Ever since making my 5 Minute Microwave French Toast Mug a couple of weeks ago, I’ve wanted to try a savory version (because I’m alllll about savory breakfast). I’m about to go out of town again and desperately trying to use up the last few leftover ingredients in my fridge before I go, so I thought now was a good time. For this savory microwave breakfast mug I used some left over French bread, leftover rotisserie chicken, a handful of baby spinach, and a little shredded cheese. It’s so simple, but so extremely satisfying! It’s like a single serving breakfast strata!
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Use What You’ve Got For a New Breakfast Mug Every Time
What I think I love the most about this dish is that you can use just about any meat, vegetable, or cheese that you have on hand. I used rotisserie chicken, but you could use just about any deli meat in its place (or leave out the meat all together).
For vegetables you could use frozen broccoli (chopped fine), frozen spinach, mushrooms, green onions, diced bell peppers, or even a couple grape tomatoes.
I happened to have cheddar on hand, which makes a nice color contrast, but you could do something like feta, shredded Parmesan, smoked gouda, or pepper jack.
There are just so many options. If you think about the flavor themes that restaurants do with omelets, you could do the same themes with this savory microwave breakfast mug (think mediterranean, southwest, Denver, garden, etc.).
No Price Estimate This Time, Sorrry
I decided not to price out this recipe because I was using such small quantities of ingredients and they were all leftovers, so it would be nearly impossible to get even a general price estimate. But, I think the idea of re-using leftovers for a new meal is important enough to stand on its own. :)
5 Minute Savory Microwave Breakfast Mug
Servings 1Ingredients
- 1 cup stale bread pieces*
- 1/4 cup pre-cooked chopped sausage
- 1/4 cup finely chopped vegetables
- 2 Tbsp shredded cheese
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 1 large egg
- Pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
- Tear or cut the bread into 1/2-inch pieces. Chop the meat and vegetables into small pieces. Shred the cheese.
- Add the butter to the bottom of a large mug (10-12oz.) and microwave on high for 20 seconds or until it is fully melted. Whisk in the milk, egg, salt, and pepper with a fork.
- Stir the meat, vegetables, and cheese into the milk and egg mixture first, then gently fold in the bread cubes until they are fully saturated.
- Let the mug sit for one minute to fully absorb the liquid, then microwave on high for about 90 seconds, or until the center is solid and it has begun to pull away from the mug around the edges. Serve hot.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Step by Step Photos
Tear a couple slices of stale bread into 1/2-inch pieces, or about 1 cup of pieces. Finely chop about 1/4 cup of meat (I used rotisserie chicken) and 1/4 cup of vegetables (I used baby spinach). Shred about 1/4 cup of cheese (I used cheddar).
If you’re unsure about how much bread to use, go ahead and put the bread pieces in your mug. They should come almost all the way up to the top when placed loosely in the mug (don’t pack them in, there needs to be room for the other ingredients).
Set the bread pieces aside, then place 1 Tbsp butter in the bottom of the mug. Microwave the butter for about 20 seconds, or until it is melted. Whisk in 3 Tbsp milk, 1 large egg, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Stir the dry ingredients into the milk and egg mixture, starting with the meat, vegetables, and cheese. Fold the break pieces in last so they don’t begin to break apart when they soften from the liquid. Let the mixture sit for about a minute to fully absorb the liquid.
Microwave the mug on high for about 90 seconds, or until the center is solid and the sides begin to pull away from the mug. Every microwave is a bit different, so you may need to experiment with the timing.
And that’s it! In just 5 minutes you have a totally delicious and filling Savory Microwave Breakfast Mug AND reduced your food waste. :)
I’ve probably commented on this recipe before, but I just made it again for the umpteenth time (I couldn’t begin to guess how many times I’ve made it in the past few years). It is one of my favorite “go to” recipes, and I love being able to throw in whatever assortment of meat/veggies I have on hand.
Just finished eating this microwave savory breakfast.
I prepped 2 of them yesterday and microwaved them this morning. I used beyond breakfast patties, spinach, green onion, and red bell pepper, with the last two slices of no knead bread that were a little dry. Those ingredients added to the eggs, milk and cheese made a filling, easy, and very tasty breakfast.
