Cheddar & Jalapeño Cottage Cheese Muffins | One Pot One Portion
I am a savoury breakfast person through and through and the struggle of finding delicious savoury breakfast recipes is real. If you find yourself in the same breakfast boat then you might want to try this ridiculously easy one pot one portion cheddar & jalapeño breakfast muffins. They take 20 minutes, are packed with veggies and protein and they’re a really great switch up from your classic eggs on toast. A high protein single-serve breakfast idea that you'll come back to again and again.
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About this dish
These high protein cottage cheese egg muffins are the perfect single serve breakfast idea. If you're not sure what to do with cottage cheese then try making these! They're packed with vegetables and cheesy goodness and are maybe my new favourite savoury breakfast.
I usually have some form of egg for breakfast and these muffins make a lovely change from eggs on toast plus you get a few extra nutrients in with the vegetables, which I won't complain about.
If you like this recipe you might also like my other one pot one portion breakfast recipes like my HERBY BAKED EGGS, my HASH BROWN BREAKFAST SKILLET, my TURKEY, BRIE & CRANBERRY BAKED CROISSANT or my BREAKFAST PARATHA WITH CRANBERRY GLAZED BACON.
Why you want to make this recipe
20 Minute Meal
This recipe only takes about 20 minutes. This is a 20 minute air fryer meal that can be cooked in the oven or in the air fryer. You need a muffin tray that will fit in your air fryer if using one, and you can find my favourite air fryer and muffin tray here:
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Fresh & Healthy
I love a savoury breakfast and find that they start my in the right way, keeping me satiated and full for the whole morning. These high protein cottage cheese egg muffins are especially good because they not only pack in protein from the eggs and cottage cheese, but also fibre and micronutrients from the pepper, scallions and jalapeños. They're just an all round really great breakfast and they take only a couple of minutes longer than it would take to make scrambled eggs!
One Pot Recipe
As with all of my recipes, this is a one pot dish or one pan dish, which makes every meal time easier and more enjoyable. Cooking for one is hard so only having one dish at the end of the meal keeps this feeling easy and accessible-because it is!
Single-Serve
Again, as always, this recipe is for single-serve tacos so you can make this just for yourself! The perfect dinner for one. Though it would be very easy to scale up to serve multiple people if needed.
Elements of the Dish
Egg & Cottage Cheese Mixture
- This is as it says, eggs and cottage cheese seasoned with salt and black pepper and then I've also added so chopped fresh basil for extra flavour and freshness. You could also add in dried herbs or spices. You could use full fat or fat-free cottage cheese though, as with most things, full fat cottage cheese will be more delicious and more satiating!
Muffin Flavours & Fillings
- These muffins are filled with vegetables, bacon, cheddar and jalapeño but they're so versatile and can be switched out depending on what you have in the fridge. I've used zucchini/courgette, scallions/spring onion and red bell pepper as my vegetables though any onion, pepper or even aubergine would work here. The bacon is of course optional and if you would like to keep these vegetarian then you can leave it out and substitute with 1/4 tsp smoked paprika for a similar smoky flavour and depth. See the variations section below for more details. You could also use any hard cheese for this- Manchego would be completely delicious.
Condiments
- Ballymaloe relish is the perfect condiment for this dish. It it slightly sweet and gently spiced to is a great balance between tomato ketchup and brown sauce- two breakfast staples!
Ingredients and Tools
Eggs
- You need 2 free-range eggs for this, though if you want to scale up you can easily do that. Simply times the number of people you're making this for, by 2 and that's the number of eggs you'll need. Serving 3 people? Use 6 eggs. For every 2 eggs you will make 3 muffins.
Cottage Cheese
- You could use full fat or fat-free cottage cheese though, as with most things, full fat cottage cheese will be more delicious and more satiating!
Zucchini/Courgette
- I find that I have half or a quarter of a zucchini in the fridge and this is the perfect way to use that up.
Red Bell Pepper
- Again, if you have a little bit of pepper leftover in the fridge then this is a great way to use it. Similarly, if you have a jar of roasted red peppers then you could use these here and they would also add a slight smokey flavour which would be delicious.
Scallion/Spring Onion
- Any onion would work here so you could substitute this with 1 quarter of a red or white onion but I usually have a couple of scallions in the fridge and if they're looking a bit sad then peel off the outside layer, chop them up and use them in these breakfast muffins.
Smoked Bacon (optional)
- This is totally optional and you could leave it out to keep this vegetarian. I like to use smoked bacon because it adds a smokey flavour and a bit more depth, the bacon also provides a bit of fat and we know that fat=flavour so this just keeps things extra delicious.
Cheddar
- We're going double cheese with these muffins as alongside the cottage cheese we're adding cheddar. Any hard cheese would work here but I do think cheddar and jalapeño is a classic combination for good reason and the sharp tang of cheddar adds enough flavour to these muffins. I also like to cut these into small 1cm cubes rather than grating to you get little melted pockets of cheese throughout the muffin.
Jalapeños
- If you don't like spice you can leave these out but I do love the little heat from pickled jalapeños and I just like to put a couple on top of the muffins before they bake.
