These Mini Egg Muffins with cheese and veggies are a go-to for quick and easy toddler breakfasts on busy mornings. These savory muffins are packed with nutritious ingredients and are so quick to bake up—and they work so well to make ahead.
Mini Egg Muffins
Rich in protein and fats that toddlers need, eggs are a wonderful toddler food. You can make a batch a batch of the egg muffins one day and keep them in the fridge until you need them. My family loves eggs all sorts of ways, but I love this recipe since they are so perfect for quickly reheating come meal time.
Having these breakfast egg muffins in the fridge, just ready and waiting to be reheated for a quick breakfast (or lunch) is a total time-saver.
They’re also delicious enough to make for a holiday breakfast, such as Easter or Christmas, to share with the whole family.
Table of Contents
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Ingredients You Need
For this recipe you’ll need the following ingredients ready to go.
- Eggs: The base of this recipe is large eggs. You can use whichever type you prefer.
- Cottage cheese: This adds moisture, calcium, and protein to the recipe. It blends right into the batter.
- Shredded cheese: You can use cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, or another shredded cheese your family enjoys.
- Shredded butternut squash, grated carrot or minced broccoli: Or another vegetable that you like.
- Minced or grated fresh onion or onion powder: Either of these add a little more flavor to the mixture.
- Parmesan cheese: I like to add Parmesan cheese (or Pecorino Romano) cheese for additional flavor in these egg muffins.
TIP: These are packed with protein and have a nice dose of veggies in the mix that are easy to chew. And they boast a solid dose of calcium, plus vitamin A from the eggs, cheeses, and squash.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Here’s a look at the process involved in this easy recipe so you know what to expect. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the full recipe.
- Stir together the ingredients.
- Add your veggie of choice
- Spoon into the greased muffin cups.
- Bake! Remove from oven, let cool for about a minute, then use a knife to gently loosen the cups from the pan. Cool a bit and serve warm or store to serve later.
TIP: The batter comes together really quickly as all it requires is some easy grating and stirring. You can whip these up whenever you have a spare 15 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
We like these with both grated raw or leftover roasted butternut squash and sweet potato, shredded raw carrots or chopped broccoli florets. Use whichever you have or prefer. You could also add snipped spinach or kale or finely chopped bell pepper or mushrooms.
You can cut in half or serve whole for baby to gnaw on baby led weaning style. Their semi-soft texture also means that they are great for babies, younger toddlers or toddlers still getting the hang of more complex textures.
(In fact, this was the recipe that helped a friend of mine start to wean her daughter off of a feeding tube!)
When buying eggs for toddlers, know that from chickens with access to grass and pasture typically have more of these healthy poly- and monounsaturated fats than conventional eggs. Look for the terms u0022free rangeu0022 and u0022grass-fedu0022. Eggs—any way they are raised!—are also a good source of B12, which is particularly important for toddlers who don’t eat meat.
The batch is relatively small so you won’t have leftovers lingering forever (though they actually freeze really well should that be an issue). Store them, once cooled, in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. Serve cold or warm for a few seconds in the microwave.
Each is a two-bite affair for my girls and they almost always insist on dipping them in salsa or ketchup. (I love them on top of salads!)
I’ve made this recipe a lot over the years and the one time the muffins stuck was when I brushed on oil, rather than using nonstick spray. So do use the spray if you can. And use a good nonstick muffin tin.
You’ll also want to let them cool for a few minutes in the pan, then use a paring knife, if needed, to help loosen the edges.
How to Store
Store them, once cooled, in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. Serve slightly warmed up or at room temperature.
Best Tips for Success
- We like these with both grated raw or leftover roasted butternut squash and sweet potato, shredded raw carrots or chopped broccoli florets.
- Add snipped spinach or kale or finely chopped bell pepper or mushrooms to these egg cups if you’d like instead of squash.
- Chop up as desired for babies or younger toddlers.
- You can also pack these mini muffins in a packed daycare lunch or school lunch.
- Chop them up over salads for your own lunch.
- Try mozzarella instead of cheddar. Try ricotta instead of cottage cheese.
- Double the recipe and bake a whole pan of 24 mini muffins at once.
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I’d love to hear what you think of the recipe, so please comment below if you try these!
Mini Egg Muffins with Cheese and Veggies
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon onion, peeled and grated (or ¼ teaspoon onion powder)
- 1/2 cup butternut squash, finely grated (or leftover diced roasted squash, minced broccoli, grated carrot, or minced spinach)
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese (drained if needed)
- 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease 12 mini muffin cups with nonstick spray very well.
