Bacon egg cups are the make-ahead keto breakfast worth the muffin tin, a whole egg baked inside a crisp ring of bacon at about 1 net carb a cup. The difference between a great one and a floppy one comes down to a single step, and below is that trick plus how to batch them for the freezer.
I have been seeing versions of this idea all over Pinterest lately. It seemed like a simple way to serve brunch. Well I wouldn't call it the easiest recipe, but the result is a beautiful presentation. The reason I wouldn't call it easy is due to the extra steps involved in prepping. At first from the photos I thought you could just make the bacon cups, add the eggs, and put it straight in the oven. Well I quickly learned that the trick is to pre-cook the bacon to about medium done-ness on the stove, so that the bacon ends up making a nice crispy cup for the eggs. This step sounds easier said than done because you basically want to cook off some of the grease and keep the bacon pliable, but there is only a minor gap between medium done-ness and crispy so you have to stay on bacon patrol during this stage. All and all I think this is still a great option for a low carb brunch. Try mixing it up by adding cheese and herbs on top or scrambling the egg.
The trick is pre-cooking the bacon
This is the step every quick version skips, and it is the one that matters. Raw bacon wrapped into a cup never renders enough in the time the egg needs, so you end up with a pale, fatty ring instead of a crisp one. Cooking it to medium first, pliable but not yet crisp, drives off the grease and lets it firm into a real edible cup in the oven. What you are really making is a baked egg, the French oeuf en cocotte, with the bacon standing in for the ramekin. Stay on it, since the window between pliable and too-crisp-to-bend is small.
Watch the eggs, then batch them
The other thing people get wrong is overcooking. Eggs set fast in a hot tin, so start checking at ten minutes and pull them the moment the whites are just firm; they carry over as they cool. Once you have the timing, this becomes a meal-prep workhorse. Bake a dozen, cool them, and freeze them, then reheat from frozen for 30 to 45 seconds in the microwave on a busy morning. Serve them with a tray of crispy baked bacon or alongside soft scrambled eggs, and round out a spread with my breakfast casserole. They are one of the make-ahead stars of my low carb breakfast guide.
Sources
USDA FoodData Central, nutrient references for eggs and bacon.
Sugarfreechic test kitchen, low-carb breakfast notes.
