There’s a cute little coffee shop called The Annex in my neighborhood (Fort Greene, Brooklyn) that has all the regular coffee shop fare – strong caffeinated beverages and an abundance of baked goods — but they also have something else, something that usually sells out quickly, something you have to get there early in order to get your hands on. Next to the sugary floury donuts one day, I spotted something shaped like a muffin….but it wasn’t a muffin. I asked the guy at the counter (with my usual enthusiastic curiosity when I know I’ve come across something amazing) and he said “it’s just kale, egg and garlic.” WHAT! A paleo masterpiece – with none of the sugar, gluten or flour you might expect in a normal muffin. Say no more.
I knew I needed to create these on my own. The cool thing about these “muffins” is that they won’t give you a sugar spike and crash like a regular muffin would – they’ll give you sustained energy, they are savory instead of sweet, and they are quick to grab and take with you on the go. They are packed with protein and veggies, super easy to make and totally customizable. They are pretty perfect if you ask me.
So here’s the recipe. I made 3 different kinds, just to test it out.
This recipe makes about 12 muffins.
- 12 eggs (organic, free range)
- A little coconut oil, olive oil or grass-fed butter to line the muffin tins with
- Sea salt + pepper to taste
- Vegetables — I made the following 3 kinds:
- Tomato + basil (1/4 cup chopped tomatoes, 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil)
- Kale + garlic (1/2 cup chopped kale, 3 cloves chopped garlic)
- Cilantro + green onion (1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1/4 cup green onion)
Pre-heat oven to 350. Lightly grease muffin tins with coconut oil, olive oil or grass-fed butter.
Chop veggies.
Whisk eggs well in a large bowl, add sea salt + pepper.
Stir in veggies. (If you’re making different flavors, you’ll need to ration the eggs into different bowls for each flavor).
Pour into muffin tins.
Bake for 20-25 mins, or until eggs are fully cooked through.
That’s it! Awesome, yes? I know. And you can add whatever else you want to these.
My recommendation: Since these are just eggs and veggies, I personally like to add a little something else on top after they’re cooked – like sliced avocado, hot sauce, maybe a little goat cheese. So try out different variations and see what you like.
Mmmm. Let me know in the comments if you try any great combinations!!
Enjoy…
Anne says
This sounds FANTASTIC. I’m adding this to my boyfriend’s birthday breakfast feast!
jenny sansouci says
Awesome. I hope he loves it.
Stephanie K says
These sound delicious, Jenny! I can’t wait to taste them instead of drooling over the pictures.
jenny sansouci says
Let me know how they turn out!
Jenna says
how long do they last?
jenny sansouci says
at least 3 days, no idea how long after that because we ate them all before having a chance to find out :)
KC says
These look amazing! Can they be frozen??
jenny sansouci says
I haven’t tried, but have heard that eggs don’t freeze well.
susie says
I freeze quiches perfectly well – these are the same – only don’t use watery veggies such as zucchini…
Felicia says
I just made some tonight, and will have them for breakfast tomorrow. I made red onion, garlic and chard and red onion, tomato and basil. Can’t wait for breakfast!
jenny sansouci says
Chard! Nice one.
Serena says
These turned out fabulous! Thanks!
I added chopped asparagus to the kale and garlic.
Great for on the go in the morning!
jenny sansouci says
asparagus for the win!
Laura says
Do you know if you can freeze these?
jenny sansouci says
I haven’t tried, but my friend Robyn told me that eggs don’t freeze well. Can’t say 100%.
Laura says
okay. I may try to freeze a few to see how it is. I’ll let you know :)
amy says
laura did you ever try to freeze?
Cindy says
I made them and froze them,, They were just fine! I wish I would have used paper cupcake liners… I used foil so had to reheat in the oven.
Ian Simms says
Do you blanch the kale first?
hrhr says
YUM! This’ll make my morning go by much, much smoother–I always wake up too late for breakfast!
jenny sansouci says
yay
Molly says
I currently only have access to a microwave. Do you know if the recipe works making a single serving in a microwave?
jenny sansouci says
No idea, I don’t use microwaves.