- Stir together all ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Spoon into muffin cups, filling about to the brim.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until firm to the touch and golden brown around the edges.
- Let cool for about 5 minutes in the pan before serving to allow them to firm up a bit. Use a paring knife around the edges to help remove them if needed Serve warm or at room temperature.
Video
Notes
- Store in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container or store in the freezer in a zip top bag and reheat for 30 seconds in the microwave before serving.
- We like these with both grated raw or leftover roasted butternut squash and sweet potato, shredded raw carrots or chopped broccoli florets.
- Add snipped spinach or kale or finely chopped bell pepper or mushrooms if you’d like instead of squash.
- Chop up as desired for babies or younger toddlers.
- You can also pack these egg and cheese mini muffins in a packed daycare lunch or school lunch.
- Chop them up over salads for your own lunch.
- Try mozzarella instead of cheddar.
- Try ricotta instead of cottage cheese.
- Double the recipe and bake a whole pan of 24 mini muffins at once.
Nutrition
This post was first published September 2017.
My sons perfect food! He loves them so much and I never have to worry about breakfast time because these are a hit every time!
I’m so glad to hear that!
Any suggestions on how to make this dairy-free? My son is milk protein intolerant. We’ve got dairy-free cheese but I’ve yet to find dairy-free cottage cheese (or ricotta). Would yogurt be an ok substitute?
I would probably just leave out the cottage cheese and add an additional egg!
Oh my gosh we all loved this so much! I never thought to put butternut squash with eggs and it gives the eggs such a perfect sweetness. I made exactly as the recipe said, and added some leftover frozen peas. They didn’t last long enough so I’ll double the batch next time!
Can I use zucchini rather than butternut squash or would that be too wet?
Yes, just squeeze it super dry first.
Hi! Can you use frozen veggies in this recipe? If yes , should I cook it first before adding to the mix? Thanks so much!
Yes you can. Something like corn or peas could be added frozen. Bigger veggies like broccoli or cauliflower you’d want to thaw in warm water, drain and pat dry, and cut up into smaller pieces with kitchen shears.
Can i omit Parmesan? It’s too expensive here
Yes, totally!
This was yum yum. TRied it today. But I uses shredded carrot ,, cauliflower and spinach .
Hi, this was easy to pull together. I used a mix of broccoli and butternut squash and had to cook them longer (I think about 10 mins) to get them to set. They were still very moist and not dried out at all. Unfortunately our 2 year old was not sold on them (yet…I’ll keep trying) but my husband and I enjoyed them. Appreciate you sharing the recipe, Amy.
You’re very welcome!
I accidentally did the big muffin trays… How long do they bake if they are not mini sized? How do I know if it’s ready – should they be super firm or soft on the inside and slightly firm on top? As you can tell I’m new to cooking.
It would depend on how much you filled the cups, but if they were all the way to the top it might be 10 more minutes. The tops should be firm to the touch.
Hi! I would love to try to make these mini muffins.
Just a quick question… do I need to cook the butternut squash before combining it other ingredients just before baking?
If you shred it, it can be raw. If you want to add little cubes, it should be cooked first.
Made these and these were delicious! Thank you for the recipe! Love love love these bite size egg and cheese muffins!
Made this recipe & didn’t sit well with my picky 2 year old so ended up eating the entire thing myself. It was really good!
I’m glad you liked it at least!
Thanks for the heads up Kit! I emailed with her and got her to take it down and did my best to explain why this isn’t okay.
Super awesome for my daughter’s lunch at school. Bonus is that my elderly mother likes them for breakfast, too. Winner!
That’s awesome!
These are great! My toddler is generally leery of vegetables, but she gobbled these up. I added shredded carrot. Will definitely make again.
I’m so glad!
Can I use regular size muffin tin instead of Minnie and just up the time ?
You can, though I’d suggest filling them only half full since these are pretty delicate and may not hold together well if they are full in the regular size cups. If you filed the regular size cups about half full, you might only need a few extra minutes of baking time.
These are delicious! I will be making them with many vegetable and cheese variations. They are going to be great to be able to pull some out of the freezer at a moments notice and give my little guy something fresh not processed to eat. Thank you!
Hooray, thanks for the feedback and I’m glad to hear this!