It’s that time of year when we all try to get back into the groove of daily life, make a fresh fresh start, and rebuild good habits after the chaos of the holidays. Meal prepping has always been one of the things that really helps me save time, stay on budget, and keep overwhelm to a minimum. Especially meal prepping breakfast. Knowing that I don’t have to put any mental energy into breakfast every morning is a godsend! These super simple and versatile egg muffins have been my go-to meal prep breakfast for a few months now. With endless add-ins and flavor possibilities, I never get sick of this egg muffin recipe. Plus, they help me use up the odds and ends in my refrigerator every week!
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What Are Egg Muffins
Egg muffins, also known as egg bites, are eggs baked into a muffin tin with add-ins like vegetables, cheese, or meat. You can think of them like individual mini-sized frittatas! They’re small enough to be handheld and don’t require any utensils, so they make the perfect grab-and-go meal prep breakfast. They’re a great way to use up odds and ends in your refrigerator and since you can toss in just about any ingredient, and your taste buds will never get bored.
Ingredients for Egg Muffins
Egg bites are super simple and you’ll only need a few ingredients! Here’s what we use to make our soft and tender egg muffins:
- Eggs: We used large eggs for this recipe, so make sure you have the correct size egg to keep the proportions the same.
- Cottage Cheese: Mixing cottage cheese into the eggs adds more protein, more flavor, and helps keep the egg muffins super soft and tender (instead of rubbery). If you don’t like the texture of cottage cheese, don’t worry! It gets blended until smooth and creamy and you won’t even notice it.
- Salt & Pepper: The eggs are seasoned simply with salt and pepper, but you could always experiment with other seasonings if you prefer.
- Add-ins: We used a variety of add-ins below, like vegetables, cheese, and meat. We scavenged our fridge for this batch and made four flavors: spinach & feta, sausage & onion, broccoli & cheddar, and red pepper & goat cheese. See our suggested list of flavor combinations below!
How to Keep Egg Muffins Soft
Eggs tend to get rubbery if overcooked, so we use some tricks to keep these egg muffins soft and smooth instead of rubbery or spongey. Blending cottage cheese into the eggs helps the eggs cook more evenly and it helps stabilize the proteins a bit so they don’t get quite as stiff. It’s also important to keep a close eye on the egg muffins while they’re in the oven. The longer they cook, the more spongey they will become. Remove the egg muffins from the oven as soon as they are puffed in the center, no longer look wet in the center, and are just barely golden on the edges. If they’ve browned a lot on top, chances are they’re overcooked inside.
Egg Muffin Flavor Ideas
The fun part about egg muffins is that you can make so many different flavors! Here are some of my favorite ingredient combinations and flavor ideas:
- Broccoli cheddar
- Red pepper and goat cheese
- Bacon and onion
- Spinach and feta
- Ham and cheese (cheddar or Swiss)
- Sausage and onion
- Spinach and tomato (sun dried or grape tomatoes)
- Mushroom and onion
How to Store and Reheat Egg Muffins
After allowing the egg muffins to cool, they can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for about four days. To reheat, simply place the egg muffins on a plate and microwave for a brief 30 seconds on high power, or until heated through. Take care not to overcook the egg muffins while reheating, or they can become rubbery.
Egg Muffins
Servings 6 (2 each)Ingredients
- 10 large eggs ($1.47)
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese* ($0.50)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp pepper ($0.02)
- 1.5 cups chopped or shredded add-ins** (prices vary)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Finely chop or shred your chosen add-in ingredients. Add 2 Tbsp of add-ins to each well of a non-stick 12 muffin tin. If your non-stick pan is older or the finish is a bit worn, you may want to grease the wells first with butter or oil.
- Add the eggs, cottage cheese, salt, and pepper to a large blender. Purée for about 30 seconds or until smooth.
- Pour the egg mixture into the wells of the muffin tin, dividing evenly between each well. It should fill them almost to the top.
- Bake the egg muffins in the preheated oven for 18 minutes, or just until the centers no longer look wet and they are barely golden around the edges. Avoid overcooking the egg muffins or they'll become spongey. The egg muffins will puff up quite a bit as they bake and deflate as they cool. This is normal.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin tin just enough to handle, then loosen them gently with a knife and remove them from the tin. Allow the egg muffins to finish cooling on a wire rack. Enjoy warm or refrigerate until ready to eat.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Egg Muffins – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Next, decide what add-ins you’d like in your egg muffins. You’ll need about 2 Tbsp of finely chopped or shredded add-ins per muffin well. We did spinach & feta, breakfast sausage (leftovers) & onion, broccoli & cheddar, and red pepper & goat cheese. Make sure to use a non-stick muffin tin. If the muffin tin is older and the non-stick surface is worn, you may want to grease the tin with butter or oil. We did not use any butter or oil.
Add 10 large eggs, ½ cup of cottage cheese, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper to a blender. Blend for about 30 seconds, or until smooth.
Pour the blended egg mixture into the muffin tin, dividing equally between all twelve wells. It should come close to filling each well up to the top.
Bake the egg muffins in the preheated 375ºF oven for about 18 minutes, or just until they no longer look wet in the center and they are barely golden around the edges. Be careful not to overcook the egg muffins or they’ll become spongey. The egg muffins will puff up quite a bit as they cook but will deflate back down as they cool. This is normal.
Allow the egg muffins to cool just until cool enough to handle, then gently wiggle them from the muffin tin and allow them to finish cooling on a wire rack (to prevent condensation). Enjoy warm or refrigerate until ready to eat!
What is the reason for the cottage cheese? I want to make these now, but don’t feel like going to the store for cc. Is there anything I can substitute, like milk?
You cannot use milk for this one! I’ve seen some readers try cream cheese with varying success, so that might work, but we haven’t tried it! If you want the exact fluffy texture of the Starbucks version, cottage cheese is the way to go. You can try these mini quiche if you want to use egg and milk! they just have a different texture than these. https://www.budgetbytes.com/mini-broccoli-cheddar-quiches/