Two things that are always in my refrigerator and freezer are eggs and frozen spinach. I haven’t had creamed spinach in quite some time, so when I decided to make some the other day I figured I’d throw a few eggs on top and bake it all up into a delicious brunch delight. Why not? Oh, and I had some feta too, so I threw that on top for extra flair. The feta definitely took these Creamed Spinach Baked Eggs from “this is pretty good” to “Yassssss girl.”
Do I Have to Use a Cast Iron Skillet?
I’m using a 10″ Lodge Cast Iron Skillet, but you don’t have to make this recipe in a cast iron skillet. Any other oven-safe skillet will work, OR you can just transfer the creamed spinach to a small casserole dish before adding the eggs and feta, and tossing it in the oven.
Baking Time May Vary
The bake time for these eggs is a little variable, so take the suggested 15 minutes with a grain of salt. You’ll want to watch the eggs closely starting at around 12 minutes and take them out when they reach your level of doneness. I decided last minute to broil my dish for a few minutes to get some browning on top, which ended up cooking my yolks through.
Normally I would have left the yolks runny, but it was still great with them fully cooked. If you do want some browning from the broiler, I would take 5 minutes off the bake time before switching from bake to broil (middle rack) and again, watch the dish closely.
Creamed Spinach Baked Eggs
Servings 4Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.27)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 1.5 cups whole milk ($0.57)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan ($0.41)
- 3/4 lb frozen chopped spinach* ($1.27)
- 4 large eggs ($1.08)
- 2 oz feta ($1.12)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Add the butter and garlic to a skillet and sauté over medium heat for about one minute. Whisk the flour into the melted butter and continue to cook and stir for about two minutes. The butter and flour should form a paste that will foam and bubble as it cooks.
- Whisk the milk into the butter and flour mixture until there are no lumps. Stir in the salt, nutmeg, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 10 cranks of a pepper mill).
- Allow the milk to come to a simmer, whisking often, at which point it will thicken to a gravy-like consistency. Whisk in the grated Parmesan until it has melted. Add the frozen chopped spinach (no need to thaw) and continue to stir and cook until it has heated through (about 5 minutes). Taste the creamed spinach and add more salt if needed.
- Use a large spoon to create four wells in the creamed spinach. Crack one egg into each well. It’s okay if the whites run outside of the wells. Sprinkle the crumbled feta over the entire skillet.
- Bake the spinach and eggs for about 15 minutes in the preheated 400ºF oven, or until the whites are mostly set. Spoon the creamed spinach and an egg into a bowl and serve as is or with toast for dipping.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Creamed Spinach Baked Eggs – Step by Step Photos
Begin by preheating your oven to 400ºF. Add 2 Tbsp butter and two cloves of minced garlic to a skillet. Sauté the garlic in the butter over medium heat for about one minute, or just until the garlic becomes very fragrant. Whisk in 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour and continue to whisk and cook for about two minutes more. The flour and butter mixture will create a paste that foams and bubbles as it cooks.
Whisk 1.5 cups whole milk into the butter and flour mixture until no lumps remain (you will still be able to see the minced garlic pieces, just make sure there are no flour lumps). Add 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 10 cranks of a pepper mill).
Continue to cook and whisk over medium heat until the milk comes up to a simmer, at which point it will thicken to a gravy-like texture.
Stir in 1/4 cup grated Parmesan until it has melted into the sauce.
Add 3/4 lb. frozen CHOPPED spinach (no need to thaw). I highly suggest frozen “chopped” spinach as opposed to frozen “cut” spinach, which has larger pieces and tends to be a bit stringy.
Continue to stir and cook the spinach and sauce until it is heated through. Give the spinach a taste and add more salt, if needed.
Use a large spoon to make four wells in the creamed spinach, then crack one egg into each. It’s okay if the egg whites run outside of the wells. Sprinkle 2oz. crumbled feta over the entire skillet.
Bake the creamed spinach and eggs for about 15 minutes in the preheated 400ºF oven, or until the whites are set (this will vary depending on your oven and your preferred level of doneness for the eggs). If you want a little browning on top, I suggest switching the oven’s setting from bake to broil at about 10 minutes and finish it out on the broil setting. Broiling can brown the top and cook the eggs quickly, though, so watch it closely.
Scoop the creamed spinach and an egg into each bowl and serve as is or with some toast for dipping!
Can you cook this recipe like you would for shakshuka? Ie – just letting the eggs cook through in the creamed spinach on the stovetop? Our oven is on the fritz at the moment, but I would love to give this recipe a try nonetheless!
