Baked Pancetta Egg Cups - Eggs bake to your preferred doneness in a flavorful cup made of pancetta. Perfect for a holiday brunch.
It seems like for those of us that celebrate Easter, there are two camps; Brunch or Dinner. My family is a dinner kind of family. And by dinner, I mean we eat a ridiculously huge "dinner" around 1 PM. I know a lot of other people who don't do the traditional holiday dinner but instead have a casual brunch.
If you are a brunch kind of crowd, these Baked Pancetta Egg Cups will save you some time in the kitchen, leaving you more time to spend with the family.
Yesterday, I found myself staring at the 4 slices of pancetta sitting in my fridge, wondering what to do with it. You might remember, I bought pancetta to use in my Fried Goat Cheese Salad the other day and I had a few slices leftover. There was NO WAY I was going to throw it out. That would be a crime!
After about 10 minutes of staring in my fridge, I decided to go the breakfast route. Quite possibly because it was 10 AM and I hadn't eaten a thing. I remembered seeing Ham and Egg Cups and Bacon Egg Cups all over Pinterest in the past and thought "I can do that with this pancetta".
I started off thinking I was going to add cheese to my cups like most of the other recipes I've seen, but in the end I decided that I didn't need it. The pancetta has so much flavor on it's own and I really wanted that to shine.
As I was placing my pancetta in the muffin tin, I decided that to avoid rubbery pancetta, I had better cook it a bit before adding the egg, so I tossed it in the oven for 8 minutes. After the 8 minutes, I pulled it out and cracked an egg in the center of each piece of pancetta. Now, I am a runny yolk kind of girl and I am in the camp of why bother with an egg that isn't oozing all over my plate. I am so glad that I got these out just in the right amount of time. If you want a harder set egg, bake for 10 minutes, if you want that yolk to be runny and dip worthy, bake 7-8 minutes.
That's it. The only seasoning I used was salt and pepper. This is a case of "simple is sometimes better".
Here's the best part, you can make a ton of these in no time at all. I have a 24 well muffin tin so 24 of these can be made at once. How great is that for a party or brunch? I know!
If you celebrate Easter, do you have brunch or dinner?
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Printable Recipe Card
Baked Pancetta Egg Cups
Ingredients
- non stick cooking spray
- 6 slices pancetta
- 6 eggs
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Spray muffin tin with non stick spray.
- Place pancetta in muffin tin to form a "cup". Bake 8 minutes.
- Remove pan from oven after 8 minutes and crack an egg into the center of each piece of pancetta. Season with salt and pepper. Return to oven and bake 7-10 minutes depending on your desired doneness of egg.
Kirsten says
Christine,
I'm a fan of eating a big meal in the middle of the day on holidays, primarily because if we eat at night, the other members of this household assume that I'll also be preparing foods at breakfast and lunch. Sorry, but I'm kinda focused on the main meal! The rest is an afterthought for me! I'd rather work on and eat a big meal in the middle of the day, then snack on leftovers for dinner.
I'm a fan of baked eggs--they are easy to customize and so cute!
Thank you!
foodyschmoody says
Yes, I make ONE meal for a holiday and that's it. I usually send the husband out to grab donuts/bagels to keep everyone at bay until our midday dinner! Thanks for dropping by!
Sandi Gaertner (@sandigtweets) says
Looks like a perfect breakfast for busy mornings.
peter @feedyoursoultoo says
Love the idea of this recipe. No better meal than breakfast and this needs to find its way on to my table.
Echo Aspnes says
This looks so delicious!
Debra says
Oh this looks amazing! It will be perfect for brunch on Sunday!
linda spiker says
Simple and gorgeous! Pinned!