Ham and Sweet Potato Egg Muffins

Egg muffins are like a personal-sized frittata, a traditional Italian dish that is a cross between an omelet and a crustless quiche.  What’s awesome about egg muffins (besides the fact that they’re super tasty!) is that they can easily be made ahead for quick and nutritious breakfasts the whole week long.

This version uses smoked uncured ham to up the protein and also sneaks in some nutrient-dense veggies for a balanced breakfast!  I used Japanese sweet potatoes because I prefer more starchy and less sweet varieties in general, but you can use any variety of sweet potato you like for this recipe.  Reheat or enjoy leftovers cold.  These hold together really well, so they can even eaten as finger food!

I developed this recipe as an example of a quick-and-easy make-ahead breakfast packed with protein and veggies for an appearance on Atlanta & Co, a great morning show on my local NBC station. The segment was sponsored by Sprouts Farmer’s Market, designed to provide some great accessible content with a synergistic plug for their new store opening in the Atlanta area. I talked about some compelling reasons to eat breakfast daily (see Is Breakfast Really the Most Important Meal of The Day?).  I also talked about smoothies being only as healthy as the ingredients that go into them, but being an accessible way for many people to up their fruit and veggie intake.  And, I talked about breaking with traditional breakfast foods and thinking outside the box with chicken vegetable soup as another example of a great healthy breakfast!

Here’s the segment:

Interview With Atlanta & Co – 1/19/17 from Sarah Ballantyne on Vimeo.

And without further adieu, here’s my recipe for ham and sweet potato egg muffins!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 12 egg muffins (6 servings)

Ingredients:

• lard or coconut oil for greasing muffin pan
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups diced peeled sweet potato (about 1 medium sweet potato)
• 1 1/2 cups diced red and green bell pepper (about 1/2 large pepper each)
• 1/2 cup diced white onion (about 1/2 small onion)
• 10 ounces smoked uncured ham, diced
• 12 eggs
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease 12 muffin pan cups or use a silicone muffin pan.
2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat on the stovetop.  Add olive oil, sweet potato, peppers and onion.  Saute, stirring frequently, for 8 minutes, until veggies are starting to soften and caramelize. Remove from heat and stir in diced ham.
3. Meanwhile thoroughly whisk or blend eggs with salt and pepper.
4. Spoon veggie mixture into muffin pan cups, dividing among all 12 cups (they’ll be mostly full).
5. Poor blended egg mixture over veggies (this will nearly fill every muffin cup), dividing among all 12 cups.
6. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until set.
7. Remove from muffin pan immediately after removing from the oven.  Enjoy!