frittatas | The Kitchen is Calling

Tag Archives: frittatas

Muffin-Tin Egg Frittatas

Finding out I’m starting a new job next week has got me thinking about quick, yet satisfying breakfasts for on-the-go. I am a breakfast person in general, and it needs to be a hot breakfast (cereal just doesn’t cut it for me – I’ll be hungry an hour later!). Eggs are an obvious choice, but seeing as how I just found out I have to be at work at 8am (thus leaving the house at 6:30am to commute), I don’t think I’ll be waking up any earlier than I absolutely have to to cook eggs.

My solution is making mini egg frittatas, individually portioned using muffin tins, and keeping them in the freezer. Then, I can reheat them in the microwave, just like these individual baked oatmeals. Maybe I’ll even have one frittata and one oatmeal muffin each morning for a really complete breakfast :)

This recipe can be adapted in any way, shape or form you wish, with any ingredients you want. I used half egg whites, half regular eggs, because adding a full 16 eggs somehow seemed excessive to me. However, you can easily do this with all whole eggs. If you want to incorporate more veggies, like bell pepper or onion or zucchini or broccoli or spinach…or…whatever, just make sure to saute them a bit first so they’re not too crunchy or watery in the finished frittatas. Unless you like them crunchy. Feel free to change up the type of cheese and/or the type of milk/cream (I used half-and-half and 1% milk, but you can use any combination you want). It’s all up to you! Just use whatever you have on hand. I wrote some suggestions below for different combinations of ingredients, so have fun with it.

The recipe below yields 24 egg “muffins”, but feel free to cut it in half if desired. You definitely want to fill the muffin tins pretty full before baking. While in the oven, they rise (almost like mini soufflés), but as soon as you take them out of the oven they fall very quickly, and can end up being pretty flat. Kind of like disks. But I promise they’ll still taste good though even they might look a little funny.

Muffin-Tin Egg Frittatas

Yield: 24 “muffins”, Time: 25 min. active, 25 min. inactive

8 whole eggs
2 cups egg whites (or one 16-ounce container Egg Beaters egg whites)
1/2 cup 1% milk
1/2 cup half-and-half
8 ounces ham, diced in small cubes (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced small
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for topping (if desired)
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chives, chopped
Several grinds of fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat 2 muffin tins with cooking spray.

Whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk and half-and-half until well combined. Meanwhile, saute the bell pepper (or any other veggies you use) briefly to soften.

Stir in the ham, cheeses, pepper and other remaining ingredients into the egg mixture. The addition of freshly grated parmesan really adds a nice nutty flavor, so I highly encourage you to use real parmesan (read: not the stuff from the green can). A block of real parmesan will keep a very long time in your refrigerator, and, since it has way more flavor, you can use less of it than the fake stuff.

Spoon mixture into each muffin tin well, filling at least 3/4 of the way full (the muffins rise like a soufflé, but then fall again, so no worry about over-filling). Sprinkle with more cheese, if desired.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until set in the center.

Remove from the oven and flip onto a wire rack to cool (they will get lines on the top from the wire grating, but this ensures the bottoms are not soggy).

Cool for a few minutes, then either serve immediately, or flip over and cool completely on the wire rack, if freezing.

Freeze in gallon freezer bags or Tupperware. Reheat in the microwave. I reheat mine at 50% power for 40 seconds then 100% power for 10 seconds (lower heat will reduce the likelihood they get rubbery, but adjust times to your microwave and liking).