Veggie Egg White Bites
Wheher you’re trying to increase your protein intake (as many of us are these days), trying to prepare breakfast in advance, or making quick snacks to take to school or the office, egg white muffins (or bites as they’re often called) are an easy and tasty solution.
Popularized by Starbucks in 2017, egg white bites have been a big hit, especially since so many people are carb-conscious and prefer a breakfast sandwich without the bread. Egg White Bites are even available (frozen) at Costco.
The Starbucks version is cooked by sous vide, a French method that heats the ingredients at a controlled temperature for a precise amount of time, resulting in a uniformly textured and evenly cooked result.
Not everyone has a sous vide machine at home, but I found that it’s easy to make egg white bites at home in the oven, in a very small amount of time, with cost savings as well.
The best part is that you can vary the flavors by choosing different fillings or vegetables. And if you are not trying to keep the calories down, you can kick up the flavor, texture (and calories!) by adding cheese or cooked sausage.
In any case, these Egg White Bites will be a regular part of my weekly cooking prep since they are so easy to make, less expensive, and they store very well in the freezer or fridge.
Egg White Bites
Ingredients
For egg whites:
16-ounce carton egg whites (1 ¾ cup)*
½ cup cottage cheese (or an additional ¼ cup egg whites for dairy dairy-free version)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
For fillings:
You will need about 1 ½ cups of filling ingredients. (approx. 2 tablespoons per muffin cup). For example, you could use only roast red pepper strips (1 ½ cups) or any combination of the items below, or your favorite cooked vegetables.
- Julienne of Melissa’s roast red bell peppers
- Diced Melissa’s roasted hatch chiles
- Sautéed cherry tomatoes and fresh basil
- Quartered Melissa's steamed artichoke hearts
- Cooked crumbled sausage
- Shredded cheese
Instructions:
Prepare vegetable/sausage/cheese fillings. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a 12-muffin tin with cooking oil spray. If any liquid has accumulated in the vegetable fillings, drain well. Divide the prepared fillings between the oiled muffin cups.
Add eggs, cottage cheese, salt, and pepper to the jar of the blender. Blend until well combined.
Pour the egg mixture evenly among the prepared muffin cups.
Bake in a preheated oven until set. They will be puffed and just starting to brown on the edges; 20 to 25 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.
Egg bites can be served immediately. They can also be refrigerated for two days or frozen for up to one month.
*I buy a six-pack of organic egg whites in pint-size cartons at Costco, and store them in the freezer.
