I don’t know about you, but I can’t say breakfast is always exciting in my house. Sure, there are pancake Saturdays, strawberry streusel muffin Wednesdays, and sweet marrow custard Fridays, but there are also olive Thursdays. Yes, olive Thursdays, because the sun is up and I’m out of ideas. Until now. Recently I came across these bacon, egg and toast cups and was inspired to whip up a grain-free version.
Bacon and Egg Breakfast Cups: Portable and Customizable
I was a little hesitant to try these, because in other versions I’d seen it was difficult to tell if the bacon was fully cooked. But they turned out amazing and the bacon was most definitely cooked through. The best part? They’re ridiculously easy to make.
If you have opinionated eaters in your house, you’ll love that each cup is customizable – each person can add whatever filling they prefer. I love cherry tomatoes, cheese and spinach, while the kids prefer salami, mushroom and cheese. You’ll find more filling ideas in the recipe below.
Also, I love that they’re portable. Because although it may be a great sensory experience, grabbing a fistful of scrambled eggs on our way out the door is not this mama’s idea of a great start to the morning.
Thursday mornings have been saved, and very possibly a few “breakfast for dinner” weeknights as well. I hope your family loves them as much as ours.
Bacon and Egg Breakfast Cups Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz bacon
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup fillings of choice (see notes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Grease 6 muffin tin wells, then line the walls of each well with a strip of bacon.
- Then cut one piece of bacon into thirds and use what you need to line the bottom as well. I usually put one full-width slice on the bottom, plus one I’ve cut in half . . . Continue the process until you run out of bacon. You should have 4 to 6 cups total.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- While the bacon is baking, whisk together the eggs in a small bowl and prepare the filling ingredients.
- After 10 minutes, remove muffin pan from oven and distribute the eggs evenly between cups.
- Add in filling ingredients. You want the cups to be about 80% full. In this batch I added cheese, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, mushrooms and fresh thyme.
- Place pan in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the eggs are set.
- After you’ve removed the bacon egg cups from the oven, use a butter knife to gently separate the bacon shell from the muffin tin.
- Lift the bacon egg cups out, season with salt and pepper, garnish with herbs if desired, and serve.
Notes
- Filling options: diced mushrooms, onion, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, salami, pepperoni, jalapeños, garlic, spinach, herbs, shredded cheese, crab meat, lobster, or salsa
- When I’ve made these the bacon is always fully cooked by 25-30 minutes. However, because it was baked rather than pan seared the surface is not caramelized we’re used to. If you prefer the caramelized look, you can heat a skillet on high and roll the outside of the bacon cups in the skillet.
Nutrition
Do you have a version of egg cups that you make? I’d love to hear about it!
