These Pizza Egg Muffins are packed with flavor with all the usual pizza toppings and add-ins. A deliciously healthy and filling breakfast for busy mornings, these breakfast egg muffins can be frozen for up to a week as well. Plus, they are paleo-friendly.
Eggs for breakfast
My ideal breakfast will always have eggs in it, in one form or another. I love pancakes and waffles (and of course regular muffins or my favorite; blueberry muffins ), but eggs are my go-to breakfast on most mornings. And why not? If you’re looking for nutrition and flavor, you can’t go wrong with eggs for breakfast. And throw in versatility too.
Eggs are such a versatile breakfast/brunch component. Check out this breakfast egg pie , scrambled eggs , mushroom eggs en cocotte , egg salad sandwich , egg stuffed breakfast biscuits , egg in a hole with salmon , and even these miso ramen devilled eggs for a variety of eggy breakfast/brunch options!
These Pizza Egg Muffins (Make Ahead Breakfast Egg Muffins) however are for those days where you want a wholesome, satisfying breakfast, but just don’t have the time! Instead of reaching for an unhealthy snack when that happens, I’ve started making these delicious pizza egg muffins which I can make ahead and store in the freezer for busy mornings.
Egg muffins are mini omelettes made in a muffin pan with all kinds of flavors and ingredients mixed in for good measure. Kind of like crustless quiches. This is also where you can be creative by using different fillings for each egg muffin, or mixing it up on different days/weeks.
There’s a variety of flavor-packed add-ins that you can use like feta or other types of cheese, spinach, broccoli, carrot, herbs, spices and more.
K’s current favorite is these pizza egg muffins! It’s a creamy egg base with spicy sausage and fennel, red onions, basil, cheese and a homemade tomato sauce – all the finger-licking flavors of a pizza but in a fluffy breakfast egg muffin form. I serve these pizza egg muffins with extra tomato sauce because that’s just the way it’s done around these parts. 🙂
Why I love these pizza egg muffins
- So easy to make – I usually make these on a Sunday. I make my own tomato sauce (which I may use for pizzas or pastas during the week), but you can EASILY use your favorite marinara sauce instead with these breakfast egg muffins.
- I use paleo pork and fennel sausage that I cook with a little extra spice. This adds protein and extra flavor to these breakfast egg muffins as well.
- While I didn’t intend to make these pizza egg muffins paleo, this recipe is paleo-friendly . You can substitute a plant based milk for the cream, add nutritional yeast instead of cheese, and use a paleo marinara sauce to make the recipe completely paleo.
- Monterey jack cheese in the breakfast egg muffins as well as on top, makes these extra cheesy and delicious . However, as mentioned, you can skip the cheese to make this recipe paleo and dairy-free. Instead of the cheese in the muffin, you can add nutritional yeast to give these a cheesy flavor.
- I added onions, basil and tomato sauce in addition to the pork and cheese. You could also add mushrooms, bell peppers, and other herbs as well.
- These make ahead breakfast egg muffins are freezer-friendly, and can be frozen for a whole week . Just make sure to completely cool down the egg muffins before you freeze them. Also make certain to freeze them individually, to prevent them from sticking to each other. I’ve mentioned below my favorite way to re-heat these egg muffins as well.
These pizza egg muffins are baked in the oven for 12-15 minutes. When you bake them, please keep in mind that the muffins near the outer edges of the pan cook faster than those in the middle.
Those muffins near the edge caramelize beautifully and may have a slightly wrinkled exterior (because they expand in the oven a lot, and then shrink a bit as they cool down).
The egg muffins in the middle are just set and will have perfectly cooked sides, with a juicier center.
If you’d like to make sure that all your breakfast egg muffins are cooked perfectly, you have two options.
You have two options to make sure they bake until they are just set, and still juicy on the inside.
- When the outer egg muffins are all set and cooked properly (without expanding in the oven – about 10 minutes), they are quickly removed. Then the center egg muffins are allowed to cook for a few minutes more.
- Or you can bake these breakfast egg muffins in a water bath. Place the muffin tray inside a larger cooking tray and fill the larger tray with about 1 inch of hot water. Baking the egg muffins in this water bath ensures even distribution of heat so that they will all cook slowly, but at the same rate.
