Take your Egg Bites to a new level with this easy recipe that uses the steam function of the Ninja Foodi for PERFECT Egg Bites every time!
I have never been a huge fan of egg bites in a pressure cooker. In fact, I'm not a big fan of eggs in a pressure cooker because they always turn out rubbery for me. I've tried low pressure, high pressure, short cook time, longer cook times, immediate release, natural release, and it is always more of the same. Overset eggs, especially on the outside, that have a texture I do not like.
I was about to give up and leave the egg biting to everyone else who apparently has found a magic formula that I, apparently, cannot master. Then, I tried again. This time I used my good friend steam and guess what? Say goodbye to rubbery and overcooked eggs! YES!
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My husband, Jeff, loves those egg souffles from Panera bread and had asked me to recreate them in the Ninja Foodi. I asked him to describe the texture to me and we tried a few times, but, no. They weren't even close. Then, I started working on this recipe and apparently nailed it!
Although I have never had a Sous Vide egg bite from Starbucks or an egg souffle from Panera, I can imagine that these are pretty darn close! Jeff says they are better!
Why use Steam instead of Pressure when Making Egg Bites?
Eggs are delicate and do much better when cooked at lower temperatures. Making the steam function on the Ninja Foodi a much better option than pressure cooking, in my opinion.
Have you ever fried an egg in a frying pan that is too hot and as the white spreads out and cooks, it becomes rubbery? That is because at high heat, the proteins in the egg white forms too many bonds, that are tightly woven, and your egg becomes rubbery.
Cooking an egg perfectly is a balance between applying just enough heat to rearrange the molecules and have the eggs set, but not so much heat that the whites become rubbery and the yolks become chalky.
The steam function on the Ninja Foodi meets that goal perfectly! You can also adjust the steaming time according to your personal preference on how you like your egg bites cooked.
For firmer egg bites, increase the time by a few minutes. The egg bites in this recipe are fully set and have a soft, velvety texture. Perfect for me, but everyone likes their egg bites cooked differently, so adjust timing as needed to achieve your perfect egg bite!
Can I make these Egg Bites Ahead of Time?
Yes, of course. Many people make several trays of egg bites at once and store them in the fridge for easy, grab and go, breakfasts. In my experience, these egg bites will last up to a week in the refrigerator.
Although I have not tried this, I have read that you can freeze them for longer storage.
How do I reheat them?
The easiest way to reheat them is in the microwave and I found 30-60 seconds will heat them through without over cooking. This timing worked perfectly for me and the egg bites were just as soft and creamy as they were fresh out of the Ninja Foodi.
If you want to reheat them in the Ninja Foodi, I would use the steam function to do that. I haven't tried this because... well, the microwave does have some uses and this is one of them!
If you want to reheat from frozen, I would microwave at 30 second intervals and I think about 90-120 seconds will do the trick. These egg bites never last long enough around here, so I haven't frozen any yet!
What are the Base Ingredients in these Egg Bites?
Since egg bites can be customized with all different kinds of add-ins, let me go over the basic ingredients in these Egg Bites.
- 5 large eggs
- ¼ cup of heavy cream
- ¼ cup of cream cheese (about 1.5 ounces)
That's it. From there, you can add in any seasonings or other ingredients that you like.
You can even mix up the base and make several different types of Egg Bites in the same tray.
Do I have to use the Ninja Foodi Hot Cold Blender for this recipe?
Absolutely not. You can use any blender or food processor or just whisk everything up by hand. The Ninja Foodi Hot Cold Blender does a great job though and if you are in the market for a new blender, I would really recommend considering it.
I used the Hot Cold Blender because I wanted the onion flavor, but not large onion chunks. I was able to put in ¼ of an onion and the blender puréed it, so the flavor was there, but no chunks! It also did a great job with the ham and cheese that I used in my Egg Bites.
If you are going to mix these up by hand, make sure your cream cheese is room temperature and you dice up the ingredients you are adding very small. You don't want huge chunks in your Egg Bites because it will change the texture some. Unless you like that and then go for it!
What and How Much of the Add-Ins can I Add?
If you are making the Egg Bites in an Egg Bite mold, like I did, then you want to limit the total amount of added ingredients to about 3 ounces. More than that and
your egg to add-in ratio will be off and they might not set up as perfectly.
You can customize your egg bites with whatever ingredients you have on hand. Some ideas are:
- Spinach & Feta
- Red Bell Pepper & Onion
- Sausage* & Cheddar
- Bacon* & Gouda
- Three Cheese Blend
- Ham & Swiss
- Taco Meat & Mexican Cheese
The list goes on and on and on. Basically, put whatever you want in your egg bites. Just remember not to add too much!
