My mother made a breakfast baked eggs recipe that I used to love. In fact, I still love this baked eggs recipe since I still make it for breakfast, and oh boy, are my mom Melba’s eggs delicious!
Different breakfast foods will always remind us of our mothers and grandmothers, and these creamy baked eggs always make me think of mom. These are her eggs.
Hey, Mom, you’re famous! Your recipe is published on a website. She can’t hear me, so I’ll just move on.

What Are Melba’s Baked Eggs?
Sometimes we need a break from cooking eggs such as scrambled egg breakfast, perfect hard boiled eggs, runny yolk sunny side up eggs, poached egg, deviled eggs, egg white omelets, or fried egg breakfast, and this oven baked egg recipe is that break.
My mother called these breakfast baked eggs shirred eggs, but I’ve never seen a similar recipe to what she made, so I’m calling this baked eggs dish Melba’s Eggs.
There aren’t a lot of ingredients, and it doesn’t take much time to make this yummy, decadent breakfast.
There is everything to love about this baked eggs recipe. For example, who doesn’t like cheddar cheese? There is something wrong with you if you don’t like cheese.

Well, unless it’s Epoisse de Bourgogne cheese. That type of cheese is really stinky after a few weeks. I do not need it in my life.
You can have stinky cheese for breakfast if you want to, though. I will not judge you. Wellllll, maybe a little bit.
Deviled Ham, Really?
Now, having deviled ham in a baked eggs recipe just doesn’t sound right or tasty for some reason, but it’s delicious in this baked eggs dish.
However, if you’re totally freaked out about the deviled ham, you can substitute it with bacon.
And when I use bacon, I like to dice up a slice or two of Vidalia onions, saute it in butter and sprinkle with salt, and add it to Melba’s baked eggs ingredients as you’re building your egg dish in a ramekin. Yes, it’s very much like building a dish as there are layers to it.

What Can I Do if I Don’t Have Any Ramekins?
It’s OK if you don’t have any ramekins for this egg recipe. You can use a muffin tin instead.
I like using the ramekins because it’s so rare that I get to use them. You see how loyal I am, right?:)
You can serve Melba’s eggs with bacon, sausage, toast with butter, or butter and English muffins. Or you can serve the baked eggs on their own. Yup, shirred eggs, or Melba’s eggs, are a baked egg dish.
And it’s yummy. And you’ll have very few dishes to wash.

I’m all about not washing dishes, or at least fewer dishes. Also, ramekins are easier to clean than a muffin tin or baking dish. Technically, you can also convert this recipe to a gratin dish.
Also, you can use those silicone muffin cups on a baking sheet to make these baked eggs.

How Long Does It Take To Make Melba’s Eggs?
You can prepare this oven baked eggs recipe while your oven is preheating, and they’ll be ready to toss in the oven when it’s finished preheating. Melba’s eggs aren’t complicated to make. They are easy to make, and I’m all about easy-to-make recipes.
One-pan recipes are a favorite of mine. And this cooks in the ramekins, and that’s it.
It’s not like the one-pan dinner recipes, which I love, love, love, but again, I’m all for having fewer dishes to wash – especially in the morning.

However, if you want more dishes to wash, you can come to my home and do mine anytime. I’m nice like that. Also, if you’re into vacuuming, we can arrange that, too. I’m here to help! Also, dusting, laundry, grocery shopping, well, you get the picture.
What Is In Melba’s Baked Eggs?
You can use a lot of substitutions in this breakfast egg recipe. For example, if you don’t like deviled ham in your breakfast food, you can use bacon in this egg recipe. So, there’s the egg, cheese, deviled ham, bread crumbs, and heavy cream or milk.
You probably have those ingredients in your kitchen already. What about substitutions? You can add your favorite seasonings or substitute whatever you’d like to this egg recipe.
As I mentioned in the notes, you can, for example, substitute bacon for the deviled ham if you like. I’ve had it both ways, and honestly, they’re both delicious. Now, make sure you use spoiled milk with this. OK, I was just making sure you were paying attention. I’m sorry. Yes, I know I have issues.

What Seasonings Do We Need For Melba’s Eggs?
I like to gather all the ingredients ahead of time to prep this egg recipe. And all you need for Melba’s eggs are eggs (duh!), sea salt and black pepper to taste, a can of deviled ham, cheddar cheese (don’t hate on cheese. We’ve been through this already), milk or heavy cream, and bread crumbs.
Some people like garlic with their baked eggs, but for us, the garlic is overpowering. If you really love garlic, though, you can use garlic or garlic powder.

Love spicy food? You can add some hot sauce or red pepper flakes to your baking dish.
For something sweet, serve up toasted bread with butter and jelly.
What Cheese Should Go in Baked Eggs?
This baked eggs recipe calls for cheddar cheese, but you can use other types of cheese, too, including mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, and pepper jack cheese.

