These copycat Starbucks egg bites are slow cooked in the oven, yet reminiscent of tender sous vide breakfast bites with ham, bell peppers and a flavorful egg base.
They're pretty darn close to the real thing, but you can make them at home with your favorite mix-ins, and for a lot less money.
Step-By-Step Cooking Instructions
The steps are really simple and you'll invest 10 to 15 minutes of prep time to have breakfast all week!
Here's how to make the bites:
- Preheat the oven. To make these 'sous vide' ish, I bake them at a bit of a lower temperature than normal egg muffins - 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- This will help them bake 'softly' and yield tender egg bites and make sure they're evenly cooked.
- No we're not actually sous vide-ing these bites like Starbucks does because most people don't have a sous vide machine, so we're doing our best to yield tender egg bites by cooking them in the oven!
- Prepare a water bath. Fill a baking dish ¾ full with water. Place it on the bottom rack of the oven.
- This will add moisture to the oven while the egg bites cook to give them that sous vide-style finish.
- Prepare the muffin tin. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.
- You can also brush them with melted butter or oil, if you'd prefer.
- Saute the veggies. While the oven preheats, saute the veggies.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet to medium.
- Add any combination of veggies you have on hand or want to use in your cups. I like to saute them first to soften them and give them a bit of caramelization (i.e. FLAVOR!).
- Once they're a little soft and the greens are wilted, they're ready to go!
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet to medium.
- Blend the base. Besides the lower cooking temperature, this is another feature of this recipe that helps these bites resemble the Starbucks sous vide egg bites.
- The mixture is whirled in a blender! This incorporates air into the mixture, making the cups light and fluffy.
- There are no streaky egg bits here, folks! In addition, the eggs get blended with Greek yogurt, cottage cheese or ricotta, which also provides a nice texture.
- So go ahead and give the eggs, dairy of your choice and the spices a thorough trip in the blender.
- As for spices, I use onion and garlic powder as well as mustard powder because they give a nice background flavor to the cups.
- Feel free to add other spices and herbs as you wish.
- Pour mixture into the muffin wells. Now that the egg base is ready, pour it into the prepared muffin tin, filling each well about ¾ of the way full.
- Don't overstuff them, as you still need to add the veggies, breakfast meat and cheese!
- Add the mix-ins. In this case we are using sauteed spinach and bell pepper (the spinach is an add-in, as the Starbucks version doesn't have spinach.
- Why not make these cups more colorful?! So go ahead and spoon some of the veggie mixture into each cup.
- And in this case, a little spoonful of diced ham.
- Then, top each with shredded cheese (my favorite part).
- Bake. Stick the pan in the oven and let the magic happen!
- They'll take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes to cook, depending on your oven.
- The eggs should be just set (not jiggly or wet!) and only a little bit of browning on the edges.
- Take them out and let them cool a little, then run a knife around the edges to help them release smoothly. And... DIG IN!
- Discard the water bath. Pitch it!
Recipe Substitution and Alterations
One of the perks of making your own copycat Starbucks egg bites is the ability to customize them to meet your taste and dietary preferences.
- Veggie options: Starbucks uses bell peppers in their bites, and I really love that, so I stuck with it for this rendition.
- But you can use any combo of veggies, like greens, mushrooms, onion or broccoli, for example.
- As written in the directions, I suggest sauteing the greens, like spinach, kale, mustard greens or chard and the other diced veggies first to soften them a bit and give them a bit of caramelization.
- More flavor is a good thing! You can also add in a scoop of frozen shredded hash browns, if you wish!
- Meat options: You can use any variety of breakfast meat, such as ham, crispy bacon or chicken, turkey or pork sausage or chorizo.
- You can saute the ham a bit before adding it to the mixture, if you'd like, so the edges are browned and crisp.
- Be sure to cook the bacon or sausage before adding to the cups, for sure. You can also go meatless!
- Starbucks makes a bell pepper and egg white cup that doesn't have any meat.
- Cheese options: I am a huge fan of mild, white or sharp cheddar, Gruyere, gouda, Swiss, havarti, a Mexican blend or any other delicious shredded cheese you like.
