Mini Frittata with Cheese, Bacon & Red Onion
Mini Frittata make a nutritious, tasty, and easy breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. In those post I’ve flavoured them with the classic pairing of cheese, bacon and onion. But, hugely versatile and quickly cooked in muffin trays, I’ve also given you loads more ideas for a whole range of different Mini Frittata.
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I love eggs. Not just because they’re nutritionally amazing, providing high quality protein as well as many vitamins, minerals and essential micronutrients, but because they’re also incredibly versatile. And one of the egg dishes I make throughout the year is frittata. Adaptable to whatever vegetables, meat or fish you happen to have to hand, in spring and summer it might contain peas, broad beans, mint and goats cheese. In autumn and winter, roasted root vegetables and kale flavoured with chilli flakes and sage.
But today I’m sharing my recipe for Mini Frittata which I think are even easier than traditional frittata.
MINI FRITTATA
Traditionally, frittata (or frittate if you prefer that as the plural) are cooked in a pan then finished under the grill or in the oven. However, my Mini Frittata are cooked wholly in the oven in muffin trays.
While these tasty, eggy delights can be used as part of a main meal, I think they’re especially convenient when you keep some in the fridge or freezer for a speedily-prepared breakfast, brunch or lunch at home – they reheat and/or defrost within seconds in a microwave. But they’re also good cold which makes them a nice addition to a packed lunch or as part of a buffet too.
The recipe I’m sharing today has a classic flavour pairing: Mini Frittata with Cheese, Bacon & Onion. But, incredibly versatile, at the end of the post I’m given lots more ideas for different flavours.
The frittata base mix couldn’t be simpler, and it’s the same however you decide to flavour them. For 6 Mini Frittata, just whisk together in a jug 3 eggs and 1 tablespoon of yogurt, salt and pepper. If you don’t have yogurt then you can use milk, cream, crème fraiche or similar. I’ve found little difference to the result, but as I always have yogurt in the fridge that’s what I use.
MINI FRITTATA WITH CHEESE, BACON & RED ONION
For my cheese, bacon and red onion Mini Frittata, I first sauté bacon and onion in a little olive oil. Then, off the heat, I stir in chopped spring onion. When I have chives in the garden I use those instead.
If you have metal muffin tins, you may wish to line them with paper cases. However, mine are silicone so, as long as I brush them with a little fat, the frittata pop right out once cooked. As there’s fat in the pan after cooking the bacon, I dip my brush in that to grease the muffin cups.
Once greased, divide the bacon and onions between the muffins cups and sprinkle a little finely grated Parmesan cheese over each one.
Next, divide the seasoned egg and yogurt mixture between each muffin cup, topping off with some grated Cheddar cheese.
Put the tray into your oven preheated to the temperature shown in the recipe card. The muffins should be done in about 12 minutes: an inserted skewer will come out clean when they’re cooked through. If you want to brown the top a bit more then just turn the oven up to high for a couple of minutes.
After taking the frittatas out of the oven, I leave them for about three minutes before turning out as, besides being less likely to burn yourself, I think this helps to ensure they don’t stick to the sides.
If you can avoid the temptation of eating them all straight away, cool the frittatas on a wire rack before refrigerating or freezing.
Any flavour you like & good for using up leftovers too
Although I cooked the bacon and onion especially for this recipe, one of the great things about mini frittatas is that they’re so handy for using up leftovers:
- Breakfast mini frittatas: chop up cooked bacon, sausage, mushrooms. Add a little fresh or sun-dried tomato.
- Chilli mini frittatas: add leftover veggie or meat chilli
- Curried mini frittatas: add leftover curry & a little chopped coriander if you have it.
- Meat-and-two-veg mini frittatas: chop up leftover roast meat and some veggies from a Sunday roast. Add a little mint for lamb, horseradish for beef or dried sage for pork or chicken.
- Mediterranean mini frittatas: chopped Mediterranean veg roasted with garlic, e.g. peppers, courgette, red onion, aubergine, cherry tomatoes. Top frittatas with cubes of feta or goat’s cheese.
- Seafood mini frittatas: flaked, leftover poached salmon or other fish and/or cooked prawns. Add a squeeze of lemon.
- Ham and cheese: cooked ham with any cheese plus maybe a few spoons of your favourite chutney.
Whatever flavour combination you make, the basic, simple formula is the same: for every six mini frittata you’ll need 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon of yogurt or similar plus around 6 tablespoons of filling.
Once you’ve made a batch, you’ll realise the possibilities are endless and maybe, like me, find yourself dreaming up all sorts of potential flavourings – how about these for a tasty, economical idea? Sicilian-inspired mini frittata with tinned sardines in olive oil, lemon, fennel seeds and garlic. Served with salad and fruit they made a wonderful, nutritious lunch. Think I’ll add a few toasted pine nuts next time…
If you’ve tried my recipe, I’d love to know what you thought of it and also any other ideas you have for flavouring frittatas.
Cheese, Bacon & Red Onion Mini Frittatas
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil + extra for greasing muffin tray
- 1 small red onion finely chopped
- 100 g smoked bacon finely chopped
- 3 spring onion (or 1-2 tbsp snipped chives) finely sliced
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 3 eggs beaten
- 1 tbsp plain yogurt or milk, cream or similar
- 60 g cheddar cheese grated
- 10 g Parmesan cheese finely grated
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4
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Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan and saute the onion and bacon until the onion is soft and the bacon browned (10-15 minutes).
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Take off the heat, stir in the spring onion or chives, season with a little salt and pepper. Set aside.
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Whisk together the eggs and yogurt in a jug. Add a little salt and pepper (remember that the bacon and cheese may be quite salty) and set aside.
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Brush a silicon 6-hole muffin tray with oil and stand it on a baking tray. If using a metal muffin tray, you may wish to line with paper cases before brushing with oil.
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Divide the bacon and onion mixture between the muffin cups and sprinkle a little Parmesan over each.
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Pour the egg mixture into muffin cups and top with the cheddar cheese.
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Bake in the oven until a skewer comes out clean (12-15 minutes). To brown the tops further, turn up the heat and cook for another 2 minutes.
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Leave the mini frittatas to cool for 3 minutes before turning out. If not eating immediately, cool and refrigerate or freeze.