You know something has become popular once some version of it is available for purchase at Starbucks. This was true with cake pops, and it’s true with their sous-vide egg bites, which have been wildly popular ever since they were introduced in 2017. I’ve been making sous-vide egg bites with my immersion circulator for nearly as long, and they’re better (and cheaper) than the Starbucks menu item.
Starbucks initially prepares their egg bites sous-vide offsite, before heating them in a small oven before serving, which gives them a browned, kind of tough skin, defeating the purpose of cooking them sous-vide. The Starbucks sous-vide egg bites are also wildly expensive (over six bucks for two), and most copycat recipes are nothing more than muffin tin frittatas. A true sous-vide egg bite, made at home, is cost effective, but it’s also more delicious than either offering. There’s no tough, dry skin surrounding the bite, and no burnt spots—only tender, gently cooked, cheesy egg, studded with bits of bacon, or whatever other mix-ins you enjoy.
Testing revealed the best egg bites are made with a 50/50 mixture of egg and cottage cheese
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The most important part of the egg bite is (obviously) the egg mixture. Yes, the fillings are more exciting, but they are also endless, and you should be free to fill your bites with whatever meats, cheeses, and vegetables you wish to devour. I though it was more important to focus on the eggs and dairy components, and let you choose your own adventure, fillings-wise.
Starbucks uses cottage cheese, but a lot of online recipes call for cream cheese, and I thought ricotta might be interesting. Rather than pick just one, I made six little jars composed of:
- A 50/50 mixture (by weight) of egg and cottage cheese
- A 50/50 mixture (by weight) of egg and cream cheese
- A 50/50 mixture (by weight) of egg and ricotta
- A 50/25/25 mixture (by weight) of egg, cottage cheese, and cream cheese
- A 50/25/25 mixture (by weight) of egg, cottage cheese, and ricotta
- A 50/25/25 mixture (by weight) of egg, ricotta, and cream cheese
This ended up being one egg with 2 ounces of cheese in each bite, along with a big pinch of salt, 1/2 a teaspoon of nutritional yeast (which Starbucks does not include, but really boost the umami), and about three dashes of hot sauce (you could add more). Each eggy aliquot was mixed until completely smooth using an immersion blender, then poured into a little buttered jar and cooked in a 170-degree water bath for an hour.
Somewhat surprisingly, my favorite was the 50/50 mixture of egg and cottage cheese. It was creamy, smooth, and rich, with just the right amount of salt and lactic tang. The cream cheese was good too, but felt a little heavy after a few bites, and the ricotta was frankly quite awful (and grainy). I had expected the bite with both cream cheese and cottage cheese to gain my favor, but found it to be dull and lackluster on the tongue—as if, in a fight to gain dominance, each cheese had only succeeded in muting the other.
Besides learning that Starbucks was right, and cottage cheese really was the best dairy for the job, that first round of bites also taught me that it’s important to skim the bubbles off the top of your eggy mixture before sous vide-ing, otherwise you get a very bubbly-looking bite. (Which really isn’t that big of a deal, I guess, I just hate the look of a bunch of little clustered holes.)
Once I had settled on cottage cheese as the dairy companion for our eggs, I tried it out with egg whites to see if it would help us achieve the same velvety, creamy texture. I also added some caramelized onions, because they are delicious.
The results were quite similar to our whole-egg experiment. The egg white bite was (obviously) a bit less rich but, unlike the horror show that is the egg white omelette, it was downright pleasing to consume.
How to make “Better-Than-Starbucks” Sous-Vide Egg Bites
Besides being delicious, these creamy, dreamy, protein-packed bites are easy to assemble, and can be pre-cooked, then eaten throughout the week for an easy, satisfying, wallet-friendly breakfast that doesn’t require dealing with someone in a green apron who is dead-set on misspelling your name. They also are devoid of that dry, tough skin, which is important to me, a dedicated fan of sous-vide cooked eggs.
Ingredients (makes 6 bites):
- 6 eggs (or egg whites)
- 12 ounces cottage cheese (If you are using all egg whites, reduce the cheese to 10 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Roughly 6 tablespoons of whatever mix-ins you like
- Butter or oil for greasing little jars
- 6 four-ounce mason jars
Add eggs, cheese, yeast, and salt to a blender and whirr it all together until you have a completely smooth mixture. Grease your jars with butter or oil, and add about a tablespoon of whatever cheese, meat, or vegetable you wish, feeling utterly free to add a different variety of foodstuffs to each jar for variety and pleasure. Make sure to cook any vegetables and meats ahead of time, otherwise they will release grease and/or water while cooking, making your bite greasy and/or watery. Pour the egg mixture on top, seal the jars, and cook them in a 170-degree water bath for an hour.
Remove them from the bath and, once they’re cool enough to handle, enjoy them straight from the jar or turn them out onto a plate. I don’t know why you would need to transfer them from a jar to plate, but some people seem to prefer their bites sans jar. If you won’t be enjoying all six at once, pop the remaining jars in the fridge, and reheat them either using your sous-vide setup, or in the microwave for about 30 seconds.