- These would even be great with crumbled feta or goat cheese. The cheese you choose will likely be dependent on what veggies, meat and spices/herbs you go with.
- For example, a Mexican blend will go nicely with a mix of chorizo, bell pepper, onion, chili powder and smoked paprika.
- Spice and herb options: Anything goes, friends!
- Definitely add the mustard powder and onion and garlic powder, no matter what else you add to give the base a nice flavor.
- But you can add chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, Italian seasoning, Indian spices, and really any other spices and herbs you're in the mood for.
- You can even stir in some chopped fresh herbs if you have them at home. Yum!
Nutrition Considerations
- To make them vegetarian: Skip the meat! And add more veggies.
- To make them dairy free: Skip the Greek yogurt, cottage cheese or ricotta and leave the cheese off. And voila - dairy free egg bites!
- To make them gluten free: The main ingredients of the egg bites are gluten free, but check the labels of every product you buy to be sure they're gluten free. Then you're good to go!
Storage and Reheating Instructions
- To store in the refrigerator: Place the bites in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 5 days.
- Reheat in the microwave for 30-60 seconds on high or until heated through.
- To store in the freezer: Place the bites in an airtight container and freeze up to 2 months.
- Reheat in the microwave for 60-90 seconds on high or until heated through.
What can I pair with the egg bites to make a balanced meal?
You can certainly enjoy these copycat Starbucks egg bites all by their lonesome because they contain a good amount of protein, fat and veggies.
But if you want to get a bit more fiber in with breakfast, you can certainly do that.
- Fruit. Adding a side of fruit to breakfast is never a bad thing.
- Fruit provides fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants!
- I like to do a mix of berries, pineapple, mango and kiwi. Or you could enjoy an apple, pear, orange or a few clementines.
- The sky is the limit with fruit options!
- Potatoes. Potatoes are a good source of fiber and potassium and are the perfect breakfast accompaniment.
- Go for hash browns, American fries or good ol roasted sweet potatoes, my friends.
- I highly suggest my recipe for crispy breakfast potatoes, just sayin'.
Do I save money by making my own egg bites?
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Starbucks sous vide egg bites.
And I won't lie - making them in the oven isn't exactly the same. But, they're pretty darn close.
The cost adds up really quickly, plus its easier to make a big batch at home to reheat throughout the week. Here is the comparison:
- 2 egg bites at Starbucks: $4.45
- 2 egg bites made at home: $0.81 (!!!!!) You can make a batch of 12 egg bites for $4.86 at home!
More Delicious Egg Recipes:
- Grown-Up Deviled Eggs
- Asparagus & Sausage Quiche
- Broccoli Cheese Egg Muffins
- Grown-Up Egg Salad Sandwiches
- Cheesy Wonton Breakfast Cups
Copycat Starbucks Egg Bites
Easy baked Copycat Starbucks egg bites with bell pepper and ham. Save money and customize your egg bites by making them at home!
- Prep Time: 10-15 mins
- Cook Time: 18-25 mins
- Total Time: 28-40 mins
- Yield: Makes 12 bites 1x
- Category: Breakfast, Brunch
- Method: Baking, Stove-Top
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped (optional)
- 8 large eggs
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt, cottage cheese or ricotta
- 1-1 ¼ teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ cup diced ham
- ¼ cup shredded Gruyere or white cheddar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Fill a baking dish ¾ full with hot water. Place it on the bottom rack of the oven as soon as you turn it on. (This will add moisture to the oven while the egg bites cook to give them that sous vide-style finish.)
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet to medium. Add the bell pepper and spinach (if using) and sauté 2-3 minutes or until the peppers are slightly soft. Set aside.
- Place the eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese or ricotta, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder and black pepper in a blender. Puree until smooth.
- Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Pour the egg mixture into each of the muffin cups, filling about ¾ of the way to the top.
- Spoon a small spoonful of the pepper mixture and the diced ham into each cup. Top each with shredded Gruyere or white cheddar.
- Bake 20-25 minutes or until egg is set. Let slightly cool, then run a knife around the edge of each muffin and carefully remove from the muffin tin cup. Serve immediately or let cool and store in airtight containers in the refrigerator up to 5 days or the freezer up to 2 months.
