How to Make Chef John's Loaf Pan Frittata Recipe

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In this video, Chef John reinvents breakfast with his clever Loaf Pan Frittata! This easy, hands-off recipe layers eggs, veggies, cheese, and your favorite add-ins into a loaf pan for a sliceable, meal-prep-friendly take on the classic frittata.

Transcript

00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Loaf Pan Frittata.

00:08That's right, I'm going to show you a great alternative method for making frittata,

00:12which I think is easier, safer, and possibly even better looking,

00:18especially if you're a fan of rectangles. And who isn't?

00:22And to get started, if we're going to use greens in our frittata,

00:25which I always think we should,

00:26we will add those to a skillet set over medium-high heat,

00:30in which we have a little bit of olive oil.

00:32And while I'm using spinach, this will work the same,

00:35whether you're doing Swiss chard or kale or mustard greens or dandelion,

00:40all of which would be fabulous in this.

00:42And what we'll do is move and toss that around until it just barely wilts,

00:46which should only take like a minute.

00:49And once that happens, we'll transfer that into a strainer,

00:51where we will let it sit and drain.

00:54And then you know the drill.

00:55Well, as soon as this is cool enough to handle,

00:58we'll squeeze out the excess moisture using some paper towels or a kitchen towel,

01:02at which point it'll be ready to use.

01:06And then while we're waiting for that, we can go ahead and prep our eggs,

01:09which means cracking them into a bowl,

01:12and then seasoning them up with some kosher salt,

01:15some freshly ground black pepper,

01:17and then last but never least, a few shakes of cayenne.

01:21And that's it.

01:22We'll grab a whisk and bust those eggs right in the yolks.

01:25And then we'll start whisking.

01:27And we will keep whisking until we can no longer see any of the egg white.

01:31And once that happens, we will stop.

01:34Okay, we're not trying to make a souffle here.

01:36So as soon as our eggs look like this, we are done.

01:39And we can set those aside for a few minutes or pop them in the fridge

01:43while we cook whatever other veggies we're going to put in this.

01:46And that'll start by drizzling a lot of olive oil back into that same pan.

01:50And once again, we'll set our heat to medium high.

01:53And yes, you do want that much olive oil.

01:56And then besides spinach, I decided to include some shallots,

02:00as well as some diced up sweet red bell pepper.

02:02And we'll toss those in along with a nice big pinch of salt.

02:06And what we want to do here is cook these stirring until they're just about tender

02:09before we can move on to the next step.

02:13And one of the keys to a great frittata, besides using plenty of olive oil,

02:17is to make sure all your veggies are nice and tender

02:19before we transfer the eggs in.

02:22Okay, if your veggies are crisp and undercooked,

02:25they're probably not going to cook all the way through during the baking step.

02:28And you'll be eating a frittata with crunchy vegetables in it,

02:31which is very unpleasant and basically a crime against nature.

02:36But once we are confident these are almost tender,

02:38we will add in our cooked potatoes,

02:41which were simply some roasted potatoes I had left over that I sliced up.

02:44And we'll mix those in with another pinch of salt.

02:48And then we'll cook this stirring for a few minutes,

02:50until those are heated through.

02:52And we're 100% certain, as I just said,

02:54all the other veggies are nice and tender.

02:57Oh, and this is the time to check the fridge,

02:59to see if you might have any other kind of vegetation to throw in this.

03:03All right, a frittata is the ultimate catch-all,

03:05so please add in whatever you like.

03:07I mean, you are, after all the Frank Sinatra,

03:10of your loaf pan frittata.

03:12And you get to do it your way.

03:14But anyway, back to my way.

03:17And once my veggies were tender and my potatoes were nice and hot,

03:20I tossed in my spinach,

03:22which I started to mix in,

03:23but then I stopped,

03:25because you don't have to.

03:26Since we're also going to pour in our eggs at this point,

03:29and mix everything together.

03:30So that's exactly what I did.

03:32And what our plan here is,

03:35is to cook this during over medium-high heat,

03:37until we have something resembling a very soft,

03:40very wet scrambled egg.

