These Egg Bites with Cottage Cheese are perfect for a meal prep breakfast to enjoy all week. Packed with Southwestern flavors, who can resist an egg filled cup rich and creamy in texture, cheesy, with bacon and “just right spicy” poblano peppers.
What You Can Expect From This Recipe
If you’re a fan of Starbucks copycat Instant Pot Egg Bites, you’re going to love this homemade oven egg bite recipe even better. And you purchase egg bites at Starbucks, you’re going to appreciate this cheaper option by making them at home.
Larger Size: Plus, the silicone pan that fits inside an Instant Pot makes very small egg bites. I prefer making egg bites in the oven, and using a regular sized muffin pan to give us larger and heartier sized egg bites.
Same Fluffy Texture: This oven version uses a water bath to guarantee that same soft and fluffy texture that the pressure cooker, and what Starbucks offers.
Meal Prep: This is an easy make-ahead meal prep recipe. Make egg cups on a Sunday and enjoy a grab and go breakfast during the week. These are also a popular recipe to serve guests for breakfast or brunch.
Easy to Eat: Egg bites with cottage cheese are delicious eaten hot and fresh, or straight from the refrigerator, re-heated in the microwave, or even re-heated from frozen.
Healthier: So skip the store purchased egg bites which are loaded with salt and unnecessary ingredients. These are easy to make and addicting with Southwest flavor.
Let’s take a look:
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Ingredients
See full list of ingredients and precise measurements in the recipe card below.
- Eggs: You can have egg bites without them.
- Grated Cheese: I like to use cheddar for these egg bites, but any good melting cheese will work. Try Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, or even Muenster cheese.
- Cottage Cheese: For ultimate creamy texture use full fat please. However, reduced fat will work here.
- Red Bell Pepper
- Poblano Peppers: Poblano peppers can be a bit unreliable in the heat arena, however they are consistently milder than most chile peppers adding a “just right spicy” note.
- Bacon Bits
- Onion: I like to use fine sliced green onion, but you can also use chopped sweet or yellow onion. Red onion will be too strong and over power the overall flavor.
Pro Tip: Purchase good quality cheese and grate it yourself. Pre-grated cheese in bags includes additives to keep it from clumping, which will also compromise the melting factor. Grating cheese from a block of cheese will result in a creamier and more consistent melting experience. Plus, it’s less expensive.
How To Make Egg Bites With Cottage Cheese
- Step 1: Cut the bacon: Use kitchen shears to cut bacon into lardons.
- Step 2: Cook The Bacon: In a small fry non-stick pan, cook the bacon until crispy. Drain the grease.
- Step 3: Prepare vegetables: Cut red bell pepper and poblano pepper into small squares.
- Step 4: Make The Custard: Place eggs, cottage cheese, shredded cheese and salt and pepper into a food processor.
- Step 5: Use the pulse feature to blend the custard egg mixture. Don’t over mix. Mix just until bubbles start to appear.
- Step 6: Sautee the bell pepper and poblano pepper until they are soft and tender. This will take about 7 minutes.
- Step 7: Build those egg bites: Place the muffin tin on a sheet pan. Fill each muffin ⅔ of the way full with the custard batter.
- Step 8: Start adding filling ingredients: Sprinkle the cooked peppers evenly on top of the egg bite cups.
- Step 9: Finish the egg bites: Continue the toppings by adding chopped cooked bacon, chopped onion and grated cheese. Again, evenly dividing these ingredients to each muffin cup. Use a knife or spoon to push the ingredients down into the custard.
- Step 10: Bake: Bake the Cottage Cheese Egg Bites in a 325 degree oven for 30 – 35 minutes, or until custard is set.
Use A Silicone Muffin Pan
I highly recommend purchasing a silicone muffin pan. I’ve used a metal muffin tin to make egg bites, but it can be a chore to remove the egg cups once cooked. Even with a pre-prep of non-stick spray and a sharp knife around the edges, they can still be tedious remove.
A silicone muffin pan is a life saver and works like a breeze to remove the egg bites once they’re cooked. Just pushing up on the bottom of each cup pushes them right out. Be sure to buy a structured silicone muffin pan that allows you to handle it in a stable manner.
Tips For Success
- Highly recommended: Once the muffin tin is filled with the egg bite mixture, pour three cups of hot water around the muffin tin. This water bath will keep those egg bites moist and fluffy. If you skip this step, the Cottage Cheese Egg Bites will be firmer.
- Do not try to make these egg bites without cooking the peppers. Both the texture and flavor will be compromised. The poblano peppers will taste grassy and somewhat bitter if not cooked, and the texture will not be pleasant with the creamy eggs. Cook both peppers until they’re very soft.
- Use a non-stick pan to fry the bacon. Once you drain the grease, there will be a light layer of grease left in the pan. Perfect for cooking the bell peppers and adding some bacon flavor as they cook.
- Don’t oven blend the egg, cheese and cottage cheese mix. Too much air could cause the egg bites to collapse as they bake.
Variations
Egg bites with cottage cheese are incredibly versatile. The sky is the limit for flavor combinations. As long as you don’t over-fill the cups with too many ingredients. Here are some ingredients flavor options.
- To keep these egg bites in a Southwestern flavor profile, switch out bacon for cooked Chorizo sausage.