Personally, I don’t usually do this because I don’t really care about that little difference between the muffins at the periphery of the pan and those in the middle. I enjoy that difference. But you are welcome to do either of these two things if you’d like all your breakfast egg muffins to be cooked evenly.
These make ahead breakfast egg muffins really are a life-saver on busy mornings. They are packed with so much flavor and nutrition and will keep you full till lunch.
While K likes to eat these with a slice of toast, I like to eat them as is. You could also pair it with some avocados or tomatoes and salad leaves if you like.
Or a vanilla avocado drink or a healthy strawberry smoothie or peanut butter berry smoothie for a perfectly rounded breakfast.
How to reheat these breakfast egg muffins
These pizza egg muffins are a freezer friendly breakfast and can be heated from frozen. It’s important that you wrap them up in some wax paper when you heat them in the microwave so that they can use the steam to heat up properly.
I find that if I microwave the egg muffins without wrapping them first, they dry out quickly and taste pretty bad. So I wrap the egg muffins in parchment paper or wax paper and then microwave them on high for about 2-3 minutes.
Another option is for you to thaw them out in the fridge overnight, and then microwave for a shorter period of time – about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. They’d still need to be wrapped in parchment paper though, so that steam will help keep the egg muffins juicy.
The final option is to steam these pizza egg muffins until they are warmed through. This is my favorite way to reheat frozen egg muffins because then they taste JUST like they did straight out of the oven. However, it does take a bit longer. I place the muffins in my microwave steamer, and add about 1/2 inch of water to the water compartment in the steamer, and microwave for about 4-5 minutes (for 4 egg muffins at a time).
You can you whichever option is convenient to you. Thawing them out in the fridge overnight would be the quickest way to enjoy these delicious breakfast egg muffins in the morning. But regardless of which option you use, they still taste just as amazing after being reheated.
Recipe video
Recipe
Pizza Egg Muffins (Breakfast Egg Muffins)
Ingredients
- 12 large eggs
- ¾ tsp sea salt add less for low sodium, as the cheese can also add salt to the mixture.
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ⅓ cup cream or milk. Or use cottage cheese for extra protein.
- 1 ¼ cup shredded cheese I used monterey jack. You can use cheddar as well.
- 115 g cooked spicy ground sausage meat or chopped pepperoni
- ½ red onion chopped finely (about ½ cup )
- Handful of basil leaves chopped
- ½ cup marinara sauce or tomato pizza sauce
Instructions
- Place the eggs, salt, garlic, onion powder and cream in a large mug or bowl. Blend to have a smooth mixture with a stick blender or whisk until you have a smooth egg mix. I prefer to blend if I use cottage cheese. Stir in about ½ cup of cheese. 12 large eggs, ¾ tsp sea salt, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp onion powder, ⅓ cup cream, 1 ¼ cup shredded cheese
- Butter the cavities of a regular muffin tray (or spray with non-stick spray).
- Pour the egg mix into each cavity (about ⅔ full).
- Add a spoonful of the cooked sausage, some chopped onions, basil leaves, and top with a spoonful of marinara sauce. 115 g cooked spicy ground sausage meat, ½ red onion, Handful of basil leaves, ½ cup marinara sauce
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese over each of the muffins. 1 ¼ cup shredded cheese
- Bake at 325°F for about 15 minutes, until the surface of the egg muffins are just set.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool down slightly. Then remove the egg muffins from the muffin tray and let them cool down completely.
- Serve with extra marinara sauce and chopped herbs.
- FREEZING INSTRUCTIONS - freeze the egg muffins in one layer on a baking tray, covered with plastic wrap. Then, place the frozen egg muffins in freezer friendly bags until needed.
- Reheating instructions - let the egg muffins thaw out in the fridge overnight. Reheat in the microwave for about 1 - 2 minutes, covered with wax paper or parchment paper.
Nutrition
Recipe from The Flavor Bender by Dini Kodippili
Pizza Egg Muffins (Breakfast Egg Muffins) https://www.theflavorbender.com/breakfast-pizza-egg-muffins-make-ahead/