Great way to use up bits of stale left over sourdough bread!
This was a delicious and convenient recipe! I loved it and will be using it for a nice lunch often.
This was soooo delicious. I doubled it (except the butter) and made it in a microwaveable bowl with cheese and no veggies. Took about 3 minutes in the microwave. Will make this again when looking for a quick lunch or dinner.
Hi Budget Bytes – this breakfast recipe fills a big gap for me. Thanks for all your food and information. I can cook much more easily now. You also pay attention to tweaks that work and those that aren’t a good idea. Pease keep on cooking and be well.
I’m so glad to hear that, Nancy! :)
I know the whole point of this recipe is a fast breakfast but I really like a crunchy top, so I prepare it the night before and put it into my toaster oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Cooking time allows for all the usual a.m. getting ready for the day with a wonderful breakfast at the end of it. Great recipes and allows lots of scope for individuality and leftover cleanup.
P.S. Most mugs these days are oven proof.
Love, love, LOVE this! I woke up one morning wanting strata but, of course, that’s something you have to start the night before. Well, I had some leftover, growing-stale baguette and this recipe was the perfect way to put it to use. I love how flexible it is with the meat/cheese/veggie combos so you can change it up and not get bored. It’s like the perfect, quick, mini-strata for one!
Solid option for a quick breakfast. I’d personally recommend a little less butter
made 2 mug breakfasts this morn. had to use sandwich bread, was all I had. used 2 slices plus a piece was drying to make breadcrumbs. used 2 Egg Beaters equivalent, some chopped up sundried tomatoes, leftover baco-bits, tiny bit of onion, about 6 T of 2% mozzarella cheese, butter & S & P. After resting in the mug prior to cook, it looked too dry so I poured in about 1 T more Egg Beaters in each mug. microed for 2 minutes. was delish! I can see how I may be using this lots in the future. Thanks so much. BTW, we loved that it stayed pleasantly hot/warm to the last bite, didn’t cool off quickly as it would have on a plate
Tried this with sourdough (store bought), salami, eggs, and cheese. So good! The salami gave a great kick. Works well in a bowl rather than mug in my experience.
Made it this morning and it was delicious! Quick, easy, savory, filling, and you only use 1 dish/mug. Love it for using up left-over ‘stuff’ in the fridge. Thanks.
Any suggestions on how to do this as a weekly breakfast prep? Like the eggs you posted recently?
Yep, you can do basically what I did with these Make Ahead Microwave Breakfast Scrambles. :)
Why do I ever doubt you? I saw this recipe and thought “microwaved eggs? That sounds disgusting!” I tried it anyways, reasoning that if it flopped I’d only be out a little bit of bread, a few veggies and an egg. Oh man was I wrong. I’m sitting at my breakfast table right now eating this…it’s such a surprisingly tasty, warming meal!
I made a Denver-style one with ham, onions, green peppers and a little spinach that I’ll definitely be eating for the rest of this week. Lesson learned: even when your recipes sound odd or unappetizing to me, I know to at least give you the benefit of the doubt! You have such an amazing knack for putting together common, boring ingredients in such inventive and delicious ways. Thank you!
This breakfast is so easy and TASTY, it makes me so happy! I’ll be making this a lot in the future.
Made with with pepperoni , arugula, cheddar and some parsley. I imagined some pizza sauce might be good over the top but I didn’t even end up trying it! It was good how it was. It’s a good savory mix between and omelet and French toast. Filling and delicious!
Wow! I have now made this two morning in a row, and it is officially my favorite weekday breakfast! Super fast and delicious! Tomorrow, I am going to try to mix it up at home, and let the bread soak up the egg while on my morning commute, and see if it holds up.
Yesterday, I made this in a mason jar instead of a coffee cup, and I would not advise that. The straight walls create a tunnel, and as any air gets trapped underneath expands and causes the egg bread to rise. I sat there microwaving in 5 second intervals to stop it from flopping out of the jar.
Look very nice, it will be great for every morning! lol
Would a bagel work or be too chewy?
I think a bagel might be too dense to soak up the egg mixture, but then again, some store bought bagels these days are the same texture as bread. LOL!
