Starbucks Copycat Egg Bite Recipe

Heading to the drive-thru on a weekday morning before work usually comes with a bit of angst. As the minutes continue to inch closer and closer to your start time on the clock, you're wondering if you'll ever get out of the drive-thru in time. Of course, part of that visit is grabbing your morning coffee so you can kick off a successful day. But another part of the equation is grabbing a bite to eat. And at Starbucks, for many, that means an order of egg bites.

Starbucks added its egg bites to the menu at the beginning of 2017, with flavor such as bacon and gruyere, and a version with egg whites with Monterey jack and roasted red pepper. The ham, cheddar, and peppers egg bites, which is the flavor we decided to replicate, were added in 2019. And while heading through the drive-thru to grab an order is perfectly acceptable, it's also just as easy to make these egg bites on your own at home.

We've come up with the best copycat recipe to make these bite-sized breakfast treats at home. And the best part? They come together with simple ingredients and they're ready in just 30 minutes. Plus, you can even make them ahead of time to pop in the microwave to warm back up, saving you extra time (and a few extra bucks) each morning.

To make sure we were creating the best possible copycat recipe for Starbucks egg bites, we went straight to the source. The Starbucks website lists the ingredients for these egg bites, giving us a glimpse into how they're made. Quantities of each ingredient aren't included, but it still gives a great base to go off of for flavor in developing this recipe.

To make these ham, cheddar, and peppers copycat egg bites, you'll need to grab a few ingredients. Luckily, each ingredient is easy to find at the grocery store. You'll need eggs, a red pepper, one small onion, ham, cottage cheese, Monterey jack cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic powder, and salt. For the ham, feel free to grab a package of deli ham, or you can opt for ham steaks or a larger ham to slice from. 

The original Starbucks recipe includes plenty of other ingredients such as rice starch that we chose to omit in order to keep things simple. The ingredients chosen ultimately produce a delicious copycat to the ham, cheddar, and peppers egg bites flavor, without any unnecessary complicated ingredients.

Part of the inspiration for the ham, cheddar, and peppers flavor of egg bites is to mimic a classic Denver omelet. Typically, a Denver omelet is made with diced ham, onions, bell pepper, and plenty of cheese.

To get started on your copycat egg bites recipe, you'll want to dice up your onion and red bell pepper. For the onion, start by cutting it in half and remove the skin. Dice half of the onion by making thin slices down the onion, and then turn it 90 degrees to slice the other side. Once your onion is diced into small squares, continue running the knife over the pieces of onion to cut into small, minced pieces. Dice your ham using a similar method.

Stand your bell pepper on a cutting board, and cut off each side of the pepper. Cut each side of the pepper into thin strips, and then mince up the strips. You'll want very small pieces of ham, onions, and pepper to add to your egg bites.

The Starbucks ingredient list certainly doesn't include cooking instructions, so it's hard to tell if the peppers and onions added to the original egg bites are cooked before going in the mix. But for the purposes of this recipe, we decided to add in that step. Cooking the peppers and onions, and adding in the ham, brings out incredible flavor in the mixture. And doing this before adding these ingredients to the rest of the egg mixture ultimately makes for a more delicious batch of egg bites. If you don't want to cook the mixture, feel free to add the minced ingredients into the egg mixture raw. 

To cook the onion, pepper, and ham mixture, put a pan on the stove on medium-heat. Spray it with cooking spray, and then add in the minced onion, pepper, and ham.

Cook your ham, peppers, and onions for three to four minutes, allowing the vegetables to slightly brown.

Once your ham, peppers, and onion mixture is cooked, remove it from heat. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before adding it to the rest of the egg mixture. This will help keep the eggs from cooking from the heat of the ham, peppers, and onions. 

To prep your egg base, crack three whole eggs into a large bowl. Whisk the eggs well so you can't see any separation left of the egg yolk and egg white. Then, add in the ham, peppers, and onion mixture and stir. 

Next up is the cheese, which will add great texture and flavor to your egg bites. Add in the 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 1/3 cup of shredded Monterey jack cheese, and 1/3 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Then add in the garlic powder and salt. Stir the mixture until well combined.

Once your mixture is ready, it's time to bake your egg bites. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep a mini muffin pan by spraying it with cooking spray so your egg bites don't stick.

Use a cookie dough scoop or another small measuring cup to scoop the mixture into the mini muffin pan. Fill the mini muffin pan slots to just before the mixture reaches the top. Be sure not to overfill. Feel free to sprinkle the tops with a bit of extra shredded cheddar cheese if desired.

Bake your copycat Starbucks egg bites for 13-15 minutes. You'll notice the egg bites puff up a bit in the oven, and the tops will brown slightly. Once cooked, remove the egg bites from the oven and set them aside to allow to cool. As they're cooling, the egg bites will start to pull away from the edge of the pan. Once slightly cooled, remove them from the pan and set them on a plate to finish cooling.

Part of the beauty of Starbucks egg bites is that they're small, portable, and ridiculously convenient. After all, that's why you're grabbing them on the way to work in the morning, right? In addition to how convenient they are, they also pack a protein punch, leaving you with a filling breakfast. 

Making these copycat egg bites in a mini muffin pan allows you to reproduce the same size egg bite, and ultimately replicate the same portability. However, if you don't have a mini muffin pan, it's still possible to make this recipe.

If you only have a regular-sized muffin or cupcake pan on hand, you can still make this recipe. You'll just end up with larger egg bites. Utilize this recipe to make six large-sized egg bites, or double it for a full 12 egg bites using the larger pan.

The Starbucks egg bites are made in stores using a sous vide cooking method. When these little egg bites debuted, part of the process was finding a cooking method that produced a delicious texture for the egg bites. The French cooking method, sous vide, means that a food is vacuum sealed and then slow cooked in water. It makes the texture nice for these egg bites, keeps the moisture intact, and it also makes it easier for employees to reheat the product for customers.

Because cooking egg bites in a sous vide method sounds a bit complicated for a weekday breakfast, we decided to bake our egg bites, and they turned out just as moist, with a delicious texture. These egg bites are slightly smaller than the original Starbucks egg bites, due to the cooking method, but thanks to all of the cottage cheese, they're just as creamy and delicious, and the flavor is spot on.

If you'd prefer to replicate the bacon and gruyere flavor of egg bites, it can be done with the same recipe. Simple omit the ham, peppers, onions, Monterey jack cheese, and cheddar cheese, and add in diced bacon and shredded gruyere cheese instead.