Protein Egg Muffins

Fluffy, protein-packed egg muffins made with cottage cheese, colorful veggies, and your choice of sausage, bacon, or ham for an easy make-ahead breakfast.

Why You'll Love These Almond Butter Protein Bites

Mornings are a whole lot easier when breakfast is already waiting for you.

These protein egg muffins are packed with eggs, cottage cheese, veggies, cheese, and your choice of sausage, bacon, or ham. Blending the cottage cheese right into the eggs makes them creamy and fluffy while adding an extra boost of protein—and if cottage cheese texture isn't your thing, don't worry. You won't have those little curds in your eggs.

Make a batch at the beginning of the week, keep them in the fridge, and you've got an easy breakfast you can warm up in less than a minute. They're also freezer-friendly, so they're perfect for meal prep.

And the best part? You can change the fillings every time you make them, which means breakfast doesn't have to get boring.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20–25 minutes

Total Time: 35–40 minutes

Servings: 12 egg muffins

Ingredients

• 12 large eggs

• 1 cup cottage cheese

• 1 cup cooked breakfast sausage, crumbled; cooked bacon, chopped; OR diced ham

• ½ cup diced bell pepper

• ½ cup chopped fresh spinach

• ¼ cup finely diced onion

• ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

• Cooking spray or oil for the muffin pan

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or oil. Be generous—eggs like to stick.

3. If you're using sausage or bacon, cook it completely and drain any excess grease. Ham can be used as-is.

4. Add the eggs, cottage cheese, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper to a blender. Blend until completely smooth and creamy.

5. Divide the cooked meat evenly among the 12 muffin cups.

6. Add the bell pepper, spinach, and onion, dividing them evenly among the cups.

7. Sprinkle shredded cheese over each one.

8. Slowly pour the egg and cottage cheese mixture into each muffin cup, filling each about ¾ full. Give each cup a gentle stir with a fork if needed to distribute the fillings.

9. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the centers are set and the tops are lightly golden. A knife inserted into the center should come out clean.

10. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before carefully running a butter knife around the edges and removing them.

Serve warm, or let them cool completely before storing for later.

Estimated Nutrition (per egg muffin)

Nutrition will vary depending on the meat, cheese, cottage cheese, and vegetables you choose.

Estimated range per muffin:

• Calories: 120–160

• Protein: 10–13g

• Carbohydrates: 2–4g

• Fat: 7–10g

• Fiber: 0–1g

• Sugar: 1–2g

Nutrition information is an estimate and may vary depending on ingredients, brands, and portion sizes.

Tips & Variations

• Sausage & Cheddar: Use cooked breakfast sausage with shredded cheddar for a classic breakfast combination.

• Bacon & Cheddar: Add crumbled bacon and cheddar cheese. Because bacon is already salty, you may want to reduce the added salt slightly.

• Ham & Swiss: Swap the cheddar for Swiss cheese and use diced ham.

• Meat Lovers: Use a combination of sausage, bacon, and ham. Just keep the total amount of meat around 1 cup so you don't overcrowd the muffin cups.

• Veggie: Skip the meat and add extra vegetables. Mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes, green onions, zucchini, or extra spinach would all work.

• Southwest: Add diced green chiles, bell pepper, a little pepper jack cheese, and a sprinkle of taco seasoning.

• Change the Cheese: Try mozzarella, pepper jack, Monterey Jack, Swiss, feta, or whatever you already have in the fridge.

• Don't Overfill: Leave a little room at the top of each muffin cup. The eggs will puff as they bake and settle slightly as they cool.

• Watery Veggies: If you're using mushrooms, zucchini, frozen spinach, or other vegetables with a lot of moisture, cook them first and remove as much excess liquid as possible.

Storage

Refrigerator: Allow the protein egg muffins to cool completely, then store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Freezer: Let them cool completely and freeze individually before transferring them to a freezer-safe bag or container. Store for up to 2 months.

To Reheat: Microwave a refrigerated muffin for about 30–45 seconds, or until heated through. Frozen muffins can be thawed overnight in the refrigerator or reheated from frozen in short intervals until hot throughout.

Around My Table...

I love breakfast food. What I don't always love is actually making breakfast in the morning. 😂

That's why recipes like this work so well for me. I can make one batch when I have the time and have breakfast sitting in the refrigerator waiting for me for the next few days.

I also love that there's really no “right” combination. If I have spinach that needs to be used, in it goes. Half a bell pepper left from dinner? Throw it in. A little sausage, bacon, or ham in the fridge? Perfect.

And blending cottage cheese into the eggs is one of my favorite little tricks because you get the extra protein and creamy texture without feeling like you're sitting down to eat a bowl of cottage cheese.

Around my table, I'm always looking for ways to make eating well easier, because I'm much more likely to make a good choice when the good choice is already made and waiting for me.

Make a batch, stick them in the fridge, and tomorrow morning you've already done yourself a favor. 🩷

Happy breakfasting!

— Neeta 💕