Yes, that should work okay! :)
Yum! This looks so luxurious and delicious
Can you make this dish without the Parmesan cheese?
I suppose, but it won’t be as flavorful. You might need to add a bit more salt to the sauce.
I juts made this for dinner. It came out ok. I ended up putting in too much salt when I tested it first time and it felt blend.
The Feta cheese brought it up a notch I was not expecting.
Also, I would say this would feed 3. Or 4 with a lot of bread.
The toast is a must with this dish.
You said that you always have eggs & spinach in your freezer. How do you freeze your eggs? And how would you defrost them?
If you can freeze eggs…consider my mind blown!! lol
Haha, I actually meant eggs in the refrigerator and spinach in the freezer. Ooops. That being said, I have seen several different places that raw eggs CAN be frozen (shells removed). I’ve just never tried it. :)
This looks delicious. I love your posts. I have tried several recipes and have not been disappointed once.
Is there any other veggie you suggest to substitute for spinach? I know it’s super versatile but my husband won’t eat it. It’s easy to sub something else in other recipes but I’m scratching my head as to what else goes with eggs.
Any veg goes with eggs! The most obvious substitutions here would be chopped broccoli or kale, but you could also dice and cream leftover potato (I’d add some sauteed diced onion, bell pepper, and/or mushrooms to the potato). I also think some sort of creamed succotash would be good, ie corn with sauteed diced red bell pepper or tomato, onion, and a handful of lima, fava beans, or even cut green beans, as this sub would depend on color as well as taste.
I’ve stopped buying dried Parmesan cheese in those green cans–chunks of the fresh sort keep a long time in the fridge and are easy to grate up on demand–often on special at about $10 a lb, but a quarter lb chunk will last for weeks. Another good option is pre-packaged shredded Parm in the cheese section at the supermarket. They aren’t Parmegiano Regiano, but they are good in a pinch and very cost effective–5-6 oz often on sale for $2-3 per lb and can be kept mold free in the freezer until needed. The shreds are larger than I want, but I dump what I need on a cutting board and use my chef knife for a few seconds to chop the shreds–easier than grating and the shreds from the package are perfect for salads
That’s $2-3 per package, not per lb
I really think this is a spinach specific recipe. Perhaps you can try a shakshuka instead? Here is a recipe for my Smoky White Bean Shakshuka (you can always do it without beans, if you prefer).
Does he eat other greens? Just made a dish inspired by this using greens from my CSA box–some arugula, some baby kale, some baby chard, some other unknown greens. That worked out wonderfully, but is pretty close to spinach.
Made it for lunch! I added a random can of artichoke hearts from the cupboard when I dumped in the spinach, and ate my share with toast. Amazing as always.
My mom used to do this for us all the time, it tastes even better with some onion and red pepper.
This just looks so delicious!
Because there is no way I am going to get hubby to have spinach and eggs I am going to make this up and divide it just for me and do an egg at a time… Do you think I can freeze the creamed spinach and jsut add my eggs when I want a treat?
Hmm, I’m not sure how well the creamed spinach will freeze. Sometimes creamy sauces tend to break down when frozen.
First of all: this looks absolutely amazing! Second, I just found your blog on bloglovin and I must say that I really love the concept of cooking really good food on a budget! Keep up the good work :D
Thank you!
This looks sooo good! Looks like a perfect breakfast (or brunch) for the weekend.
x Annabelle
travelsandtea.com
My husband isn’t a huge fan of feta, although I love it. Do you think I could use goat cheese instead? They seem fairly similar but he never complains about it.
I find them to be quite different BUT I do think that goat cheese would be AMAZING in this as well. :) I do a creamy spinach pizza that has goat cheese on it and it’s divine.
It was quite amazing with goat cheese and my husband loved it as much as I did. Our kids even tried it and asked to have some the next time I make it. You never know with kids 😆
Thanks for another amazing recipe to add to the rotation!
Yummy!!! I LOVE creamed spinach!!! :-)
This looks amazing! The feta does sound like it adds that extra something special.
I’ve always wondered about baked egg dishes–if I’m not going to eat all four eggs at once, would it reheat as you’ve cooked it here, or would it be better to make the spinach and then bake in smaller dishes with an egg each time I’m going to eat it?
I guess it just depends on how picky you are with the texture of the eggs. I accidentally cooked my eggs all the way through the first time, but still reheated mine in the microwave (which further cooks the eggs) and I still loved it. :)