How to Make Egg Bites at Starbucks
If you’ve ever bought – or tried to purchase – the often sold-out egg nuggets at Starbucks, you understand their appeal. They have a velvety, almost creamy insides, with – at least in the case of the bacon and gruyere varieties – a distinct cheesy aroma, soaked straight out. They’re decadent, and if you’ve started any kind of paleo or keto diet in the new year, you may have identified them as a reliable option to take with you.
As adorable as they are, they have their own problems. The aforementioned shortage is one, but another (much more serious) problem is that they cost four dollars 65 damn cents for what is (at most) two medium sized eggs. Cooking them at home is definitely a more economical way, but there is another problem: they are cooked like a sous-video. (It’s right in the title!)
I know I know. Cooking anything and everything sous-video is hugely popular here, and for good reason, but not everyone has an immersion circulator and it’s hard to get this perfect little ball without the commercial shapes that Starbucks clearly has access to. I briefly imagined how to cut open a silicone muffin pan and painstakingly vacuum-seal each cup before covering it with a cracked beer cooler , but a quick check on the internet for copycat recipes found that they usually included stone jars and long cooking times in precision water baths. ( ahem ). It turns out you don’t need any of these (except for the silicone muffin tray, which thankfully was left untouched). Your oven will work just fine if you take a few simple steps to avoid the dense, plump fate that befalls most baked egg cups.
The ingredient list is the first hint that the way you cook it probably has nothing to do with the end result. The first ingredient is cottage cheese, which means that every egg bite should contain at least as much cheese as an egg. With that in mind, the way forward is clear: beat the eggs with plenty of cottage cheese, add a little salt to keep the eggs moist , and shake the eggs periodically to keep them smooth.
I started with a heap of a tablespoon of cottage cheese per egg, but this turned out to be too much – they were moist and velvety, good, but so moist and velvety that they crumbled even after cooking until they were cooked. I settled on one tablespoon of cheese less than the number of eggs used (for four eggs, use three tablespoons of cottage cheese). After you’ve measured out the eggs and cheese, place them in the bowl of a blender or food processor, along with a couple of generous pinches of salt and a few drops of hot sauce, and whisk. (I don’t recommend doing this by hand unless you have to prove something, as it will be really difficult to mix the eggs and cheese completely.)
Next, we collect. Place some bacon (if using) on the bottom of each silicone muffin cup; You can roughly count on each egg filling one cup. (I used cheddar cheese instead of Monterey jack / gruyere because that’s what I had and I chose a little country ham instead of bacon because sometimes it does, but I would recommend cooking and slicing the bacon first to avoid vanilla , soft strips that come with the Starbucks version.) Fill the cups about ⅛ inch from the top with the egg mixture and add a dash of grated cheese. Place it in a 360 ℉ oven, then leave for 10 minutes.
If it seems that this time is not enough for the bites to end, then it is because it is not. What spoils most baked egg recipes is that the outside cooks faster than the inside, resulting in that horrific (albeit familiar) foam texture. To prevent this from happening, treat them like little omelettes: let them harden a little, and then move the cooked pieces aside so that the raw egg oil has time to warm up. Pick up a vegetable or butter knife at the 10-minute mark. Scrape the sides down and mix until everything looks evenly distributed. They return to the oven, this time setting the timer for five minutes.
Chances are, there have been a lot more things happening in the last 5 minutes than in the previous 10. You should see some decent sized egg curds suspended in thick egg slime, which is exactly what you want. Stir the cups one last time using the tool of your choice, scrubbing the bottom and sides again. Put them back in the oven and set the timer for another five minutes.
This is where things get a little weird. After the last five minutes, you should open the oven and find that the eggs around the edges (or at least corners) of the baking sheet are frozen and may even have fallen out of their cups a little. If you’ve tried to cook about a dozen eggs, the eggs inside the pan won’t cook as quickly. This is the fault of physics, and there is nothing we can do about it.
This is fine! Pull out the cooked ones and note the late blooming ones. Resist the urge to stir them again completely (as with an omelette, shaking too late will turn into scrambled eggs), but poke and scrape on top as it is likely skinning. Open the remaining egg mucus and put it back in for two to three minutes. Unfortunately, the eggs in the dead center of the pan will take the longest to cook, so you’ll need to check them often. Once you take the last of them out of their little cups, you’re done. Let them cool for a minute, then split one in half and admire its velvety texture and canary yellow uniformity.
If you’ve made a bunch for cooking, I find they freeze well if you let them reach room temperature before chilling, and then let them cool to refrigerator temperature before freezing. But even if you’re just making a few servings for yourself, friends, or family, you have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve delivered a great product in less time than it takes to get to and from Starbucks, and without the fancy sous-vide car. (And without paying more than two dollars for a damn egg that you can’t bring often enough.)
Egg bites without sous-video (for four servings)
Ingredients
- 8 eggs
- Cottage cheese 7 tbsp.
- 4 ounces grated cheese
- 4 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
- Kosher Salt
- Hot sauce to taste
- Pepper to taste (optional)
instructions
Whisk eggs, cottage cheese, salt, 2-5 drops of hot sauce, and pepper (if using) in a blender or food processor until combined. Divide the bacon into 8 cups of silicone muffin pan set on the baking sheet. Pour the egg mixture into cups and sprinkle with grated cheese.
Place the baking sheet in a 360 degree oven. Set a timer for 10 minutes. After the time has passed, remove the pan and use butter or a paring knife to scrape the sides of the cups and stir the eggs evenly. Return to oven for another 5 minutes. Remove the pan and stir the eggs again. Return to oven for another 5 minutes.
Remove the pan and remove any pieces of eggs that are completely lying and starting to rise from the cups. If not, break the skin on top to expose the raw egg and return to the oven. Check every 2-3 minutes until all eggs are set. When they are completely frozen, take them out and enjoy, preferably with good coffee, for which you also do not overpay.