These Mini Frittata Egg Bites are a wonderful, easy-to-make, one-bite breakfast treat that is perfect for entertaining, great for the holidays, light, simple and super, duper customizable. Read on for lots of flavor options.
One of the perks of this strange career path I have embarked on, is the incredible experiences and opportunities to understand and investigate our food further. I consider it a great blessing that I am able to get behind the scenes and truly see where our food is coming from – as this is of high importance to me, to learn, to educate myself and to share with all of you, to hopefully empower you with the knowledge to make the best choices for your family.
To boil it down quite simply, first, personally I want my food to be nutrient-dense and second, I want it to be bullsh*t free! As a long supporter of Vital Farms I was beyond honored when they asked if I would come to Missouri to tour some of their farms, to meet the growers and most importantly to see how their Girls on Grass live, the pastures they graze on and a peek behind the scenes at how they run things.
I am beyond excited to share that everything this company boasts if truly a reality. No BS! Right down to Stuart, the farmer featured in their incredible new campaign, he’s a real farmer, with Vital Farms. I spent the afternoon on his farm. Across the board on all of Vital Farms’ farms, the beautiful hens are raised under humane conditions and they have time on pasture, daily, each bird getting a minimum of 108sqft of pasture to roam (compared to less than 1 foot that a cage-free hen gets or the 2sqft that a free-range hen receives).
This is quite possibly my favorite marketing campaign of all time, from a food company, you HAVE to watch
I cannot thank Vital Farms enough for opening their (barn) doors to us and with open arms allowing us to see how their happy, pasture-raised hens are cared for. It was an honor to see how their real farmers (growers) truly care for their #girlsongrass with a genuine love and passion for their craft, for the birds, the land and for us, the customer. If more food companies were this thoughtful, this transparent and this honest, we would really see things shift in our food system.
This experience also served as a really great reminder to me, that our voices are loud and they are powerful. We are being heard by the people and companies working to do things the right way – so please continue to speak up, speak loudly and support the companies that are listening. It’s important and it’s working.
If you want to learn more about eggs and how the hens are raised, why to choose pasture-raised vs cage-free vs free-range, along the nutritional differences or why there are brown eggs and white eggs and which is better – check out my recent post: What You Need to Know About Eggs.
What I Learned from Vital Farms:
- Vital Farms NEVER uses pesticides, herbicides or harmful chemicals on any of their farms (regardless if they are the alfresco eggs, non-gmo or organic), those differences come in the certification of the feed given to the hens.
- the pasture the hens forage on is rotated generally every three weeks.
- laying hens HAVE to receive supplemental feed. About 4 ounces a day. It is simply NOT possible for birds expected to lay eggs every day to do so just on what they consume on pasture, eating bugs, worms and foraging on grasses. Vital Farms‘ hens are fed a proprietary blend of corn and whole unprocessed soy, depending on the eggs you buy, the feed will be certified non-gmo and organic.
- the soy in the feed is unprocessed and provides proper amino acids and essential proteins. Given that the soybeans are whole and unprocessed and how the hens digest the soybean in their feed, their eggs are tested and most eggs contain less phytoestrogens and isoflavones than two pinheads of soy milk, if any at all. VF noted that most people that have issues with soy in other grocery store eggs do not have issues with these eggs
- the hens are let out of the barns after about 3 hours after the lights come on in the morning, this gives them time to eat and lay. They go out to pasture around 10am. They have ample time until sunset to eat, forage and explore. They head back into the barns on their own, as the sun sets, as well as at the threat of predators or if the heat becomes too much for them. They like their barn, it is their safe place and they rarely need to be coaxed on physically moved back in. Their lights go out at 10pm
Finally, I am excited to be sharing this recipe with you for these Mini Fritatta Egg Bites that have become a bit of an entertaining staple for me. I served these back in the summer at the Boozy Brunch I co-hosted at Cleobella and they were a huge hit with everyone. And honestly, while a large, frittata is super simple to pull together for a small group, I really love these Mini Frittata Egg Bites for parties, for entertaining and hosting – it’s a really great way to have multiple options and to have a simple, bite-sized food that doesn’t require much more than a small napkin. One bite, no fork, plate or sitting required.
As usual, what I especially love about this recipe is the ability to customize completely to what you prefer and what you’re craving. My two go-to flavors, to keep it simple, are bacon and cheese with chives and a veggie-loaded version, with peppers, onions, cooked greens, chopped mushrooms and fresh herbs. It works best to pre-cook any meat or veggies, allow them to cool a bit and add to the egg-mixture before pouring into the mini muffin pans. If your add-ins are hot, they will start to cook the eggs, which you don’t want.
Options for adding to your Mini Frittata Egg Bites:
- cooked meat: bacon, sausage, chicken, pork, etc
- deli meat: ham, salami, turkey, etc
- smoked salmon
- veggies: onion, garlic, peppers or chiles, greens, mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, squash, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, artichokes
- cheese: cheddar, mozzarella, goat cheese, feta, parmesan, etc – shredded, diced or crumbled
- shredded, cooked hash browns
- olives
- salsa, sour cream, creme fraiche
- fresh herbs: scallion, chives, basil, thyme, oregano, cilantro, parsley, etc
- etc, etc
Flavor Ideas:
Smoked salmon, goat cheese and capers.
Pizza: shredded mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, sausage and pepperoni
Greek: kalamata olives, quartered cherry tomatoes, feta, spinach, oregano
Mexican: queso fresco or cotija, chorizo, cilantro, green onions, serve with salsa
Spring: aspragus, peas, mint and goat cheese
Mushroom, gruyere or fontina and caramelized leeks
Buffalo Chicken: leftover shredded chicken, crumbled blue cheese, top with hot sauce
Caprese: fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and basil
Thanksgiving Leftovers: shredded or cubed leftover turkey, cheese, whatever veggies you have, green beans, greens, etc
Mini Paleo Egg Bites
Ingredients
- 8-10 large Vital Farms pasture-raised eggs*
- ½ cup milk, unsweetened non-dairy, like almond or coconut, or goat, cow, etc
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ - 1 cup add-ins, like bacon, ham, sausage, cheese, greens, cooked onions, wilted greens, cooked chopped veggies, salsa, etc
- additional fresh herbs, as you'd like
(see above for tons of add-in options and flavor ideas)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375º F.
- Spray or lightly grease 2 mini muffin tins (each with 24 cups) with butter, ghee, olive, avocado or coconut oil. Whisk the eggs, milk, pepper, and salt in a large bowl to blend well. Stir in any add-ins you are including.
- Fill prepared muffin cups almost to the top with the egg mixture. Bake until the egg mixture puffs and are just set in the center, about 8 to 10 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, loosen the frittatas from the muffin cups and slide the frittatas onto a platter. Serve immediately. Serve with any sauces or sour cream, garnish with fresh herbs.
Notes
Vital Farms is a sponsor of Tasty Yummies. All content, ideas, and words are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that allow me to create new and special content like this for Tasty Yummies.
2 Responses
Can I freeze these Mini Frittata Egg Bites?
And if so, how do I reheat?
yeh I dont see why not – you can allow them to cool completely, then arrange on a parchment covered sheet pan and freeze for 2 hours. Then remove frozen egg muffins from freezer and store in an air tight bag or container for up to 3 months.