- Discard the water from the water bath.
Notes
Cooking, Storage and Substitution Tips: See the blog post for tips!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bite
- Calories: 78
- Sugar: 1g
- Sodium: 259mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 1g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 7g
- Cholesterol: 129mg
Destiny says
My one year old went on a strike against scrambled eggs so I had to get creative. She devoured these and so did I 😊😊 amazing recipe!!
Julie Andrews says
Ha, my daughter does that! She only loves scrambled eggs if they're off my plate, lol! So glad your little one loved these egg bites. We make them regularly!
Val H says
Do you need to do anything different to do just egg whites? I really like the egg white and red pepper egg bites
Julie Andrews says
Hi Val - you can make them exactly as the recipe outlines, just replace the 8 whole eggs with 16 egg whites. Enjoy!
Dena says
These are great! I wanted a recipe similar to the little egg bites Costco sells except not just egg whites. In my household, we eat the whole egg. I saw it called for cottage cheese so I was sold!
The description has 325 degrees but the recipe has 300, so I made these at 300 with the water bath and they needed about 10 mins more time but they came out perfectly cooked, and not brown on bottoms. Perfection!
I used gruyere but I didn't quite have enough so I added some other cheddar to make up the amount. This seems like a flexible recipe that can accommodate what you have on hand. I appreciate the time put into posting this recipe, so thanks.
For us, these are for meal planning so that I have things ready to eat for breakfast for a few days. Or these would be great for a breakfast treat to share if you have company.
Julie Andrews says
Hi Dena! Thanks so much for the feedback and I am so glad you enjoyed them! It makes such a difference to cook them with a water bath in the oven so they get that 'sous vide' texture. I generally cook them at 325, but 300 for a bit longer works great, too!! I hope you make them again!
James says
Delicious recipe…any suggestions on a method to keep the egg bites light and fluffy(like when they first come out of the oven)thanks
Julie Andrews says
Hi James - glad to hear you enjoyed the egg bites! There will naturally be some settling once the egg bites sit for a little bit after they come out of the oven. The texture should still be fluffy, though! A tip for reheating (so they don't lose their fluff or become rubbery): Place a short glass of water in the microwave with them and reheat them until just heated through (probably 30-90 seconds depending on how many you reheat at one time). I hope that helps!
Carolyn says
These turned out great! I used cottage cheese and made six with ham, bacon and cheddar (for husband who doesn't eat veggies) and six with spinach, green pepper, onion. smoked Gouda for myself. In the future though I would cut back on the coarse salt. I used Himalayan pink salt and thought mine tasted too salty. But I'm sensitive to tasting too much salt or maybe I should not have used the pink salt (?). I do plan to serve these in the future at an upcoming brunch party, but I'm cutting the salt in half and guests can further salt the bites on their own, unless you give me advice about the course salt. Thanks!
Julie Andrews says
Hi Carolyn, I'm glad you liked them! As far as the salt goes, I don't regularly use Himalayan, but after speaking to some of my chef friends, it seems you often need to use a little less of it if you're subbing it in. I generally use a coarse kosher salt, which is what I base my recipe suggestion on. If you use a salty ingredient like bacon, that also can impact the saltiness. It's a great idea, like you mentioned, to use less if making them for a crowd, then they can add more if they'd like. I hope that helps! Enjoy!
Wendy says
I absolutely agree. The salt was way too much! I will probably only add a dash in the future and let the consumer of the egg bite decide if they want more.
Julie Andrews says
Hi Wendy! You can always adjust the salt in any recipe - that's the beauty of scratch cooking! 🙂
Rebecca Watt says
This recipe is by far the best I’ve tried - and I’ve tried many!
I’m from the UK so I typically don’t use cup measurements - so I used the gram equivalent of cups. The same also applied for Fahrenheit, my oven is Celsius based so I cooked at 165 degrees for 20 minutes and found they came out perfectly.
But my god, the recipe was incredible! Fluffy, moist, tasty and super filling! You can’t get any better. I used smoked ham with cheddar but will definitely be trying different variations as this will be a breakfast staple for me!
