Spinach and Feta Egg Muffins
Twelve baked egg cups made in one go. Breakfast for the week, and they reheat in ninety seconds.
Nutrition Info (per serving)
- 210
- Calories
- 16g
- Protein
- 14g
- Fat
- 5g
- Carbs
Ingredients
- 10 eggs
- 200 g spinach
- 150 g feta
- 1 red pepper
- 4 spring onions
- 60 ml milk
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
Instructions
- 1Heat the oven to 180C fan and grease a 12-hole muffin tin thoroughly, getting into the corners. Egg sticks to anything it can, and a paper case peels away half the muffin with it.
- 2Wilt the spinach in a dry pan over medium heat for 2 minutes, then tip it into a sieve.
- 3Once cool enough to handle, squeeze the spinach hard with your hands until no more water comes out, then chop it. This step decides whether the muffins set firm or come out watery and collapsed.
- 4Finely dice the red pepper and slice the spring onions.
- 5Whisk the eggs with the milk, oregano, a good pinch of salt and plenty of pepper for 30 seconds, until completely uniform.
- 6Stir in the spinach, pepper, spring onion and crumbled feta.
- 7Divide between the muffin holes, filling each about three-quarters full — they puff considerably in the oven and sink again as they cool.
- 8Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until set in the centre and lightly golden. A muffin is done when it barely wobbles.
- 9Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before running a knife around each one and lifting them out.
Egg muffins are meal prep that actually works, because eggs reheat far better than most cooked breakfasts. Two things determine whether they are good or rubbery.
Squeeze the spinach
Two hundred grams of spinach holds a startling amount of water. Wilted and added straight to the egg, that water separates during baking and pools at the bottom of each cup, leaving a wet, collapsed muffin.
Squeeze it in your hands until it stops dripping. You will be left with a surprisingly small ball, and that is correct.
The same applies to any wet vegetable — courgette, mushrooms and tomatoes all need draining or pre-cooking first.
Do not overbake
Eggs set at around 70C. Past that the proteins keep tightening and squeeze out moisture, which is what makes reheated egg rubbery and slightly weeping.
Pull them when the centres are just set and barely wobble. They finish in the residual heat of the tin, and they will be reheated later, which cooks them further again.
Eighteen minutes is usually right. Twenty-five gives you something bouncy.
Grease properly, skip the paper cases
Egg proteins bond enthusiastically to metal and to paper. Paper cases in particular are a mistake — the muffin sticks and you lose the outer layer peeling it off.
Grease the tin generously with oil or butter, right into the corners. Silicone moulds work well if you have them.
They will sink
Egg muffins puff up dramatically in the oven and deflate as they cool. This is unavoidable and not a fault — it is steam expanding and then condensing.
Filling to three-quarters rather than the brim keeps them from spilling over at their peak.
Storage
They keep for four days in the fridge and freeze for two months. Reheat from chilled for 40 seconds in a microwave, or from frozen for 90 seconds. An oven at 160C for eight minutes gives a better texture if you have the time.
Nutrition
Around 210 calories for two muffins with 16 grams of protein and only 5 grams of carbohydrate, which makes them useful for anyone eating low-carb.
Spinach and feta together bring calcium, iron and vitamin K, and the eggs supply complete protein plus B12, choline and selenium.
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