Baked eggs are perhaps one of the best things you can do with minimal effort. They’re so easy, and so good, and you can enjoy them in so many ways. We’ve listed down some of our favorites, and a few tips to baked eggs mastery.

FRESH EGGS

Use the freshest eggs. A quick trick is to put the eggs in a bowl of water. If they lie on their side in the bottom of the bowl they’re great. If they sit up or bounce around, and especially if they float, they’re not fresh at all. Also if you crack the eggs, a fresh yolk with look firm and round and won’t break easily, and the whites will be thick and somewhat cloudy. If the eggs are no longer good the yolks will easily break and the whites will be somewhat thin and watery. They also won’t smell fresh. We talked about this on instagram recently.

THE RAMEKINS

Use shallow ramekins or small, shallow oven-proof bowls to bake the eggs in (the ones in the pic above are just a tad too deep). Each dish should accommodate at least one egg, maybe two, depending on the appetite. If you’re making for three or more, make sure the ramekins fit comfortably into a baking tray and that tray in the oven.

TOPPINGS 

This is the funnest thing–choosing the toppings for your baked eggs. Whatever you use, make sure to pre-cook what needs to pre-cook. As any things like raw vegetables or uncooked bacon or ham won’t cook in the oven in time. In a hot oven, your baked eggs will be ready in 12 minutes or less. You can do this part the night before and just assemble the baked eggs come breakfast.

Baked Eggs

Ingredients
Fresh Eggs (large, 1-2 per person)
Butter or Ghee
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Heavy Cream (optional)
Grated parmesan (optional)

Toppings
Ham and Spinach
Cherry tomatoes and Basil
Button mushrooms and Parsley

Method:

1. Cut up the toppings of your choice into small bite-sized pieces. Mushrooms should be cut thinly and spinach and parsley must be chopped. Leave basil leaves whole.

2. Cook or wilt the toppings of your choice by sautéing them in a bit of olive oil. This would be the ham, spinach, tomatoes, and the mushrooms. You can do this the night before and keep the pre-cooked toppings in the fridge.

3. To make the eggs, grease the bottom of each ramekin or small dish with a bit of butter or ghee. Carefully break an egg or two into the dish. This is not crucial, but try to keep the egg yolks intact, and towards the centre of the ramekin. The sides of the dish will be very hot and will cook the yolks faster than you’d like.

4. Spoon in a bit of heavy cream around or on top of the yolk if you wish. Or you can do the cream first and drop the egg on top. Purists like just eggs and cream, finished with herbs on top. This also works especially well with Ham and Spinach.

5. Drop the toppings of your choice on top of the egg without covering the whole thing. Drizzle some olive oil or more ghee on top. Season everything with salt and pepper. If using the ham and it’s already salty, you might want to season only the yolk.

6. Arrange your ramekins on a baking tray and bake in a very hot oven (400 degrees C) until the whites set but the yolks remain runny. This should take around 8-12 minutes tops, so watch closely. Serve immediately with buttered toast fingers for dunking.

P.S. The truth about eating eggs