*Make sure to fully cook any meat before adding, the steam time will not cook the raw meat enough.
Do I have to have an Egg Bite Mold to make this Recipe?
No, you don't absolutely have to have an egg bite mold to make these, but it does help. Since I have not tested this recipe with other containers, the steam time will vary, but you can make this same recipe in any container that is safe for steam.
This includes; ramekins, ceramic or glass dishes that are oven safe, 4 0unce canning jars, or other silicone molds you have.
The timing will be different depending on the container, but it is really easy to check on your egg bites when using the steam function on the Ninja Foodi. Since we don't go under pressure, the lid can be removed at any time* and you can check for doneness.
*Sometimes when using the steam function, the red or silver button on the pressure lid will pop up. This does lock the lid in place, but it will go back down after a few minutes. Just make sure your valve is in the vented position.
How to Make Egg Bites in the Ninja Foodi
Crack the eggs into a bowl and then add them to the Ninja Foodi Hot Cold Blender. Add the cream cheese, onion (no need to chop if using the blender), and the heavy cream to the blender. Add salt and pepper. Select the Smoothie function. Add in the ham and cheese and pulse twice.
Butter the silicone egg bite mold and the silicone cover or foil.
Pour the egg mixture into each well about halfway. After each well is filled halfway, use a spoon to spoon the mixture out of the blender. This way you can control the amount of ham and cheese that goes into each well. Fill the wells up about 3/4 of the way total. Cover with a silicone cover like the one show in the photo above or foil.
Put 2 cups of water into the inner pot. This is important. You want to use a full 2 cups of water that has not been heated or your eggs will not cook all the way through. I tried using 1 cup of water and the eggs were not set.
Put the silicone egg bite tray on the rack in the low position and place it into the Ninja Foodi. Put the pressure lid on and turn the valve all the way to VENT. Make sure the valve is fully vented or you may overcook your eggs. Select the steam function for 12 minutes. When the time is up, remove the lid and the rack from the inner pot.
Remove the cover and let the egg bites sit to cool for just a few minutes. They should start to pull away from the edges. If they don't, use a cake tester or a butter knife to loosen them. Flip over onto a plate or serving tray. Serve and Enjoy!
Egg Bites in the Ninja Foodi
Ingredients
- 5 large eggs
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1½ ounces cream cheese (1/4 cup) room temperature
Optional Ingredients
- ¼ onion
- 2 ounces ham cubed
- 1 ounce swiss cheese cubed
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl or into the Ninja Foodi Hot Cold Blender. Add the heavy cream, cream cheese, onion, salt and pepper. Select the smoothie function.
- Butter or oil the egg bite mold and the silicone cover.
- Add the ham and cheese cubes to the blender. Pulse 2-3 times.
- Pour the egg mixture into each well about 1/2 way. Since the ham and cheese settles in the blender, you want to make sure each egg bite gets some of the ham and cheese. Spoon or pour out the remaining egg mixture to fill each well 3/4 of the way full. You want at least 1/4" at the top to allow for rising. Cover the egg bites with foil or a silicone cover.
- Add 2 cups of water to the inner pot. Place the egg bites on the rack in the low position. Place the rack in the inner pot. Put the pressure lid on and turn the valve to VENT.
- Select the steam function for 12 minutes. When the time is done, remove the lid. Remove the rack with the egg bites and uncover. Allow to cool just a few minutes.
- Use a cake tester or a knife and make sure the egg bites are releasing from the sides. If they aren't, let them cool a little longer. If they still aren't pulling back from the silicone, then run a cake tester or butter knife around the edges.
- Flip over onto a plate. Serve & Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
ABOUT THE RECIPE AUTHOR, LOUISE LONG
Louise is a full-time recipe creator and food blogger @ The Salted Pepper. She has over 30 years of 
experience with cooking and recipe development. She owned a restaurant for several years and was a full-time RN until retiring to blog full-time.
Louise has several very active Facebook groups that help people with the basics of cooking and getting the most out of the Ninja Foodi.
Ninja Foodi Fresh & Healthy Meals
Seeing the need for easy, delicious, and high quality recipes, she is focusing all of her efforts creating recipes specifically for the Ninja Foodi. Her recipes are easy for the home cook to follow and provide step-by-step instructions.
Louise is also a YouTube creator and you can find most of her recipes in video format on The Salted Pepper YouTube channel.
She is very responsive to messages and eager to help in any way she can.
Jaime
Do you have any recommendations for freezing and reheating?
