Make Ahead Dairy Free Egg Bites

These dairy free egg bites are a blended egg custard baked low in a muffin tin over a water bath, so they come out smooth and tender instead of spongy.

Dairy-free cream cheese stands in for the cottage cheese and Gruyère in the coffee-shop version; it brings the fat and body that keep the eggs creamy, and a tablespoon of cornstarch keeps them from weeping water in the fridge.

They are not egg muffins, where whisked eggs get poured over chunks of filling and baked hot; here the custard is blended smooth, poured over the fillings, and baked at 300°F (150°C) until just set.

A batch of 12 takes about 40 minutes and covers four to six breakfasts.

Why You’ll Love It

• 12 bites from one blender batch
• No milk, cheese, or butter anywhere in the recipe
• Water bath in a regular oven, no sous vide or pressure cooker
• Smooth custard texture, not rubbery
• Keeps 5 days in the fridge or 2 months frozen
• Reheats in about a minute

Ingredients

This makes 12 egg bites in a standard muffin tin.

For the custard

8 large eggs

4 ounces dairy-free cream cheese (almond-based such as Kite Hill, or Violife)

¼ cup unsweetened plain almond milk

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Avocado or olive oil spray for the pan

For the fillings

4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled (or ½ cup diced ham)

½ cup finely chopped baby spinach

⅓ cup finely diced roasted red pepper, patted dry

2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion

Steps

1. Set one oven rack in the middle and one at the lowest position, put a 9×13 metal baking pan on the lowest rack, and preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

2. Bring about 4 cups of water to a boil in a kettle while the oven heats.

3. Spray a 12-cup nonstick metal muffin tin generously, including the flat top between the cups, because the custard puffs over the edge and sticks there.

4. Do not use a silicone muffin pan for this; silicone insulates, and at 300°F the bites set slowly and unevenly in it.

5. Put the eggs, cream cheese, almond milk, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a high-speed blender and blend 30 to 45 seconds until smooth with no flecks of cream cheese.

6. Blending is what makes the texture; whisking by hand leaves streaks of white and a coarse, bubbly crumb.

7. Divide the bacon, spinach, red pepper, and green onion among the 12 cups, and make sure the red pepper has been patted dry first, since wet fillings turn into watery bites.

8. Pour the custard over the fillings to about three-quarters full, using a glass measuring cup with a spout to keep it tidy; they puff in the oven before settling, so a full cup overflows.

9. Carefully pour the boiling water into the 9×13 pan on the bottom rack until it is about halfway full, then set the muffin tin on the middle rack.

10. Bake 22 to 26 minutes until the tops are set and no longer glossy and the edges pull back slightly from the cups; a center should barely jiggle like set custard, not slosh.

11. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, during which they sink and pull away from the sides.

12. Run a small offset spatula or a butter knife around each one and lift it out.

Helpful Tips & Substitutions

Almond-based cream cheese and Violife both blend smooth; skip tub spreads that list coconut oil as the first ingredient, because they separate into an oily layer on top of the bites.

Violife is less salty than the almond-based brands, so add another ¼ teaspoon of salt if that is what you are using.

The dairy versions get their stability from cheese protein, and without it the cornstarch is what keeps the custard from releasing water in the fridge, so do not skip it; arrowroot works 1:1.

Almond milk keeps the flavor neutral; canned full-fat coconut milk makes them richer but leaves a faint coconut taste, oat milk works, and anything sweetened or vanilla does not.

Nutritional yeast gives them the savory, cheesy edge that is otherwise missing; 1 tablespoon is enough, and they are still good without it.

The water bath keeps the oven humid so the surface stays smooth instead of drying and cracking; skipping it gives you a browner, drier bite that shrinks more as it cools.

Any filling that is precooked and dry works: squeezed sautéed mushrooms, crumbled cooked sausage, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, or diced jalapeño; raw vegetables release water and leave a wet layer at the bottom.

For egg white bites, use 2 cups of liquid egg whites in place of the whole eggs and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the blender for some fat.

Serving Ideas

Two or three bites with fruit and a slice of toast with avocado is a full breakfast.

For a bigger plate, serve them next to Sweet Potato Hash, which gives you something crisp next to the soft eggs.

The Breakfast Hash works the same way when you want potatoes instead of sweet potatoes.

Two bites split and tucked into a toasted English muffin make a breakfast sandwich that holds together in the car.

On the sweet side, a cup of coconut yogurt with Homemade Granola rounds out the plate without bringing dairy back in.

Make-Ahead & Storage

Cool the bites completely on a wire rack before storing them, since warm bites sweat condensation in a closed container and go soggy.

Refrigerate in an airtight container lined with a paper towel for up to 5 days, and swap the towel on day 3 if it is damp.

Reheat from the fridge in the microwave at 50% power for 60 to 90 seconds; full power makes them rubbery and can make them pop.

For firmer edges, reheat in an air fryer at 325°F (165°C) for 4 to 5 minutes or a toaster oven at 350°F for 8 minutes.

To freeze, set the cooled bites on a sheet pan in the freezer for 1 hour, then move them to a freezer bag or glass meal prep containers for up to 2 months.

Reheat from frozen at 50% power for 2 to 2½ minutes, or thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.

The bacon can be cooked and the vegetables chopped up to 3 days ahead and kept in the fridge.

The custard can be blended the night before and kept in the blender jar in the fridge; give it 10 seconds of blending in the morning, because the cornstarch settles to the bottom.

For a double batch, use two muffin tins over the same water pan, swap their rack positions at 15 minutes, and plan on 3 to 5 extra minutes.

These taste better on day two or three, once the salt has had time to move through the custard.

The bites you eat straight from the oven are softer and a little blander than the ones you pull from the fridge midweek.