Ok, so you’re trying to get more protein in, you keep hearing that breakfast is a good place to start, since most American style breakfasts are almost exclusively carbohydrate. One of your first search results when trying to google ‘how to eat more protein’ is those baked frittata egg bites. And you think, hey, I like frittatas, that looks like it’d be an easy grab and go breakfast! Just pop in the microwave and reheat! And for some, these recipes work. But if I’m honest, I’ve never been into the baked frittata egg bite. I’m always left wanting; they are not fully cooked through, rubbery/overcooked on the bottom, dried out on the top, hard to get out of your muffin tin, hard to clean the muffin tin… my list goes on. It’s likely why I will make them every 3-4 years and then remember why they are not in my regular rotation.
However, I am always one to revisit a concept and poke around to see if there is a new variation that works. Enter the instant pot silicone mold egg bite.
Now, these babies are good. And if you’ve tried out the protein pancake recipe I posted, you know I don’t lie about these things. You need a few key tools to make this work, namely an Instant Pot and this silicone mold. I’ve re-worked some other recipes that had a higher fat:protein ratio to something that’s a better fat:protein ratio, such that you could eat these every day. All my qualms of baked bites are eliminated in the instant pot variant: they are smooth, evenly cooked through and moisture content is perfect. (Very similar to a sous vide egg bite.) They release from their silicone mold effortlessly. The clean up is a cinch with the silicone mold, you can even pop it into the dishwasher. Lastly, they are faster than their baked cousins, only taking 10 minutes on high pressure for perfect consistency every time. I am SOLD.
You have to spring for the silicone molds, which can be a leap, especially for a recipe that you haven’t been able to test out. But I’m here to tell you it’s worth that purchase and unlocks other neat uses for your instapot… like making cheesecake bites. More on that in the future!
Recipe below is enough for 2 of the 7 bite molds, linked above, which can be cooked together in the instant pot. Recipe can easily be doubled or halved depending on your needs.
Tools:
Scale or measuring cup/spoons
Instant Pot
Silicone mold – make sure you get one that will fit into the Instant Pot. This one fits in the 6 quart instant pot.
Silicone or metal rack for bottom of instant pot that keeps the silicone mold elevated off the bottom of the pot. I use my hardboiled egg rack.
Sauté pan
Spatula
Blender or food processor
Ingredients:
224g / 8 oz egg whites
168g / 6 oz 2% cottage cheese
2 whole eggs
84g / 3 oz lite shredded cheese – I like Trader Joe’s lite 3 cheese blend
1 turkey sausage patty, cut into ¼” squares
1 spring onion, diced
2-3 cups fresh power greens or spinach or baby kale or baby chard
1-2 dashes hot sauce
¼” tsp ground pepper
½” tsp salt
Cooking spray, I use coconut oil spray
Instructions:
In a sauté pan lightly brown sausage and spring onion. Once they have started to brown, add greens to pan and sauté until just wilted.
Spray each cup of the silicone mold with a little cooking spray.
Divide greens and sausage mixture evenly between all 14 cups. Divide shredded cheese evenly between all cups.
Using a blender or food processor combine egg whites, cottage cheese, whole egg, hot sauce, pepper and salt. Pulse or blend until smooth. Divide egg mixture evenly between all cups, filling to ¼” from the top edge of each cup.
Place silicone lid on each mold, stack the 2 molds on top of each other, slightly off center of the other. Place in metal or silicone rack in the instant pot. Make sure to pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of the Intant Pot. Cook for 10 minutes on high pressure. Once cook time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Remove from Instant Pot and let cool for another 3-5 minutes before consuming or placing in a container for the fridge.
Notes: I’ve seen recipes using fresh greens directly into the cups without wilting them, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of space for the egg mixture and fresh greens take up a lot of space. If using frozen greens, 1 cup of chopped spinach or something similar would be equivalent of fresh, but I still recommend the sauté to season and remove excess water.
You can mix and match whatever ingredients you want! Using a lower fat cheese helps reduce overall fat content, but goat cheese, feta or many other options are available to vary up the flavor and style of these egg bites. I can imagine these delicious with roasted red pepper, sun dried tomato, zucchini, vegetarian sausage and a host of things!
Lastly, I find placing the cheese and other additions first into the molds helps control distribution from bite to bite of the ingredients. I tried a few times to put the shredded cheese into the blended egg mixture and it just didn’t distribute evenly.
Reheating: I do about 45 seconds in the microwave, wrapped in a paper towel. Everyone’s microwave is a little different, so proceed with caution.
Storing: They will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. I see some mixed reports on freezing them, I personally haven’t been able to test this yet as they are eaten far too quickly in our house!
Macros:
2 egg bites: tCal 117 cals, protein 14.5 grams, carbs 2.3 grams (fiber 0.14 grams), fat 5.5 grams
Coach Sarah, FNP-BC, MSN