03:42And by doing this before we transfer it into the loaf pan,

03:45our solid ingredients are not going to sink to the bottom,

03:49but rather be suspended very uniformly.

03:52So what we'll do once we get to this soft scrambled egg stage,

03:55is turn off our heat,

03:57and we will mix in our cheese if we're using it.

04:00And I hope you are,

04:01since the cheese does add richness, flavor, and moisture.

04:05And in case you're wondering,

04:06I'm using a cheese called Toma,

04:07which is similar to a mild cheddar,

04:10which would also work beautifully,

04:12as would any of your favorite melty cheeses.

04:15And that's it.

04:15As soon as we have that stirred in,

04:17we will transfer this into a loaf pan,

04:19which is your standard 9x5 size,

04:22that I generously grease with olive oil.

04:24And we'll make sure we're poking that down,

04:26so it's nicely settled.

04:29And once that's been accomplished,

04:30to hedge our bets,

04:32we will grab a towel and place this on top,

04:34so that before we bake it,

04:36we can give it the old tappa tappa,

04:39to really make sure we don't have any air pockets in there.

04:43And that's it.

04:44Once tapped,

04:45we can transfer that into this center,

04:47of a 350 degree oven,

04:49for about 20 to 25 minutes,

04:52or until our eggs are set,

04:53and it looks like this.

04:56And yes,

04:56that looks done,

04:57but a lot of things that look done,

04:59aren't done,

05:00which is why we'll test it with this gear,

05:02which should come out clean.

05:04And that's it.

05:05We should let this cool for at least 10 minutes,

05:07before we try to unmold it.

05:09If you want to eat it hot,

05:11that is.

05:11I actually prefer a frittata at room temp,

05:13or just barely warm.

05:15And then what I did was take a knife,

05:17to make sure it wasn't sticking to the edges,

05:19before I flipped it out of the pan,

05:21and onto a cutting board.

05:23And it was right then I realized,

05:25I had made a huge mistake,

05:27since the bottom had sort of stuck,

05:29and the center cracked as I took this out.

05:31And I know it looks okay,

05:33and I could have faked it,

05:35but it actually had a huge crack going all the way through the center,

05:38which was very upsetting.

05:40But anyway,

05:41I was starving,

05:42so I decided to slice it up anyway,

05:44so I can show you how beautiful this looks,

05:47and more importantly,

05:48so I could have a taste.

05:50Which was very, very good.

05:52But I couldn't enjoy it,

05:54since I was really upset,

05:55I'd forgotten to line the pan with parchment paper.

05:58Okay, this is really how you want to prep your pan.

06:01I generously oiled,

06:03with a piece of parchment paper going across like this.

06:06So I made the recipe entirely over,

06:08and I transferred it in.

06:10Except this time,

06:11I added two more eggs,

06:13since the first one was great,

06:15but I wanted to try it with 12 instead of 10 eggs,

06:17since this was a great opportunity to experiment.

06:21And then I baked that at the same temp with the same time,

06:24and I let it cool until it was just warm,

06:27before I unmolded it.

06:29And thanks to that parchment,

06:30it slid right out with no issues.

06:32And I felt a lot better.

06:35And I went ahead and cut this one up,

06:36to show you what it's really, really supposed to look like.

06:40Right?

06:40No cracks with that little bit of extra egg.

06:44Oh, and by the way,

06:45just like a classic frittata,

06:46if you don't want yours cooked all the way through,

06:48like I like mine,

06:49you can cook this less,

06:51so that your center's a little bit softer,

06:53and slightly moister.

06:55So however you normally do your regular frittata,

06:58should translate to this technique perfectly.

07:01And while I'm totally fine to eat this plain,

07:04my favorite way to enjoy this,

07:06is served open face,

07:07on a nice piece of toast,

07:09with a very generous application of aioli,

07:12which enjoyed next to a nice salad,

07:14is one of the best meals of all time.

07:16But no matter how you serve this,

07:18or what kind of veggies you add in,

07:21I think the loaf pan is a great way to frittata,

07:24and I really do hope you give this a try soon.

07:27So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,

07:30a printable written recipe,

07:32and much more info as usual.

07:33And as always, enjoy!

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