It’s that time of year when we all try to get back into the groove of daily life, make a 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
- Muffin Pan
- Large Blender
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!
I found your site while looking up egg muffins. The recipe that I was using—my muffins were rubbery. Can’t wait to try blending eggs with cottage cheese like your recipe.
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/
Very tasty and easy to do! It’s nice having a quick breakfast before work. Next time, I will reduce the salt – I like to make mine with bacon bits and shredded cheese, so mine come out extra salty.
I did everything exactly as the recipe stated and after 20 minutes, they were still liquidy on top. What did I do wrong?
That’s odd, Christina! Do you think your oven is calibrated to the correct temperature? It sounds like maybe it wasn’t hot enough.
Can you use frozen broccoli, or should you cook the broccoli first?
I would defrost it and make sure there’s no excess moisture or it could make the egg bites too liquidy.
I love these. I use parchment paper muffin liners and they work like a dream. Also if using frozen spinach, defrost and squeeeeeze aa much water out as possible. Other veggies I lightly sautee to get some water out. I also used half whole eggs, half carton egg whites and they’re still tasty!
will these freeze? About to bake my first 12 (tho for dinner, tonight. Made 3 varieties to sample. Plus salad and roasted squash. Expect to have 7 left to refrigerate – which for our household, might be a bit much to expect to eat in 4 days.
They usually freeze well! There’s always a chance of eggs getting rubbery after freezing, but as long as you take care not to over do it in the microwave they should be good.
Is there a non-dairy substitute for the cottage cheese you can recommend?
We haven’t tried substituting the cottage cheese! I know some readers have used dairy-free cream cheese in place of the cottage cheese, but we haven’t tried it.
Be aware of any ingredient that releases a lot of water when cooked – tried these with spinach and ended up with a lot of liquid at the bottom of the muffin tin! But they’re pretty good!
They were amazing and easy meal prep
How well do these freeze?
Pretty good! There’s always a chance of eggs getting rubbery after freezing, but as long as you take care not to over do it in the microwave they should be good.
Made in mini muffin tin, lowered bake time to 14 minutes. Came out great! Used cheddar, sun dried tomato, sausage, and onion.
Since eggs are extremely high right now I reduced the eggs from 10 to 8 and doubled the cottage cheese and blended it all together. I added a good pinch of shredded colby jack and monteray cheese with cooked sausage, about a tablespoon each and then poured the egg/cc mixture over them and baked. OMG!!! They were wonderful! Only thing I’ll adjust next time is the cooking time; the center ones were slightly soft at the very top middle so I’d probably add an extra minute or two to accomidate for the extra cottage cheese. These were more like the coffee shop egg bites than muffins, very fluffy light texture. We loved them!!!
What if I made these sweet and put fruit?
We only tried them savory, Casey! I am curious how it would work so if you try it let us know!
Oooo, that sounds good!!!
This is a sulky question but should I cook the meat/sausage/bacon before adding or is the baking tie sufficient?
*silly
Would you recommend cooking the veggies before adding them to the eggs? Specifically the broccoli?
As long as they’re small pieces they’re fine to go in raw!
Yes, cook before!
I love these fresh! These are way better than what I buy, but I don’t know how to get them to taste better when I meal prep them.
Can you use a hand mixer if you don’t have a blender?
The cottage cheese really needs to be blended with the eggs for the proper texture!
I used an immersion blender, worked great, faster clean up
Just made these and they look and smell delicious! How long do you think they’ll be good for in the fridge?
Every fridge environment is different, but I’d say you could go three days. Just keep an eye on them!
I made these this morning! So good! I used mushrooms, bacon, and cheddar cheese. My picky toddler couldn’t eat his fast enough. Thank you!
I made these last weekend. They turned out well! I used bacon, spinach, and a shredded cheese blend. They’re even better the next day!
These were delicious but mine REALLY deflated. Could that be because I used liners?
Some deflation is totally normal! But yes, we only tested them without liners, so I definitely think that could be the issue!
My kids would love these, but we live in a country that doesn’t have cottage cheese! I see you mentioned dairy-free cream cheese below – would regular cream cheese also work? We do have that, and also ricotta cheese.
Hmmm. We only tested them with cottage cheese so I can’t tell you 100%. I actually feel like ricotta may work better than cream cheese but i’d hate to ruin your batch! The fat percentage in the cottage cheese vs ricotta is what might throw things off. But please let us know if you try it!
Beth the photo of the add-ins in the muffin pan is excellent! It further opens my mind to how creative one can be with this recipe. One of your opening thoughts, if you don’t have to think about breakfast, so right on.
Another well done budget byte recipe!! Thank you!!
Would this work using only egg whites? I try to steer clear of yolks.
We’ve only tried them using whole eggs! I feel like they may come out a bit spongy and watery if only using whites since the fat in the yolk helps keep them creamy. But you’re welcome to try and let us all know!
These egg muffins turned out great and are delicious! I made broccoli/cheddar cheese, onion/mushroom, and spinach/feta. Breakfast is now an easy fix for me and I’m not grabbing carbs & sugar & wrecking my healthy diet first thing in the morning! Great for snacks & dinner also! Thanks, Beth!
Do these freeze well?
They do!
How are you purchasing ingredients for those prices? Do you have a time machine?
You can check out how we calculate costs here! https://www.budgetbytes.com/how-to-calculate-recipe-costs/ For example, we purchased a 16oz container of cottage cheese for $1.99 and used 1/2 cup, so that’s .50 cents. It’s worth noting that we also try to buy the most affordable option available. Hope that helps!
Any suggestions for folks who need to cook low FODMAP? I’m excited to try these, but need to steer clear of cottage cheese. Thanks!
I’m not familiar enough with low FODMAP rules to give an informed recommendation! I know some people have used dairy-free cream cheese in place of the cottage cheese, but we haven’t tried that out, nor do I know for sure if that’s considered ow FODMAP. Sorry!
Could these be frozen and reheated?
Yes, they can! You should be able to freeze for up to 3 months in an airtight container! Then you can try reheating them by microwaving for 1-2 minutes on 50% power.
Do you recommend pre-cooking or draining add-in veggies to pre-release the moisture? I’m thinking in particular about fresh broccoli florets and fresh or frozen spinach. Would these work or should I cook them beforehand? Thanks!
For frozen I would defrost beforehand to remove excess moisture. Fresh is fine to go right in.
This looks like an awesome way to use up scraps and leftovers! If you refrigerate them, how do you reheat them? Or do you just eat them cold from the fridge? Can you make a lot and freeze them?
Hi Joe, the storage and reheating info is in the blog post! :) 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. You can freeze but take care when reheating them. I would maybe microwave at 50% power for 1-2 minutes.
This is a great recipe. The only thing I’d add, and it’s important, is do not add salt if your using ham or bacon. You can add it after it’s cooked, but you can’t take it away after.