Michelle says
If you don’t use microwaves, how do you re-heat these?
jenny sansouci says
I eat them cold :)
Hannah says
I wouldn’t recommend it. In my experience eggs get rubbery in the microwave.
Becky says
I am not a fan of cilantro.
In its place I would use lovage or sorrel.
jenny sansouci says
I don’t know what those 2 things are!!! Googling.
Hannah says
I made four different versions:
(they might not be paleo)
–Broccoli, cheese (young Gouda), & basil
–Carrot, yellow sweet pepper, & basil
–Green zucchini, cheese (young Gouda), basil, & oregano
–Yellow zucchini, cheese (young Gouda), basil, & oregano
I also put them into minnie muffin (small cupcake) tins. I got about 8 muffins per type. My biggest problem seems to be that they really rose and all the veggies were on the top. It may have something to do with the fact that I forgot to add salt.
jenny sansouci says
ooooo the broccoli one sounds yumtown.
not sure about the rising thing. keep experimenting!
Christina says
The same thing happened to mine! Did you ever figure out why?
Vanessa says
I’ve got spinach, onion and garlic in the oven right now. Smells delish!
jenny sansouci says
mmmmm
Jniper says
I’ve made these twice now – 4 different ways!
My favorite combination has been fresh grated ginger, dark soy sauce, red onion, carrot, avocado and a dash of sweet chili.
The ginger makes you want to smack somebody.
Thanks!
jenny sansouci says
YUM! I wanna smack somebody just reading this.
molly says
Gonna make these with ginger … a good excuse to smack my partner!
Emma says
Omg! I made these tonight with all the almost rotting veggies in my fridge (tomato, onion, red pepper, mushroom and garlic) THEY’RE SO AWESOME! I was so surprised they rise like real muffins! So easy and reduced my waste of perfectly good vegetables. Thank you for the great recipe!
jenny sansouci says
Glad you liked it. :)
Shirley says
I do these with a combination of 2 tbsp sirracha and 1/4 cup franks red hot sauce (both have no sugar and are clean sauces) add 2 tbsp coconut oil melted and garlic. Poach two chicken breasts, shred them add 1/2 the sauce to the eggs the other 1/2 to the chicken add 1/3 cup green onions to eggs. Put eggs in muffin tins and then put the chicken on top. Bake for 50 min @ 425. They last for about a week.
jenny sansouci says
Sriracha does have sugar. But those sound awesome!
melyssa A says
These are super easy and delicious to bake. Great easy lite breakfast to go.
Ashia says
Came across this website in hopes of finding, Paleo Breakfast ideas.
Looks really good and similar to the egg soufle from Panera.
Lets just saus it’s 11:30pm and I found my self starving. So i was gonna boil some eggs,when my boyfriend suggested I do this not seeing this website.
I was excited we tried this with eggs, spinach, kale and tomatoes.
Only down side was i didnt have a muffin tray so we used a small pot.
But this was really good, very quick and light. I can’t wait to try spinach and artichoke
Delish delish delish…….
jenny sansouci says
ARTICHOKE. Yeah!
Suzy says
Tasty! – two different combos of swiss chard, green onion, mushroom, grape tomatoes and garlic. What’s not to like . . . . But what am I doing wrong? Some (not all) rose like cake batter and then the centers promptly sunk inward once out of the oven. Also, I used coconut oil to grease tins, but they stuck.
jenny sansouci says
Hey Suzy,
I found that the ones that were more “heavy” with vegetables sink in a little. Try a higher eggs : veggies ratio.
I didn’t have the problem with the eggs sticking to the pan with coconut oil.
sarah says
I made these with onion, jalapeño, and spinach with a little garlic. They tasted amazing but even though I used coconut oil in the muffin tins they didn’t come out great and they kinda fell flat. Any suggestions?
jenny sansouci says
Mine come out pretty well every time, maybe try out another batch?
Cindy says
I just bought silicone muffin liners. Can’t wait to try them. It was suggested on another web site with the recipes.
Nara says
I am so glad that I found your site. I don’t consider myself a vegetarian but I cannot eat meat. (I do eat occasional eggs and cheese though)
The all the recipes I found in your Vegetarian Paleo site is just what I needed. Besides, the recipes are EASY and SIMPLE! Wow.