Ballymaloe Relish
- Ballymaloe relish is the perfect condiment for this dish. It it slightly sweet and gently spiced to is a great balance between tomato ketchup and brown sauce- two breakfast staples!
1 Bowl/Jug
- You just need one bowl or jug to whisk the eggs together and then to mix in the cottage cheese.
1 Chopping Board & Knife
- You'll need a chopping board and knife to chop the vegetables. You want them chopping into fairly small 1cm pieces so they cook evenly in the time it takes the muffins to bake.
1 Muffin Tray
- These are breakfast muffins so of course, you need a muffin tray! If it's non-stick then you won't need to use muffin cases. Muffin cases are a good option too though (especially if you don't want to wash up the tray!)
Step by step instructions
Pre-cook the vegetables & bacon: Evenly distribute the vegetables and bacon between 3 muffin trays and add a small amount of olive oil- just half a teaspoon per hole. Mix together than place in the air fryer for 5 minutes while you prep the egg mixture.
Make the egg mixture: Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk together until broken up. Add the cottage cheese and eason well with salt and black pepper then add in the chopped basil. Whisk together again until well combined.
Fill the muffin trays: Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and bacon, filling the muffin holes almost to the top and making sure there is an even amount of cottage cheese in the each hole (it sinks to the bottom of the egg mixture so keep an eye on this). Sprinkle over the cheddar then top each muffin with 2 slices of jalapeño.
Bake: Bake for another 15-18 minutes until the muffins have risen and are slightly firm to the touch, though not completely (you don't want them to be dry).
Serve: Remove from the muffin tray then serve with a condiment of your choice!
Variations, substitutions or modifications
Fresh Basil:
If you don't like or don't have fresh basil then you could substitute this with any other fresh herb- cilantro/coriander or chives would work especially well here! You could also use dried herbs if you don't have any fresh herbs in.
Gluten-Free:
This recipe is already gluten free!
Vegetarian:
To make this vegetarian simply leave out the bacon and replace with 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika and add a little extra olive oil to the tray before cooking the vegetables to make up for the lack of bacon fat.
FAQs
Are these cottage cheese muffins healthy?
- If you ask me, health is entirely subjective so I can't say whether these are healthy for you per say, but what I can tell you is that these egg muffins are high in protein, fibre and micronutrients and should keep you satiated. Most importantly, they are delicious!
Can I make a double portion?
- You can easily double up this single-serve recipe just by doubling the ingredients.
If you like this recipe you might also like my other one pot one portion breakfast recipes which you can find here on my recipe page, then filtering by meal type>breakfast: SINGLE SERVE BREAKFAST RECIPES
Ingredients
To serve 1 (3 muffins) you need:
- 1/4 Zucchini/Courgette, cut into 1cm pieces
- 1/4 Red Bell Pepper, cut into 1cm pieces
- 2 Scallions/Spring Onions, cut into 1/2cm pieces
- 1 Rasher of Smoked Back Bacon, cut into 1cm pieces
- 2 Free Range Eggs
- 2 Tbsp Cottage Cheese
- 5-10 Fresh Basil Leaves, roughly chopped
- 20g Cheddar, cut into 1cm cubes
- 6 Slices of Pickled Jalapeño
- Salt
- Black Pepper
To Serve:
- Ballymaloe Relish, or sauce of your choice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven/air fryer to 200ºC/180ºC fan.
- Evenly distribute the vegetables and bacon between 3 muffin trays and add a small amount of olive oil- just half a teaspoon per hole. Mix together than place in the air fryer for 5 minutes while you prep the egg mixture.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk together until broken up. Add the cottage cheese and eason well with salt and black pepper then add in the chopped basil. Whisk together again until well combined.
- Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and bacon, filling the muffin holes almost to the top and making sure there is an even amount of cottage cheese in the each hole (it sinks to the bottom of the egg mixture so keep an eye on this).
- Sprinkle over the cheddar then top each muffin with 2 slices of jalapeño.
- Bake for another 15-18 minutes until the muffins have risen and are slightly firm to the touch, though not completely (you don't want them to be dry).
- Remove from the muffin tray then serve with a condiment of your choice!
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Great present! Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you eating!
Great present! Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you
Follow Eleanor on socials and knew I NEEDED this book immediately! SO glad I paid extra and had it shipped from the UK (to US). Eleanor's voice is loud and clear in every recipe. The pictures are beautiful, the instructions are perfectly clear, and I want to make EVERYTHING. I cannot recommend this book enough!
This recipe book is stunning and fulfils its role brilliantly in catering for individuals who want to eat delicious meals, but don't want to prepare family sized portions or devote their entire evening to cooking. Who'd believe you could make an entire roast for one person and only use one pan in the process! She is a genius and I couldn't recommend this book any more highly.
One of the best things about the book is that all the recipes are actually cooked in one pot - in a lot of other so-called books you still have to make your side dish in a separate pot. With these recipes, even if they include rice or pasta, it's all cooked together. No mountains of washing up!
This is the book I've been waiting for! I (very happily!) live alone, love to cook and read cookery books, but every recipe is for two people or more. This gorgeous book contains recipes perfectly proportioned for one person (and I'm always a very hungry one person!) which ensures more variety, less food waste, and pure, gluttonous joy.
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