RECIPE: Enjoy some egg bites without a sous vide, or a road trip
I used to rage against the youth travel sports industry. Then I became a parent. Now it feels totally normal to drive my daughter 250 miles to play a game against another team from our hometown. Along the way, we stop for overpriced, over-sugared coffee drinks (which I also said I wouldn’t do) and sous vide egg bites. Like little soufflés, these little pillows of protein are tasty, filling, and seem like they should be easy to replicate at home. However, a sous vide machine, which is basically a food Jacuzzi, is an expensive appliance I can’t justify. So, if I happen to have a Saturday at home, could I make egg bites using the equipment I have on hand?
The restaurant egg bites are light and fluffy. To create a soufflé-like texture, I separated my eggs and used just the whites. Pro tip: Separate your eggs into a bowl one at a time so that a rogue yolk doesn’t wreck havoc with the whole recipe. I dropped the egg whites into the blender jar, and added chives and a handful of spinach for vitamins. A nanosecond whirl in the blender chops your spinach so you don’t have to. Not a fan of spinach? Other non-crunchy vegetables, like roasted red bell peppers or caramelized onions, are delicious too.
My resulting bites were a little too light and fluffy; dairy would add some firmness to the texture. I found a 3:1 ratio of part-skim ricotta to Neufchâtel cheese created the perfect bite. Adding just Boursin cheese created a close second. But if you use Boursin, your people will thank you for omitting the additional chives and garlic powder.
I baked my bites in a silicone muffin pan, which browns the edges and bottom of the egg bites less than a metal muffin tin. The result was an easy, tasty, shockingly low-calorie breakfast that comes together in less than 30 minutes. Which gives you even more time to do all the other things you said you would never do.
- 4 egg whites from large eggs
- 1/4 cup packed baby spinach leaves
- 3 fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried chives
- 3 tablespoons part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 tablespoon Neufchâtel (1/3 less fat) cream cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a silicone muffin pan with cooking spray. Place the pan on a baking sheet for support.
- Add all the ingredients to a blender. Blend on medium speed for 2-4 seconds, until the ingredients are just combined and the spinach is chopped.
- Divide the egg white mixture among 6 wells in the muffin pan, filling each well 2/3 full. Bake for 18 minutes. The egg white bites will deflate when removed from the oven. Allow the bites to rest 3 minutes, then remove them from the pan and serve immediately. Makes 6.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per egg white bite: 29 calories (percent of calories from fat, 38), 4 grams protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, trace fiber, 1 gram total fat (1 gram saturated), 4 milligrams cholesterol, 135 milligrams sodium.Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
