saw was waiting to begin to try to poach the egg,” she says.

Instead, she recommends thinking through the order of operations before you begin cooking. The poached eggs can be made ahead and held briefly while you finish the rest of the dish. This prevents the frantic last-minute chaos that often leads to overcooked eggs, broken sauce, and rushed plating.

“It’s all you’re doing at this moment,” she says of poaching. “Making sure that you have the water at a slow simmer.”

Tip #2: Start with a quality egg

Derry believes every great eggs Benedict starts with great ingredients.

“It sounds cliché, but start with a great egg,” she says. “Quality is the most important thing when it comes to making the hollandaise sauce which is enriched fully off an egg.”

“We’re talking about egg yolk, and we’re talking about clarified butter to make this sauce,” Derry says. “So if either one of those aren’t great ingredients, you’re kind of setting yourself up for failure.”

She also recommends choosing eggs with rich, vibrant yolks since they’re the foundation of hollandaise.

Tip #3: Keep your hollandaise warm

A silky hollandaise can make the dish—but only if it stays at the right temperature.

“I think people pay a lot of attention to sauce sometimes, but don’t think about the fact that it’s tempered, which means it needs to be held warm,” Derry says.

The payoff for getting it right is a sauce that clings to every bite instead of sliding off.

“You want it to be creamy. You want it to adhere to the egg,” she says. “If it’s not the right consistency, it just puddles to the bottom, and then you don’t have the flavor. It can’t hold on to the richness of the flavor.”

That consistency comes from paying attention throughout the cooking process, Derry says—not just following a recipe.

“There is a lot of skill in hollandaise, but you have to pay attention and adjust,” she says. “If it’s too hot, slow it down. If it’s too cold, make sure it’s warm. You really have to be a bit of an intuitive cook.”

Tip #4: Choose toppings that complement the egg—not compete with it

One of the fun parts of eggs Benedict is making it your own, and Derry encourages home cooks to experiment. The key is making sure every ingredient works with the egg instead of overshadowing it.

“You can change everything else you want to do on an eggs Benedict,” she says, “but it must be an egg. It’s in the name, and you have to have a good hollandaise.”

That’s also the philosophy behind her own take on the dish. While she’s swapped the traditional English muffin for crispy rice and paired it with blue crab, yuzu kosho hollandaise, and pickled cucumber ribbons with Fresno chiles, every addition is meant to enhance—not overpower—the dish.

“I believe in honoring ingredients and not overdoing it with all these other flavors,” she says. “I want a combination that comes together and sings better together than it would on its own.”

For Derry, even the most creative eggs Benedict should still taste like eggs Benedict—one where the perfectly poached egg remains the star.