Spinach with Eggs Breakfast

Why should you make this recipe?

• This is a quite satisfying spinach breakfast dish with the eggs (sunny side up) on the top. 
• It is a tasty low-carb breakfast recipe.
• It is easy to serve it in individual portions; one or two eggs with the spinach around for each person.
• It is easy to customize. You can add more greens or vegetables in the pan.

About The Ingredients

This is one of the easiest breakfast ideas with 3 main ingredients: 

Onion: A small onion would be enough for this recipe. Chop it finely.

Spinach: We use fresh spinach and chop it roughly. We use both the leaves and the stems. Don't worry, the stems taste as good as the leaves when cooked, so don't waste them. If you use fresh baby spinach leaves, you don't even need to chop them. To be even quicker, you can use canned spinach too. But make sure to drain the excessive water well.

Eggs: We use 4 large eggs for a serving of 4. Organic eggs have the best flavor, but you can use whatever you have on hand.

Besides these, we need olive oil, salt and pepper. We sometimes add in cumin too. If you like the flavor of cumin, use a little of it when adding salt and pepper.

Although it is not in the recipe, we love squeezing lemon on this dish when eating. If you have never tried spinach with lemon, give it a try! They go very well together.

Alternative Add-Ins

Garlic: You can add in minced garlic when the onions are translucent if you want.

Tomato paste: To give this egg and spinach dish even a richer flavor, you can add about 1 tablespoon of tomato paste or 1 or 2 chopped tomatoes right before adding the spinach. 

More herbs and vegetables: Kale, leeks, green onions, parsley and basil are all great additions. They go well with spinach. Also, you can cook some mushrooms with onions. All these flavors are great when combined with eggs. 

Spices: You can add cumin, paprika and red pepper flakes if you want your breakfast to be a bit spicy. 

Cheese: A little parmesan, mozzarella, cheddar cheese or feta would be a nice addition on the top. Add whichever cheese you like right after you remove the skillet from heat.

Meat: If you want to add more protein to your spinach egg breakfast, you can cook some bacon with onions. 

How to Make 

This is a super easy recipe that is like the green version of our Turkish tomato egg dish called menemen. 

1. Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet, add in onions and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally. 

2. Add in spinach leaves. If your skillet is not big enough, add half or quarter of the whole batch, cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until spinach shrinks. Then add the second batch and repeat until you add all the spinach. So adding spinach in a few batches is a good idea. Watch how in the video below.

3. Cook for about 10 minutes or until all the water that has been released from spinach leaves evaporates. Season with salt and black pepper.

4. Add the eggs: Make wells for eggs. You can add as many eggs as you like, depending on the size of the pan. Crack one egg into each well and cook until the whites set, about 3-4 minutes. You can gently poke the whites with a wooden spoon to help them cook well. Sprinkle salt and black pepper on each egg and serve.

Variations

With the same ingredients, you can make another variation of this recipe.

Scrambled eggs and spinach: If you are a fan of scrambled eggs, you can easily make it with spinach. To do this, cook the onions and spinach leaves as described in this recipe. Whisk eggs with a little heavy cream in a bowl and pour this mixture over the spinach and onion in the pan. Cook them stirring constantly so that the egg mixture scrambles with the spinach.  Season with salt and pepper, top with some cheese and serve. You can serve this on toasted bread slices. 

Expert Tips

• Before adding the eggs in the pan, make sure the water released by spinach evaporates. If it is still watery in the pan, cook for another 5 minutes. Then add the eggs.
• You can use canned spinach but drain it well.
• You can use frozen spinach as well, but thaw it first and drain well.
• If you want to make spinach and eggs scramble, whisk eggs with a little heavy cream and pour it over the spinach in the pan. Cook it, stirring constantly.
• If you have leftovers, keep them in the fridge in an airtight container for 1-2 days. Reheat them in a pan on low heat. You can even crack another egg on it if you want to increase the amount.

Serving Suggestions

You can serve it as a part of world famous Turkish breakfast platter. We love to dip pide bread into this dish, especially into that yolk. Sometimes we serve it on our quick bread loaf slices.

Also, a few slices of avocado, tomato and cucumber on the side accompany the dish well. 

Are eggs and spinach healthy?

Eggs are one of the healthiest foods packed with protein. Also, they keep you full for a long time, so they make perfect breakfast, lunch and dinner. When you combine eggs with spinach, you have one of the healthiest meals because just like eggs, spinach is a nutrient-dense vegetable. It is a great source of calcium and iron (source). What’s more, there is no ingredient here that increases the calorie of this recipe.

FAQs

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