Keto Egg Bites
Equipment
- Blender
- 12-cup muffin tin or silicone egg bite mould
- Large roasting pan
- Kettle
- Thin knife or small offset spatula
Ingredients
- 10 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup full-fat cottage cheese 113 g, 4% - this is what makes them silky
- 1 cup Gruyere shredded (100 g) - or Swiss, cheddar, Monterey Jack
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 6 slices turkey bacon cooked crisp and chopped
- 8 leaves baby spinach thinly sliced, optional
- cooking spray grease generously
Instructions
- Set up: Preheat to 300°F and boil a kettle. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin thoroughly, right up over the top rim - egg sticks to anything you miss.
- Blend the custard: Blend the eggs, cottage cheese, Gruyere, salt and pepper for 30-45 seconds until completely smooth and slightly frothy. No curds of cottage cheese should remain visible.
- Fill the tin: Divide the turkey bacon and spinach between the 12 cups, then pour the egg mixture over. Fill only three quarters of the way up - they rise more than you expect.
- Water bath: Sit the muffin tin inside a large roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the outside of the muffin tin, then transfer to the oven. No roasting pan? Put a dish of boiling water on the bottom rack and the tin on the middle rack.
- Bake: About 30 minutes, until the tops are set and only barely jiggle in the centre. They should be puffed and pale gold, not browned.
- Remove within 3 minutes: Rest 3 minutes, run a thin knife around each, and lift out. They deflate slightly as they cool - that is normal. Left longer they keep cooking and start gripping the tin.
Notes
Turkey bacon is lean, so it crisps slowly. Cook it in a lightly oiled pan and give it an extra minute or two so it is properly crisp before it goes in.
The water bath is the whole recipe. Steam holds the surrounding air at boiling point so the custard sets gently. Without it you get egg muffins - firmer and bouncier, a different dish.
300°F, not 350°F. Fifty degrees is the difference between custard and eraser.
Cottage cheese, not just cream cheese. Cream cheese alone bakes dense. Blended cottage cheese disappears completely and keeps the middle soft.
Do not use mozzarella - it turns stringy and gritty when blended into eggs.
Keep the ratio if you change fillings: about 1 cup shredded cheese and 1/2 cup cottage cheese per 10 eggs.
Pat wet fillings dry (roasted peppers, cooked mushrooms) or they water down the custard.
Egg white version: swap in 12 egg whites; start checking at 20 minutes.
Instant Pot: fill a silicone mould, cover with foil, steam 10 minutes on the trivet over 1 cup water with a 10-minute natural release.
Storage: 5 days refrigerated, 3 months frozen wrapped individually in parchment. Reheat 15-20 seconds from chilled or 45-60 seconds from frozen, in short bursts.