You can also use parmesan cheese in this breakfast recipe. I’ve added that in addition to the cheddar cheese and instead of it, too. It’s all good. So, I usually get everything in one place just before cooking a meal. I’m not really that organized, but I like to pretend that I am. Maybe if I keep pretending, it will sink in and grow on me.
Other Ingredients You Can Use in This Recipe
Do you love fresh spinach? If you like spinach, you can certainly use spinach in this recipe. Feel free to experiment with spinach, ham, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, tomato sauce, tomatoes, and other ingredients to make it your own.
If you use tomatoes in this egg recipe, be sure to drain off most of the juice from the tomatoes.
Nutrition Facts of Eggs
Back to the eggs. You do remember that we’re making Melba’s eggs for breakfast, right? I must have forgotten for a sec.
Eggs, by the way, are very nutritious, and I don’t know about you, but I could live on eggs and healthy recipes: omelets, Melba’s eggs, soft-boiled eggs over toast, deviled eggs, etc. Yeah, I could live on that.

And, you could always throw eggs at someone. Purely in self-defense, of course. I am not a monster. Allegedly. (wink wink)
As for the bread crumbs, you can use seasoned bread crumbs, panko, or regular bread crumbs. Mom wasn’t weird about that, so I won’t be, either. Just use bread crumbs. Don’t make me come over there.
Is This A Seasonal Dish?
Melba’s breakfast eggs are good at any time of the year. Winter, spring, or fall. It’s not a hot and cold weather sort of dish. Oh, and I’ve had them for dinner before. Don’t judge me. I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store. You know you’ve done that, too.
And they’re good to serve for brunch, too. You can serve the baked eggs with a nice salad if it’s for brunch. We’ll have to do a recipe for eggs benedict soon. Those are fairly easy and fun to make, too.
Oh, and softboiled eggs. I would be happy eating boiled eggs every day, and it’s inexpensive to buy eggs; Eggs are keto-friendly, too.

We’re only going to season Melba’s eggs with salt and pepper, but you can add more seasonings if you like. I don’t think it needs more, though. But I swear that I won’t police your seasonings. Do you see how inclusive we are here?
As for the cheese, I might overdo it a little bit. It’s like when a recipe calls for a clove of minced garlic, so, of course, you bring out four cloves to mince. It’s the same with cheese. Mmm…cheese.
Let’s eat!
Melba’s Baked Eggs Recipe

- Round up your deviled ham, eight eggs, cheddar cheese, heavy cream or milk, and bread crumbs.
- Spray eight ramekin dishes (or muffin tin) with cooking oil. We don’t recommend olive oil for this recipe because the flavor of olive oil can overpower the egg.
- Then we’re going to layer the food, starting with bread crumbs at the bottom of the ramekin or muffin tin, followed by a few drops of cream or milk, then crack an egg on top.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Then, cover the egg with cheddar cheese, add some deviled ham, then some heavy cream.
- Then do another layer of cheese, deviled ham, then cream.
- Top it with more cheese, then sprinkle the top with bread crumbs.
- Put the dishes in the oven set at 390 degrees for 17 minutes. Bake in the oven for a few more minutes if you want the egg yolks thoroughly cooked. That’s how I like them, but you obviously make them how you like them. You can even eat the eggs raw if you want. I hope you don’t, though. Yeah, don’t do that, k?
- Let it cool for a few minutes, then use a knife to scrape the inside edges of the ramekin, so it will be easier to get the food out of the dish to eat it.
You can serve Melba’s eggs with bacon, toast, crusty bread, or an English muffin, or just enjoy them on their own. Thanks, Mom, for the baked eggs recipe. Rest in peace:)

Melba's Baked Eggs
Equipment
- 2 Ramekin dishes Or you can use a muffin tin
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/8 Cup breadcrumbs
- 1 Can Deviled ham
- 1/8 Cup Cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- 1. Round up the deviled ham, eggs, cheddar cheese, cream or milk, and breadcrumbs.
- 2. Spray 2 ramekin dishes with cooking oil, then go on to layer the ingredients in them, starting with the breadcrumbs, followed by a few drops of cream or milk, then crack an egg on top of that in each one.
- 3. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover the eggs with cheddar cheese, add a layer of deviled ham, then some cream or milk again. Then do another layer of cheese, deviled ham, then cream.
- 4. Top it with more cheese, then sprinkle the top with bread crumbs. Put the dishes in the oven set at 390 degrees for 15 minutes. (Bake it for 2 more minutes if you want the eggs to be cooked more thoroughly)
- 5. Let it cool for a few minutes, then use a knife to scrape the inside edges of the ramekin, so it will be easier to get the food out of the dish to eat it.
Nutrition
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Can’t wait to make these!
A beautiful tribute to Melba, and a tasty treat!
Thanks for that, Lillie!
Thanks for the shout out to all of us who will be crossover Conover fans. All the recipes so far have looked divine and we can all use some time away from politics. Luck on all of this and I’ll be trying to decide on a good dish for you.
Thank you, and I’m so glad I’m not into politics right now. it really takes its toll. Sigh.