Thank you so much.
I will make these egg muffins for my pack lunch to a company training.
jenny sansouci says
Yippee
Nara says
Jenny, I just started to build a new blog and linked your site there. Hope that’s OK with you. Please let me know if would like me to remove the link from my blog.
I have used chopped dandelion greens for these too. I think we can pretty much put anything. Everything’s going to work out for our nom noms! I am going to experiment with dandelion flowers next time when I make these muffins.
Charlene says
Made these today- used orange bell pepper, spinach, and black olives. Delicious!
Tom says
Made these today with chicken, spinach, and tomato Side of bacon what a great start to my day
MrsA says
I find that cutting the kale leaves into thin strips (I use a pair of herb-scissors that cuts 4at a time) makes the kale tender enough to preclude the need to precook/blanch it. That’s how I prep my kale for salad too…makes it less chewy and shortens the marinating time.
Justin says
Quick question… are the portions for the veggie additions for a whole batch or your batch split into 3?
Jelvon Doran says
I loved the idea of ready made low carb breakfasts and ran to make these muffins only to discover daughter number one had absconded with my silicone muffin cases! Grrr! So I had no choice but to use my silicone cake tin. Perfect! It looked like a giant frittata which I then cut into six wedges, wrapping each piece in greaseproof paper and storing in the fridge. Hey presto!
I tried heating a piece in the microwave but it just turned rubbery so now I just leave a piece to get to room temperature because I can’t eat food straight from the fridge.
jeri lynn says
hi, jenny! I know you posted this a while ago, but I was wondering what kind of muffin tin you use? I’ve only been baking for about a year, but I still have not found anything to make muffins in that is environmentally sound. so I end up using small pyrex cups, and it’s not that easy getting a dozen of them out of the oven… so, if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear! and thanks for the recipe:).
jeri lynn
Seema says
Made these yesterday for my family. They were wonderful!
I used eggs, red bell pepper, spinach, cilantro, and red onion.
I’ll add some lowfat cheese to my next batch.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Jenna says
I didn’t think cheese was Paleo? I am new to all this…
judi hopkins says
If you put these in the frig overnight, how do you warm them up in the morning? Don’t like cold eggs, and reports are micro heating makes them rubbery.
dana says
I am doing vegetarian Whole 30 and I made these for dinner last night and they came out awesome! Thanks for the idea! I had to bake them a lot longer (more like 40 minutes) but I also really filled the muffin cups.
Awesome!
— dana @ lil family blog
http://LilFamily.com
carol says
do you saute the garlic or just put it in raw???
Ananya says
I make these but instead of muffins, I but them in a big baking dish. I like the spring onion, spinach and green peppers combo the best. Lots of flavor and freshness!
Lucy says
Hi, I got excited about the recipe and made them in a muffin maker today. They looked nice and tall, but as I started taking them out they have immediately deflated and became flat. Is that expected?
They were golden and cooked through..
Can it be a muffin maker issue? How can I prevent muffins from deflating?
Lisa says
Made three batches of these last night and ate them this morning for Day 1 of the Whole30. Already loving them! Warmed them up for about 15 minutes on low heat in the toaster oven so I didn’t have to eat them cold!
Lisa says
Mine got puffy and airy at the bottom. Any recommendations?
Penny Pepin says
I made these with a little Swiss cheese and a touch of nutmeg, they were great. I did freeze them in individual servings and microwave, frozen for 30 sec. Not rubbery at all! I made these for my elderly mother so she would have a nutritional breakfast with ease.
barbara willson says
This recipe looks like the answer to my prayers when hosting my next PEO brunch meeting. The photo of the egg shells made me think of my back yard birds. Did you know that when washed and the membrane removed egg shells are wonderful for female birds during mating season. The shells of rich in calcium! Barbara
jenny sansouci says
I did not know that! Cool.
Camille LoParrino says
This alternative muffin looks soooo very yummy. I will try it. My question is: It looks like you also added zucchini as a veggie in the last pix. I will definitely try zucchini that I could buy from the Mennonite farmers markets here in the Finger Lakes where they are abundant and fresh.
Thomas says
Great post! Have nice day ! :) klpfw