Shirred Eggs
Shirred Eggs are a breakfast worth waking up for in the morning! They’re a creamy, custardy combination of eggs, cheese, cream, and bacon that bake in individual ramekins. It’s a simple yet super tasty way to start the day!
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
Wonderful Flavor and Texture: Shirred eggs have a creamier texture than fried eggs or scrambled eggs. The contrasting soft creaminess paired with crusty bread for dipping is SO good! Plus, you’ll love the savory, cheesy flavor!
Easy to Make: With simple, inexpensive ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions, you will want to whip up this breakfast on repeat.
Versatile: This recipe is easy to customize—feel free to change up the cheese, use different meat, and add herbs!
Ingredients to Make Shirred Eggs
This shirred eggs recipe will definitely up your breakfast game! You’ll just need a handful of simple ingredients. These perfectly portioned eggs and bacon cups combine so easily to create incredibly creamy, savory goodness!
Butter: A little bit of softened butter is used to grease the inside of the ramekins.
Grated Parmesan: Even though you can use other varieties of cheese to make this egg recipe, parmesan cheese is the classic cheese used in shirred eggs.
Eggs: This recipe calls for six eggs to make three ramekins of shirred eggs.
Heavy Cream: Combined with the eggs, they have a fluffy texture and rich flavor.
Bacon: Perfectly crispy bacon is the perfect match for any type of egg.
Fresh Chives: Adds some freshness and a pop of color.
Salt & Pepper: Makes the baked eggs super flavorful!
How to Make Shirred Eggs
Shirred eggs are baked eggs that are cooked in small ramekins with cheese, cream, and bacon. Once done, you’ll have a wonderful, flavorful, creamy custard to enjoy with crusty pieces of bread. Here are the easy step-by-step instructions!
Prep: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter the insides of 3 4-ounce ramekins and place them inside a baking dish.
Add the Cheese: Split the parmesan evenly between the three ramekins.
Add Eggs and Cream: Crack two eggs into each ramekin, then top each one with two tablespoons of heavy cream, followed by a pinch of salt and pepper.
Bake: Pour water into the baking dish until it is ⅔ of the way up the sides of the ramekins to create a water bath. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the whites are opaque but the egg still has some jiggle and runniness to it. Add crumbled bacon and chives on top. Serve warm with toast or crostini on the side.
Tips and Variations
Here are my top tips to follow when making shirred eggs and a few ways to customize the recipe to make it exactly how you like.
Baking Time: The wider and shallower your ramekins are, the less time your shirred eggs will need to bake. If you have wide and shallow ramekins or choose to use 6-ounce ramekins instead of 4-ounce, I recommend reducing the bake time to 10-12 minutes.
Skip the Water Bath: Traditionally, shirred eggs don’t use a water bath, but I chose to use one as it helps the eggs bake more evenly. You may forego the water bath if you would like! Your eggs may cook a bit faster on the edges, so keep a close eye on them to make sure you don’t cook them beyond your liking.
Mix It Up: Change up the flavors by using different cheeses, such as cheddar, gouda, gruyere, or pepper jack. You can add ham or sausage, different herbs, a little shredded hash browns, or top with some fresh herbs or micro greens.
Dairy-Free Options: You can replace the heavy cream with unsweetened non-dairy creamers, such as almond milk or coconut milk.
Adjust for More Eggs: If you are trying to hit protein goals, you can easily adjust this recipe to however many eggs you want. Use one tablespoon of cream and ½-1 tablespoon of cheese for every egg. Add your other toppings freely.
Use a Muffin Pan: To make a large batch, spray the wells of a muffin pan very well with pan spray and treat each well like its own ramekin. After baking, spoon the eggs out of the pan to serve.
Make Ahead and Serve Immediately
Prepare Ahead: You can prepare the ramekins up to 24 hours in advance and store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container or covered with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Once ready to cook, place the ramekins in the baking dish and continue with step 4.
Serve Immediately: Serve shirred eggs within 5-10 minutes of coming out of the oven. I don’t recommend saving leftovers.
More Breakfast Recipes
I’m a huge fan of a savory breakfast. Eggs are my go-to in the morning to get my protein in! I have so many delicious tried and true breakfast recipes that incorporate eggs. Here are some of my favorites!