This egg bake is a great recipe to have in your back pocket because it is as versatile as the omelet and is great for using up fresh herbs, vegetables or cheese that’s hanging around in your fridge.
I like to sauté the bacon with green peppers, onions, and mushrooms, if I have them. One time I made this dish using Velveeta, blue cheese, and mozzarella!
From Helen
On The Farm, we usually keep it simple by only adding bacon, cheddar cheese, and chives. My variation is diced ham, onions, green/red peppers and tomatoes. It’s very good with fresh tomatoes.
This recipe came from a guest. Grandma Toinie used to make it with cream of mushroom soup instead of cream cheese. A long time ago, it was highlighted in a country music magazine that did an article about country farm breakfasts. They liked this recipe but didn’t want cream of mushroom soup in it so their chef did some experiments and ended up substituting cream cheese and chives for the soup. We’ve done it that way ever since, and it’s better for it.
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STEPS: EXPLAINED, WITH TIDBITS AND ADVICE
In these steps, we’re going to be making my favorite version of this recipe.
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut up 4 strips of bacon in a large cast iron frying pan over medium heat. This little trick saves you a cutting board and goes a lot quicker than with a knife.
2. Cook the bacon until it’s almost done and has released most of its grease, about 10 minutes. It should look like this.
3. Pour all the grease out into a heat safe mug except for about 1-2 tablespoons, shown below.
NOTE: It’s a good idea to have a paper towel ready to wipe the side of the pan. If the grease runs down the underside of your pan, it can start on fire when you put your pan back on the heat.
Keep the extra grease handy. You might need to add it later if your pan gets dry when you are sautéing your vegetables.
4. Add 1/2 cup diced onions and 1/2 cup diced red pepper to your pan.
Cook over medium heat until the onions become transparent and the peppers soften, about 10 minutes. If your vegetables are sticking, add a little of the bacon grease back into the pan. When your vegetables are ready, they should look like this:
5. While your vegetables are cooking, dice 1/4 cup tomatoes. For this recipe, choose a really dense, meaty tomato. Lay the diced tomato out on a paper towel to soak up the extra water. You can pat them a little if your tomatoes are extra runny.
6. It’s time to make the cream cheese sauce.
Soften 3 tablespoons of whipped cream cheese in microwave. If you are using regular cream cheese, do half this amount. Once the cream cheese is soft, add it to a bowl with 1 tablespoon chives, 2 tablespoons milk, and 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt.
7. With a whisk, beat together the mixture. It should be runny enough to be a sauce.
Taste it! Add more salt and chives if it needs more. If it’s too runny, add more cream cheese. If it’s not runny enough, add more milk.
8. Once the sauce is ready, it’s time to scramble the eggs. Break six eggs into a bowl.
Mix them together with about a tablespoon of either milk or water. Add enough liquid so that eggs take on a lemony color.
NOTE: Anna uses milk. Helen uses water. Whose team are you on?? 😉
9. Pan spray a large skillet or melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in the pan.
Soft-scramble the eggs over medium-low heat.
It’s important that you don’t cook them all the way. They should look a little wet but be mostly done.
As soon as you get them to the prefect amount of almost done, get the eggs out of the hot pan and onto a plate immediately, especially if you are using cast iron. Even if you turn the heat off, they will keep cooking from the heat of the pan.
10. Gather all your ingredients together along with a greased 2-quart square baking dish.
Place half of the eggs in a the dish. Top with half of the cream cheese mixture, half the bacon and vegetable mixture, half the tomatoes, and half of 1/3 cup of cheddar cheese.
Repeat the layers once more and top with extra chives, about 1 tablespoon.
11. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or till heated through and cheese is melted.
Helen’s Advice: You don’t want to heat this egg dish in the oven any longer than specified or your eggs are going to turn gray or green. It won’t be spoiled but the dish won’t look nice, and the eggs will taste dry.
12. Serve with fresh fruit!
What veggie, herb, cheese or meat combinations will you come up with? Share!
Egg and Bacon Scramble
Ingredients
Scramble Mix-ins
- 4 strips bacon, pan-fried, drained, and crumbled
- 1 cup sautéed vegetables of your choice optional
- ¼ cup tomatoes or fresh herbs optional
- ⅓ cup shredded cheddar cheese or cheese of your choice
- 1 tbsp chives, dice, for topping
Cream Cheese Sauce
- 2 tbsp chives, minced
- 3 tbsp whipped cream cheese use half for regular cream cheese
- 2 tbsp milk
- ¼ tsp seasoned salt
Egg Mixture
- 6 eggs
- 1 tbsp milk or water
- ½ tbsp butter or pan spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Prepare the bacon and other vegetables. If you are using something with a lot of liquid, like tomatoes, try to remove as much liquid as possible.
- Soften cream cheese in microwave.
- With a whisk, beat together the cream cheese, milk, chives and dash of seasoned salt. Make sure to reserve some chives to sprinkle on top when dish is complete.
- Pan spray a large skillet or melt butter in pan. Soft-scramble the eggs so they are still a little wet but mostly done.
- Place half of the eggs in a greased 2-quart square baking dish. Top with half of the cream cheese mixture, half the bacon, half your other toppings, and half the cheddar cheese. Repeat once more.
- Top with extra chives.
- Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or till heated through and cheese is melted.
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