Imagine a bell pepper basket stuffed with bacon, eggs, and cheese, then oven-baked. I’d always served stuffed bell peppers for dinner, never imagining that a bell pepper basket could be used to bake eggs.
Yet one night as I drifted peacefully off to sleep contemplating what I’d make for breakfast the next day, it hit me! The idea was so exciting it kept me awake a while longer. I couldn’t wait to wake up the next morning and try out my idea.
The results? Delicious! Of course, how could it not be? You’re pouring your favorite omelet ingredients into a halved bell pepper, then baking them to perfection.
Baked Bell Pepper Basket: It’s For Breakfast
The Players
Per baked egg served, you’ll need:*
- 1/2 bell pepper, cut in half lengthwise and seeded
- 1/2 slice bacon (from foraged hogs)
- 1 egg (from pastured hens)
- 1 oz. cheddar cheese (where to buy cheese from grass-fed cows)
*NOTE: Get creative! Use whatever veggies, meats, or cheeses you have on hand that you like putting in an omelet.
The How-To
Preheat your oven to 375F. Fill the bottom of a jelly roll pan with 1/8 inch water; set aside.
Place sliced bacon in each bell pepper basket. Crack egg open into the basket on top of bacon. Top with cheese. Transfer to jelly roll pan.
When all servings are assembled and oven is preheated, bake the Bell Pepper Baskets for 30 minutes.
When done, remove from oven and serve immediately. Enjoy!
And may I just take a moment to gush about how grateful I am for my local pastured poultry farmer? Check out my positively gorgeous orange yolks — the tell-tale sign that these hens enjoy a life outside foraging on lush, green pasture.
Don’t these hens look happy? Thank you Taylor Farm for feeding my family!
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May I ask… does the bacon stay soft or does it get sorta crispy? My husband doesn’t like bacon, as a general rule, and when he does eat it he doesn’t like it “bendy”, if ykwim? So I’m wondering if I might be best to leave the bacon out.
Thank you… these look delicious!!
–Andrea
I only have thick-cut bacon, and I’ve never seen it get what I’d call “crispy” — even under normal frying conditions. It’s just so thick that you always feel like you’re biting INTO something. It’s like a thin ham steak or something, the way it cooks up.
Anyhow, I don’t know how normal thin bacon would perform! If bacon’s not an option for your hubby, consider using something else instead.
I think ham or chorizo or taco meat or breakfast sausage all sound tasty!
I have all those ingredients and its baking right now… of course it will be brunch for me :-p
This looks very delicious! I can imagine it with some super nice Lorenae Dairy cheese! YUMMY grass fed cow milk n cheese – the BEST.
Holy yellow egg yolk! Those egg yolks look FANTASTIC! I think you chorizo idea sounds great and I think my husband would enjoy this dish very much. Thank you for sharing!
— Katie
I think chorizo sounds so good, too!
And yes, I feel very lucky every time I crack open an egg.
Sounds like this omelet in a Bell Pepper would work if it was made in a pressure cooker too.
This looks like a pretty good idea but here’s what I’m thinking:
I’m thinking that the bacon wouldn’t cook enough or the egg would cook too much. I don’t like my bacon still soft and rubbery and I like my eggs barely done; meaning that the white is just cooked and the yolk is quite runny. Would it be better to cook the bacon a bit first? Just thinking out loud here.
How did you find the texture of the ingredients when baked?
I liked the texture just fine. It was definitely cooked, but it was not crispy.
If I were you, I’d experiment to see what worked. I, for one, loved the ease of a one-step assembly line to making a pretty breakfast. If I didn’t want to use bacon, I’d probably use breakfast sausage or ham.
“One step” is certainly a quick and pain-free way to cook things. Maybe I’ll take your advice and use sausage or ham. Or maybe I’ll just bite the pan-washing bullet and cook up some bacon first. I wonder if I could cook the bacon in the oven on the same pan I use for the stuffed peppers??
When I buy bacon I usually cook it all at once and store it in the fridge so it is ready for use when I need it….and I love to store the bacon drippings for cooking. I too love crispy bacon so I will be trying this with my pre-cooked bacon.
Happy hens! They really do look happy.
This looks delicious. I just mentioned to the hubby and he looked at me like I was crazy. I’m going to make them anyway and surprise him. I’ve got some gorgeous organic orange bells in the fridge.
Just tried this- it looked so delish and easy. Well… it didn’t come out so great. Just as Annie suspected, the bacon was completely raw, and the egg cooked HARD. It looked beautiful coming out of the oven- the cheese golden brown, with egg yolk showing through. The pepper was cooked just how I like them-not mushy. I ended up scooping the egg and cheese off, and then cooked the bacon and reassembled. Sure wish it would have worked in one easy step!
Tried this today and was great to have a green veggie thrown in for the AM!!!! I do like my eggs runny and from your picture, it looked like your egg was, so next time I’m thinking about crisping my bacon first, laying it on top of the egg and covering with the cheese and not cooking it as long… Has anyone tried this?
I might try a variation of this. We like our yolks runny, so I might put the peppers and meat in for a few minutes to cook up and then add my eggs during the last few minutes. I have to try at least once because this sounds so good!
Yum, I can hardly wait to try these!
I have a bunch of these in the oven right now (for the week ahead, to heat up individually for breakfasts, lunches, whenever). WOW, does that bacon smell delicious. I used red peppers instead of green, and put the cheese on 20 minutes into cooking. I also made little aluminum foil “prop-up” stands, for the more shallow pepper halves that the eggs would run out of otherwise. Thank you so much for the idea. Love it.
Awesomeness. This may have to be dinner for us tonight!
I love many of your receipes, but don’t know how to down load them. Is there an app or someway to copy them? I’ve been writing it down on envelopes or whatever I can find. I can hardly wait to try the one above. Shalom
Great egg idea! I am always looking for new ways to use our homegrown eggs!! I cant wait to try this one.
That looks great, pinned for later….
2-17-14 I just made this for breakfast and it was quite delicious. Here are the changes I made:
I used red and orange bell peppers as that’s what I had and they were great. I used Canadian bacon for the same reason and it was perfect, and of course leaner. Next time I would cut 1/3 of the side of the pepper off so that egg (which I scrambled before pouring in) wouldn’t dribble out as easily. The leftover part would be small so would be used for nibbling or salad. I baked these for 35-40 minutes (topped with pepper-jack cheese) and they were beautiful and cooked just enough.
I’ll be making these again!