Louise
I would freeze them on a parchment lined tray and then put them in a freezer container. I would steam to reheat from frozen.
paula
they were awesome. i am new to this, so i followed your directions and they turned out great but does the steam function always make that much noise the whole time. This thing still scares me..lol
Louise
It varies, but it is supposed to release the steam the whole time otherwise you are pressure cooking which is at a higher heat and tends to make the eggs rubbery. I'm glad you enjoyed them!
Kelly Bailey
I’m making these now for the 2nd time! Just got our Foodi for Christmas. I use just egg whites and add goat cheese (1 tsp/egg cup) for 12 minutes, and they turned out great!! I used to make these in a ban Marie in the oven, but sometimes I’d over cook them and they’d be rubbery (still good, but not the best texture). These are so much easier!! I’ll bring them to work and heat them in the microwave for 1 minute (for 2). They’re also great if you want a high protein snack. Thanks!!
Louise
I'm so glad you like them!
Lola
Just made my first batch... bacon & gouda (w sautéed onions & gr peppers). They were very good; perhaps slightly too firm so next batch I'll try with 11 minutes of steam time vs the 12 minutes. Do I need to purchase a 2-tier rack if I want to cook two batches at the same time? THANK YOU so much for your recipes and the detailed explanation, videos, and tips; you are definitely my "go to" site for cooking with my Foodi!!
Louise
That sounds amazing! I can't wait to try different combinations!
Rachel
I made these and they were so easy and absolutely delicious. They came out perfect. I put a little bit of shredded cheese in the bottom of each one of them along with some pre-cooked turkey sausage and then poured the eggs over it. I can’t say enough good things about them.
Linda VanderPluym
When you say silicone top, do you mean the lid that came with the egg bite tray? Or is that just to use when you put something back into refrigerator? It is from a set that had egg bite, bunt pan, and springform pan made by Instand Brannds.
Louise
I use silicone lids that I bought separately. Some of the lids with the egg bite trays can be used under pressure and some can't. All the information for the products I used, including links is the post.
Louise
I use a separate cover. Some of the egg bite mold covers can be used during pressure cooking and some can't. The information and links about the products I use can be found in the written post.
Mike K
Hi I’m Mike from UK used a Ninja Foodi Max.
They expanded and push the top of the silicone lid off.
Louise
They do expand, but usually settle back down quickly. Was your valve vented?
Ruby Rodriguez
I finally tried egg bites! I used sausage and cheddar with chopped scallions. Forgot the cream but they were still.perfect! Thank you once again for the awesome recipes Louise!
Louise
I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
KP
I used a link of fresh chorizo I cooked off, shredded cheddar and no onion on hand so I sprinkled with fresh chives on top. OMG. So good!!!!
Louise
I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Sarah
I have an 8 quart Ninja foodi and could stack 3 silicone trays using the Original rack in the low position. 13 minutes was not enough time and when I reset it for 5 more minutes I accidentally left the steam knob in the pressure position. So it is hard to tell what time would be needed for the 3 racks in the steam setting. The egg bites were slightly rubbery due to the long pressure but still delicious. I have done this before with just steam and they were very tender, just forgot the extra time needed.
I like having plenty for leftovers. With 21 egg bites using 10 eggs that is 2 bites per 1 egg. And they are plenty filling. Not bad.
Louise
That's great! I get asked a lot about timing for multiple trays, so let me know when you get the timing down and I'll put that in the post!
Kelly
As I was waiting for these to cook, I thought it wasnt going to be worth the time and effort. But, it totally was worth it! Delicious! I used fried onion and cheddar. Was wondering if you can steam in a pan and cut wedges. If so, what time adjustments would need to be made? Love your recipes!
Louise
I'm sure you could steam them in a pan, but they would take longer. I haven't done it that way, so I'm not sure how much longer.
Trisha Elizabeth Donoflio
Mine turned out fantastic! I’ve only had my ninja a week.
Thank you!
Louise
I'm so happy to hear that!
Marilyn Burrows
Can you put two trays of the egg bites in at a time? They were delicious and so easy to do.
Louise
Yes, that shouldn't be a problem. You may need to steam a few more minutes though.
Craig Rockelman
I have tried quite a few of your recipes and most are spot on, I especially like your scalloped potatoes, anyway the egg bites came out a little to soft for me so I just increased the steam time until I was satisfied, even then they still popped out of the egg mold with no problem. My first time to ever have an egg bite as well so it was good. One thing I think you are probably aware of but I will say it anyway, the egg bites make an excellent egg salad sandwich as well. I just mashed a couple with some mayo and a little mustard and other than the texture being softer no diff in taste and a great way to use leftover bites.
Thanks for all the great recipes,
Craig
Louise
Thank you so much! I can definitely see how you would think they are too soft. Love your tip on making eggsald sandwiches with them!
