Egg Ham and Cheddar Cottage Cheese Muffins

These flourless muffins are made with egg and cottage cheese to make them keto and low carb friendly. They’re perfect to make ahead on the weekend for a quick breakfast during the busy weekdays. I think of them like delicious portable Denver omelets! The egg, ham, cheese, and green onions make them a savory snack during the afternoon as well.

I’ve been experimenting with various muffin trays and so far I like the 12 cup silicone version available on Amazon. It’s dishwasher safe and super easy to use.

The three-pack (below) costs a few dollars more and you get various shapes. These are freezer and dishwasher safe! They’re also microwave safe! Doesn’t that seem odd to you? I mean, silicone is generally microwave safe. But why list this as a feature for a muffin pan? Would someone put a full muffin pan in a microwave? Has anyone reading this done that? If you have, please enlighten the rest of us by using the comments section below to explain how this works. More power (pun intended) to you for creative uses of microwaves! 😉

Speaking of microwaves…. I individually wrap and store these cottage cheese and egg muffins in the refrigerator to eat on the run or when I don’t feel like cooking breakfast. To reheat, just unwrap and pop one into microwave for 20-30 seconds (not too long or they’ll get tough). You can leave them wrapped when heating them. I’ve done this but the plastic wrap gets really stretchy and unwrapping the muffin just feels weird. It’s probably just me. Do your own thing, folks! 🙂

All this talk about these muffins is making me hungry. Here’s the recipe:

Instructions

As mentioned above, there’s a printable recipe card is below. But let’s step through the process together.

Start by preheating your oven to 375 Fahrenheit (190 Celsius).

Pro tip (for higher altitudes): If you’re in a higher altitude, say 3500 feet or more above sea level, baked goods rise faster. Try increasing your oven temperature to 400 Fahrenheit and also decreasing the baking powder to 1/2 tsp or 3/4 tsp when making these cottage cheese muffins. Here is a great article on high altitude baking from Betty Crocker.

Now is the time to prepare the ham, cheese, and onions – unless you bought diced ham, shredded cheese, and pre-sliced green onions. If you did, good for you! I can’t find pre-sliced green onions, so I always cut those myself. 😉

I often buy diced ham and sometimes I buy shredded cheese when making cottage cheese muffins. Be cautious when buying shredded cheese, because the manufacturers often add cornstarch to prevent the shreds from sticking together. And cornstarch is not keto or low carb friendly! Check the ingredients and the carb count before you buy. The store brand I purchase works fine. But if you’re going to shred your own cheese, try this Mandoline slicer. It has two shred (Julienne) plates so that you can make either a course or a fine shred.

Unless I’m using left over ham that I’ve cooked for a previous dinner (or Thanksgiving), I like to get diced ham from the meat section at my grocery store. Below is a to the brand I typically purchase. Check your local grocer first since it probably cost less then buying it online. My store sells this for about 50 cents less than Amazon.

After you have your diced ham, shredded cheese, and sliced onions ready to go, you’ll need to grab a large mixing bowl. Into the bowl, add your cottage cheese, Parmesan, almond meal, baking powder, salt, eggs, and water. Using a fork these ingredients for several minutes. Or you can blend them for about a minute with a hand mixer on low. Don’t over beat these ingredients.

Next you’ll pour your other ingredients (ham, cheese, and onions) into this mixture and thoroughly combine using a fork or wooden spoon. You want to make sure these ingredients are evenly dispursed in the cottage cheese and egg mixture. At the same time, you don’t want to over beat the wet mixture. Just use a spoon or fork and combine well.

I usually spray my muffin cups with non-stick spray or olive oil. Even the silicone ones! If I know that I’m going to be eating most of these on the go or at the office, then I’ll use paper or foil muffin cups to make them a bit more portable.

Baking and Cooling

Evenly divide the mixture into your muffin cups. For this I use a 1/4 cup measuring scoop and a spoon. When the muffin cups are loaded, it’s time to bake!

Put your muffins in the oven for about 35 minutes or until lightly browned on top. They’ll be a bit moist inside so the toothpick trick doesn’t work too well on these.

Remove the muffin pan from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. Don’t take them out yet, please! You want to let the muffin pan sit on the rack for about 5 minutes, because the muffins are still cooking a bit. After 5 minutes, remove the remove from pan (so they stop cooking).

Remove the muffin pan from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. Don’t take them out yet, please! You want to let the muffin pan sit on the rack for about 5 minutes, because the muffins are still cooking a bit. After 5 minutes, remove the remove from pan (so they stop cooking).

If you’re going to eat the right way, transfer them to a plate and take them to the table! If not, I suggest putting them back onto the cooling rack for about 20 minutes until they are nearly room temp. Personally, I put a piece of parchment paper on the cooling wrap instead of letting the food touch the rack directly. This is partially because I’m lazy (cleaning a cooling rack is a big PITA!) and also because it’s more sanitary.

Then I wrap each one individually in Saran (plastic) wrap and put them into an airtight zip-top bag before refrigerating them. I don’t usually freeze these muffins, because I eat them too fast! If anyone has tips related to freezing/thawing these, please share your experience in the comments!!