- Cheese: Use any shredded or crumbled melting cheese in place of cheddar. Muenster cheese, Monterey Jack Cheese, Pepper Jack Cheese and even Colby cheese are all good options here.
- Use Canadian Bacon, chopped ham, Italian sausage or cooked breakfast sausage in place of the bacon bits.
- Go Italian with cottage cheese egg bites: I’ve made these with Chicken Italian Sausage links, cooked and chopped. Omit the poblano pepper and use only bell peppers or roasted red bell pepper. With a bit of provolone or Parmesan, a small amount of Italian seasoning, they were delicious.
- Soft Vegetables: Roasted red bell pepper (chopped), chopped spinach, chopped cooked mushrooms, sauteed chopped zucchini are all good options.
- Vegetarian – These egg bites are easily turned into vegetarian egg bites by omitting the meat.
- Seasonings: Have fun with seasoning. To kick up the heat, add some pure New Mexico Chile Powder. Onion powder and garlic powder will make them more savory. And I always add some hot sauce.
Storage and Reheating
The egg cups will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Just cover with plastic wrap to keep them moist.
To reheat them, I like using the microwave. Just place a single egg bite on a microwave safe plate and reheat for 30 seconds. Instant breakfast!
How To Serve It
The beauty of these cottage cheese egg bites is the grab and go breakfast perk. If you’re looking for turning egg bites into more of a meal, serve them with a simple tossed salad.
Make a heartier option by serving them with Cast Iron Potatoes, or some steamed asparagus drizzled with this easy Balsamic Glaze Recipe.
Serving egg cups for brunch? Serve them with this incredibly popular recipe for Cheesy Potatoes With Cornflakes. A bowl of fresh fruit makes a complete mail.
Want to make egg bites prettier? Top with fine chopped chives before serving. Or even some fine chopped cilantro.
FAQ
To make Starbucks sous vide style egg bites you’ll obviously need an Instant Pot and a silicone muffin pan made especially for the Instant Pot. The Instant Pot silicone pan makes much smaller egg bites, so you’ll make several batches with this large recipe.
You can, but I wouldn’t. I prefer the larger muffin cups, as they’re easier to fill with ingredients. And the larger size makes a heartier breakfast option.
Yes. I would suggest wrapping them individually in plastic wrap. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight for a quick microwave breakfast.
More Of Our Favorite Breakfast Recipes
Love eggs for breakfast? Don’t forget to check out some of my popular breakfast recipes.
And don’t miss my category for Breakfast Recipes. You’ll find the most popular and well known Western Breakfast recipe for this authentic Western Omelette. Easy, cheesy, ham-y and hearty.
Southwest Egg Bites With Cottage Cheese
Equipment
- Food Prosessor or blender
Ingredients
- 8 large Eggs
- 1 Cup Cottage Cheese Full Fat
- 1 ½ Cup Cheddar Cheese Grated
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper Or New Mexico Red Chile Powder (more spice)
- 2 small Poblano Peppers veins and seeds removed, small chopped
- 1 Red Bell Pepper veins and seeds removed, small chopped
- 6 slices Bacon chopped and cooked
- 3 Green onions Tops and touch green part removed. Thin sliced.
- Dashes of hot sauce
- fine chopped chives or cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Use kitchen shears to cut bacon into lardons. In a small fry non-stick pan, cook the bacon until crispy. Drain the grease but don't wipe out the pan.
- Cut red bell pepper and poblano pepper into small squares.
- Place eggs, cottage cheese, shredded cheese and salt and pepper into a food processor. Use the pulse feature to blend the custard egg mixture. Don't over mix. Mix just until bubbles start to appear.
- Sautee the bell pepper and poblano pepper in the same non-stick pan you cooked the bacon. Cook until they are soft and tender. This will take about 7 minutes.
- Place the muffin tin on a sheet pan. Fill each muffin ⅔ of the way full with the egg custard batter. Sprinkle the cooked peppers evenly on top of the egg bite cups.
- Continue with the toppings by adding chopped cooked bacon, sliced onion and grated cheese. Again, evenly dividing these ingredients to each muffin cup. Use a knife or spoon to push the ingredients down into the custard. I like a gentle shake of hot sauce in each cup. Tabasco sauce or Cholula sauce work well here.
- Bake the Cottage Cheese Egg Bites in a 325 degree oven for 30 – 35 minutes, or until custard is set.
Notes
- Highly recommended: Once the muffin tin is filled with the egg bite mixture, pour three cups of hot water around the muffin tin. This water bath will keep those egg bites moist and fluffy. If you skip this step, the Cottage Cheese Egg Bites will be firmer.
- Do not try to make these egg bites without cooking the peppers. Both the texture and flavor will be compromised. The poblano peppers will taste grassy and somewhat bitter if not cooked, and the texture will not be pleasant with the creamy eggs. Cook both peppers until they’re very soft.
- Use a non-stick pan to fry the bacon. Once you drain the grease, there will be a light layer of grease left in the pan. Perfect for cooking the bell peppers and adding some bacon flavor as they cook.
- Don’t oven blend the egg, cheese and cottage cheese mix. Too much air could cause the egg bites to collapse as they bake.
Nutrition
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Southwest Cottage Cheese Egg Bites with Bacon … They’re What’s For Breakfast
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