This is such a great idea! This morning I used up an old piece of sourdough, some broccoli from the fridge drawer and a piece of precooked bavon. It was tasty in fact my 14 month old kept begging for bites! I’ll definitely make this again! I have a hard time choking down scrambled or fried eggs in the morning and this might be just the right solution 👍🏼
Finally someone who wants savory breakfast too. I don’t like sweet things first thing in my day. Must do this. So excited, I have turkey pastrami in the fridge.
This was delicious and great for a weekday morning when I have to get out the door to work. I love savory breakfast. I lightly toasted my bread slices to help ensure “staleness” while I was prepping the rest of the ingredients.
This looks awesome! Eggs are usually such a hassle in the morning, thanks for the quick and easy recipe here.
Is there something vegetarians should substitute for chicken, or should they just omit it entirely? Thanks – love your blog!
I would just do a mix of vegetables and cheese. :)
I cooked up a tube of Gimme Lean meatless sausage (use a wooden spoon to crumble it in the pan as you brown it), as I plan on making this all week long.
I make “chilaquiles” this way. Instead of bread, just break up a couple tortilla chips (even stale work just fine). Add your choice of cheese and egg. MIx it up. Put a little salsa/taco sauce on top.
I use about 3 tortilla chips, one egg+one egg white, 1 T. milk and about 3/4 oz of shredded cheese. Taco sauce to taste.
One of my favorites!!!
BTW – I LOVE your website. Thank you.
I am so going to make this tomorrow! Such a cool idea.
http://www.hayleydawnblogs.com
I love this!! Egg mug breakfasts are my favorite! Here are my tips: Instead of milk I add a tablespoon or so of cottage cheese. I also skip the butter and, instead, coat the mug with a spritze of nonstick cooking spray.
Oooh, I like the cottage cheese idea!
Hi Beth, I love your blog and cook many of your recipes. But lately I have noticed many more very distracting ads. Very distracting. I loved your blog cause it was just food but these ads are very off putting. Please consider the ads you are adding. They do not in any way enhance your blog. Suze
Hi Suze, thanks for the feedback! I actually don’t pick the ads, they are picked for each person every time the page is loaded based on your browsing history. We have filters set up to block the obnoxious or offensive ads, but sometimes they get through anyway (grrrr). If you see an ad that you don’t like, you can click on the tiny grey “report this ad” just under the bottom right of each ad and that will send us the exact ad and the name of the advertiser so we can block them! I hate annoying ads too. :)
This is such a cool idea!
Hej Beth, heres a suggestion. I live in Europe ,and find your recipes very good. Now , I got a traveller to buy me a set of measuring cups while they were in the USA. American recipes all use the “cup” system. So I,m good. I know that 1 cup =2.35 deciliters etc.. Anyway, how about a once and for all conversion table into metric.? It could be incorporated in the “how to ” section. How to convert weights/measures etc. A usefull service for non Americans. Just a thought, regards,Tony
I live in Hungary and England and would LOVE a conversion chart with metrics and perhaps weights for staple items (rather than volume, e.g. one cup of flour=x grams). I have been using Google but a one-stop chart would be amazingly helpful. Cheers!
Hi Tony/June, I don’t know if this will help, but I’m in America and I use this online calculator all the time when I need to convert metric to US measurements:
http://www.worldwidemetric.com/measurements.html
Love this! At a recent weekend holiday, a few friends and I tried meal planning for omnis, vegetarians, and vegans. Tough work.
I adapted the featured recipe. My vegetarian friends really restricts their use of animal products. The recipe’s eggs, butter, and milk maxed out some personal limits, so instead of meat and cheese, we added an extra egg and nutritional yeast.
My vegan friends subbed in a mixture of mashed silken tofu, TVP, EVOO, nutritional yeast, and nut milk. We experimented to get best proportions, and after a few interesting results, we came up with an incredible breakfast item.
I couldn’t believe how delicious it turned out! The beauty parts were how each person received a tailored main course and how the posted recipe is so easily adaptable. Nobody felt excluded; in fact, I noticed we actually lingered over brunches. Thank you so much.
Yummy!! I LOVE savory breakfast!!!! :-)
Just had to comment on your savory breakfast recipes. They are delicious!!! I cannot wait to try this one.