Southwest Egg Bites With Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese egg bites with poblano peppers.

Southwest Egg Bites With Cottage Cheese

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.

Course Breakfast Recipes

Cuisine Southwestern

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Servings egg bites

Calories 174kcal

Author Lea Ann Brown

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.
Place the muffin pan on a sheet pan. Pull the middle rack out of the oven and slide the tray back into the oven. Then pour the hot water around the tray. This makes the water bath process much easier.
Bake the Cottage Cheese Egg Bites in a 325 degree oven for 30 - 35 minutes, or until custard is set. Slide the oven rack out and use hot pads to remove the muffin pan from the sheet pan water bath. Let sit for about 15 minutes before removing the egg cups from the muffin pan. Once the oven has cooled, then remove the water and sheet pan. No reason to slop hot water in the oven, or worse yet onto yourself.

Notes

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.
How Do I Know When Egg Bites Are Cooked Through? They'll puff up a bit, pull away from the edges and have a very small amount of golden spots on the tops. You can use a cake tester, or sharp knife to insert into the center, if it comes out clean, the egg bites are cooked through.

Nutrition