Deborah
If using Whole Milk would it be the same measurement as the heavy cream?
Louise
I would probably decrease it by a Tablespoon, but honestly, it probably doesn't matter.
Giuliana
first, if you don't have one already buy the little egg mold from Louise's site, it works fabulous! Second...I have to UNFORTUNATELY watch my fat so I omitted the cream and cream cheese (BOO) this time instead I used soy milk and tofu and it turned out GREAT. I mean hard to beat the taste of cream and cream cheese BUT if you are having issues just tweak this a bit and it's STILL delicious. Thanks for the recipe. I have photos for proof. lol
Louise
I'm so glad your healthier version was delicious! Thanks for sharing your changes so others can make them, too!
Tabitha
How does it work with soy milk and tofu? Interesting! Thanks
Louise
I haven't tried that, but let me know if you do!
Nicole
Can you please link the silicone cover?
Louise
Thank you for letting me know I didn't put the link in the post! Here is my Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2Sj58lb
Lisa
Hi
Can you please put link for the egg bite mold. The link you provided is for the silicone lids.. thank you
Louise
The egg bite mold that I use is currently out of stock. As soon as it is available, I will update the link.
Darlene Flavelle
Tried these with a regular silicone muffin pan, cut down to only 4 sections, so it would fit.. It didn't turn out great. Even though I greased them well, they stuck a bit, perhaps because of the flat bottoms? Anyway, I tried it again with the same mixture, using ramekins. This time I air fried instead (325 for about 8-10 min. When almost done I put some bacon bits and shredded cheese, and a bit of parm on top and broiled for a few minutes till the cheese melted and some browning on top. Much better his way.
Louise
That is interesting that muffin pans would stick more than the egg bite trays. I never thought about a flat bottom being the culprit, but you might be onto something there! I have a set of silicone molds that have a flat bottom and I have tried over and over to do little frittatas and they always stick no matter what I do!
Chrissy
Is the nutritional info for 1 invividual egg bite?
Dave redhead
Do you have any guidance on timings for ramekins 2.5 inch across 1 3/4 deep I’ll play it by ear but wondered 18 mins or something ?
Louise
I would start with 15 minutes and just keep checking on them. It's easy when you are using steam to just open the lid and peek.
Sheri Plant
Where do you get the silicone insert for the egg bites? I'm so happy I stumbled across your videos. Thank you,
Sheri Plant
Louise
I think you are asking about the egg bite tray, here is the one I have: (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/2SKE3GA
Cheri McDonough
I’m so excited to try these today! Would I be able to stack a second egg bite mold on top of the first one? If so, would I need to change the cook time? I’m a Foodi newbie.
Louise
Yes, you can stack and no change in time needed.
Pat
I've made these a few times and stacked them and 12 minutes of steam doesn't work for me. I just did them and put them on a rack so more air would go between and they are still not done at 12 minutes.
Louise
I saw your post on FB and the only thing I can think of is maybe your egg bite trays are different from mine? I would just try to increase the time to 14 minutes and go from there. I tested the recipe again without any added ingredients and mine were done at 12 minutes.
Liz
Can you double the recipe and cook 2 batches at once? I have 2 silicone molds and I'm doing meal prep for the week
Louise
Yes, you can make two at the same time.
Ann McKercher
These look sooo good! Do you think egg whites would work for these. I use egg creations (not by choice, but gallbladder issues) so 1/2 cup equals two eggs. They scramble up like regular eggs. Your thoughts Louise🤔.
Thank you for all you do...I trust your recipes and enjoy your videos!
Louise
Thank you so much! I think they will be just fine!
Phyllis K daniels
Can you use non dairy creamer instead of heavy cream?
Louise
I think that would be fine.
Phyllis K. Daniels
Thank you. I will let you know how it works!
Tobie B Wolf
Would I follow the same directions for the Instant Pot steam?
Louise
I'm not sure because many models of the IP require the vent to be closed during the steaming process and I'm not sure if they would turn out the same. It's worth a shot though, please let me know if you try it!
Mary Ellen
I tried these with smaller glass ramekins. I cover them in foil. They turned out perfectly. I used to make these in a steam bath in the oven, but these turned out better. I am so glad I saw this recipe as others recipes indicate "pressure" versus "steam mode. The steam mode is the key!
Louise
I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Karen
Thank you for always being so generous with your recipes!
Louise
Thank you so much, it's my pleasure. I love creating them!
Rhonda Greenly
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! YOU ARE AWESOME.
Louise
Thank you! I hope you love them!
Chris Olinger
I do mine low pressure for 8 min and nr for 5. They come out nice and fluffy.
Louise
I know a lot of people do that, I didn't care for them that way though.