My family’s love of eggs is well-documented within the posts on this blog. To this very day, all of us would gladly dive into a plate full of cheesy breakfast taquitos, buttery scrambled eggs, homemade Copycat Egg McMuffins, quiche, or omelettes for any meal of the day.
So many dishes prepared with eggs are comfort food for us.
A few years ago, I began making this recipe for homemade baked eggs after I learned about the dish. It was one of those must-try-immediately recipes as I had everything on hand to make it, and it was love at first bite.
Simple yet delicious food, like this, will always be my favorite…
I even had these lovely, blue ramekins to portion the servings into on hand thanks to a very thoughtful friend! I received this set of four ceramic ramekins from my one of my best friends, Tracy, 14 years ago. She gifted me this set from World Market as a house warming present when I moved into a new place way back then. I still have them, I take good care of them, and I still use them regularly.
These individual baking dishes are great for preparing individual portions of fruit cobblers, cakes, meatloaf, bread pudding, and lately I use them most often to make these creamy baked eggs.
I now know my favorite baked eggs are also known as shirred eggs, or Εufs en cocotte (eggs in a pot), a vintage French egg dish. The basic preparation for classic shirred eggs is nearly exactly as I’ve been making them: individual baking dishes greased with oil or butter, and the eggs topped with salt, pepper, cream and parmesan cheese.
However, the French version of baked eggs includes instructions to bake the eggs in a water bath, however I’ve always followed the English method for shirred eggs which does not include that step. I’ve been making these eggs sans the bain-marie for a long time, and they have never turned out dry or cooked up unevenly without it. However, perhaps one day I will have to give that French method a go. You know, just to cover all the bases. π
As with any dish I recreate, I tend to adjust the ingredients or the amounts thereof to suit our tastes. Accordingly, when I make this recipe I sprinkle a generous dash of smoked paprika (my favorite spice on Earth), and a light dash of garlic powder on to the eggs to season them.
We think it’s a perfect combination of simple, earthy spices to complement eggs in any form.
I rarely stray from this no-fuss preparation as I always have all of these ingredients on hand, but I may be up to trying new versions of baked eggs in the future! I imagine that diced sweet peppers, ham, crumbled sausage, mushrooms, greens and different varieties of cheese would be amazingly delicious add-ins for these creamy baked eggs.
Creating endless versions of this recipe will certainly keep baked eggs for breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, or dinner from getting old… so yes please, bring it on.
What combination of ingredients would you try first?
Also, I thought it was really cool to learn that shirred eggs were a dish featured on the first class breakfast menu on the Titanic!! Even though this really is an easy recipe to prepare, it’s a beautifully presented dish that certainly feels like an indulgence from the first taste.
So, pinky’s up everyone, and I sure hope you enjoy this scrumptious egg dish as much as we do xo- M πβπ³
Special equipment to consider for this recipe
- Set of 4 (8 oz) ceramic ramekins similar to mine: https://amzn.to/45SWUGC
- Set of 6 (8 oz)quality ceramic ramekins: https://amzn.to/4kAL5cy
- Set of 4 colorful ceramic cocottes (8 oz) : https://amzn.to/45Qk2W7
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Smoked Paprika Parmesan Baked Eggs
Course: Breakfast, Lunch, DinnerCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Easy1
servings7
minutes17
minutesSmoked Paprika Parmesan Baked Eggs are comfort food at it’s finest, in our humble opinion. Pair this simple yet impressive egg dish up with toast, fresh fruit or a crisp green salad to round out an impressive meal for any time of the day.
Ingredients
non-stick cooking spray, I typically use olive or avocado oil spray, but the oil you prefer will
2 large eggs
pinch of each, salt and ground black pepper
generous sprinkle of smoked paprika
light sprinkle of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of half and half or heaving whipping cream
1 generous tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 375Β°. Coat the bottom and sides of a ceramic ramekin (8 oz) or cocotte with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add eggs to the prepared baking dish. Lightly sprinkle the tops of the eggs with salt and pepper. Next, season the eggs with a dusting of smoked paprika and light sprinkle of garlic powder.
- Pour one tablespoon of half and half or cream in the center of the dish (between the egg yolks) and top the cream with grated Parmesan cheese.
- Bake eggs at least 15 minutes to achieve firm egg whites, however the yolks will be runny at this cooking time. Or bake eggs for 17-18 minutes to achieve a medium well egg yolk (my favorite). If you prefer egg yolks to be hard cooked, prick the egg yolks with a fork or toothpick before cooking and proceed to baked eggs for 17-18 minutes.
- Remove the eggs from the oven and allow them to cool on a rack for at least 5 minutes before serving, serve warm.
- Serve Smoked Paprika Parmesan Baked Eggs with toast, fruit or a crisp, green salad to round out a meal. Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Notes
- When making multiple servings of the recipes, place the ramekins all together on a baking sheet or within a larger baking dish (9×13) for convenience when getting the eggs in and out of the oven (refer to video, for reference if necessary)
- Recipe as published on A Little Fish in the Kitchen at www.alittlefishinthekitchen.com. All content is owned by Marcelle G. Bolton. Please contact the author for permission to republish.
These sound wonderful, Marcelle. I think I will make them for our lunch today!
Thank you, David!! We really do think they are so good for lunch!! xo
I just love this idea! I’ve never had eggs with this combination of flavors – so, I made this today! I used coconut milk instead of the cream. and – Wow! LOVE LOVE LOVE it – the smoked paprika and parmesan with the eggs – just magic!
Thank you so much for giving this recipe a try, so happy you enjoyed it! It’s one of my brunch favorites. Thank you!!
Parmesan, eggs, and smoked paprika make a wonderful combination, so this is a definite “yes” for me! π
Hi Ben, thank you so much!!
Oh yes i love shirred eggs! I don’t bother with a bain-marie either; so much simpler just to bake them at a low temp. So comforting this dish.
cheers
sherry
Hello Sherry, thank you so much!
I would devour the whole thing! Parmesan and eggs are my absolute favourite.
Thank you so much, Angie π