Thanks for this!
Julie Andrews says
This makes me so happy, Rebecca! I am glad they were delish, enjoy!!
Karen says
These look delicious!! I have one quick question & I apologize up front if this is a silly question, but in the ingredients it states Greek Yogurt, Cottage Cheese or Ricotta Cheese..... so my question is: is it ½cup of Greek Yogurt OR ½cup Cottage cheese OR ½cup Ricotta Cheese? Or is it ½c of Greek Yogurt AND ½c of Cottage Cheese OR ½c of Ricotta cheese???
Julie Andrews says
Hi Karen! Not a silly question! It's 1/2 of Greek yogurt, cottage cheese OR ricotta. 🙂
Nancy says
I halved the recipe since I only had a dozen eggs
substituted green onions, 1/8 tsp curry powder
They turned out perfect, fluffy and didn't stick to pan
I think the water bath below made a huge difference
Julie Andrews says
So glad they worked out for you, Nancy! Enjoy!
Kristine says
Delicious! Made these with cottage cheese and they were so light and fluffy.
Julie Andrews says
Yay! So happy you loved them, Kristine!
MacKenzie says
I love that I can make these at home. Better on my budget and perfect for meal prep.
Julie Andrews says
Right?! Love a budget-friendly option that tastes as good as the OG!
Jill says
Delish! I'll only make your homemade version of these egg bites from now on!
Julie Andrews says
So glad you enjoyed them, Jill!
IEVA says
I'd say almost identical to the original! The seasoning is spot on! Thanks so much for the recipe - really love these for breakfast, had them a few times already!
Julie Andrews says
Thanks so much for the feedback, Ieva! So happy to loved them.
Felix says
Wow, this egg bites recipe is so delicious! My girlfriend also liked it very much 🙂
Julie Andrews says
Awesome, Felix! So happy to hear it!
Rebekah Fedosick says
Absolutely delicious!!! I skipped the ham, used 50/50 mozzarella and cheddar instead of gruyere, substituted dijon mustard instead of mustard powder (couldn't find mine), and it still turned out delicious! I love Starbucks', but these were even yummier and WAY cheaper. Theirs are just stupid expensive.
One thing I did notice- I used silicon muffin cups for 8 out of the 12 (I only have 8, now... I'm a mom lol) and the texture was definitely different between the ones straight in the muffin pan compared to the ones in the silicon cups. I don't know why, but both were good. The ones in the silicon cups didn't really deflate and were somehow smoother in texture I think, so those were my favorites!
Julie Andrews says
Awesome feedback, Rebekah! I just found my silicone cups (they were in my daughter's play kitchen LOL) so I am going to try making the egg bites in them! I am glad you enjoyed them and were able to make a few substitutions with great results. 🙂 I hope you make them again!
Juli says
Do these freeze well? I would like to make a large batch and freeze them for later use.
Julie Andrews says
Yes! They should do fine in the freezer.
Joshua says
Hi, I'm going to make these this morning, and surprise my wife.wondering can they be frozen and heated back up in microwave?
Julie Andrews says
Hi Joshua - yes, they can. I'd heat them on 50% power until heated through. Enjoy!
Thomas Harland says
Hello Julie,Can you make them in a air fryer as I don't have a hoven
Julie Andrews says
I'm not sure you'd be able to cook them from scratch in the air fryer - you could warm them up in there, but to get the right texture, you want to cook them in a muffin tin and put a pan of water separately in the oven to help them cook properly! Unless you happen to have silicone ramekins or something similar where you can do a small batch and set a small bowl of air fryer-safe water next to it? I'm not sure what the cooking time would be on that, either. Good luck if you give it a try!
Sarah says
Loved this recipe. We used it after Christmas when we had a ton of leftover ham and cheese. They turned out great but as others mentioned, it took longer to cook, 32 minutes to be set. We even adapted the recipe to use half egg whites and half whole eggs and they turned out great too. Thank you!
Julie Andrews says
That's awesome, Sarah! So glad you enjoyed them. It's wild how different ovens are when it comes to baking time. Thanks for the feedback!