Gut Healthy Egg Muffins with Kimchi and Veggies

Breakfast egg muffins are a nutritious, filling, protein-packed breakfast perfect for meal prep! These gut-healthy egg muffins are loaded with gut-supportive nutrients from kimchi, spinach, shiitake mushrooms, and scallions.

If you love super flavorful protein-rich egg recipes you have to try this Ratatouille Shakshuka and this Smoked Salmon Fritatta . Interested to learn more about gut health? Check out this 7-day gut supportive meal plan.

This post is sponsored by Seed's Daily Synbiotic. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Abra’s Kitchen. As always all thoughts, opinions, recipes, and musings are my own.

Have you ever made egg muffins? Similar to mini-frittatas they are the perfect grab-and-go protein-packed breakfast. You can make a million different versions but I am a HUGE fan of this recipe for many reasons:

WHY YOU'LL LOVE THIS RECIPE!

• Jam-packed with nutrition! I typically lead with flavor but this recipe literally has all the things I am looking for in a nutritious breakfast. Protein, vegetables, good for you gut nutrients, healthy fat, and fiber!
• Perfect for meal prep! Spend 25 minutes prepping these on the weekend and have a nutritious healthy breakfast all week long. Winning!
• Easy to prepare! Seriously easy, 10 minutes to prep, minimal chopping, and 20 minutes in the oven.

Let's Get Cooking!

INGREDIENTS and SUBSTITUTIONS:

Detailed measurements and ingredients can be found within the recipe card at the end of this post.

• Large Eggs – I recommend organic eggs or local farm fresh eggs if you are able. The quality of eggs matters here, they are the main ingredient.
• Oat milk – Adding milk to the eggs greatly improves the texture of the egg muffins. You can use any milk you like, oat, almond, whole organic cows milk, almond milk, or coconut milk.
• Kimchi – Star ingredient alert! Did you know that when you cook kimchi it becomes mild and wonderful? I adore kimchi with eggs and other veggies, you can also try it in my kimchi cauliflower fried rice recipe with an egg on top! Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish, consisting of fermented vegetables like cabbage and/ or radish with garlic and gochujang (Korean red pepper paste), salt, and a few other ingredients. It is spicy and sour and addictive! There really isn't a substitute for kimchi, although it may be worth trying sauerkraut and a dash of hot sauce. Kimchi is full of gut-supportive nutrients like wild strain beneficial bacteria, but read on to learn my TOP GUT HEALTH TIPS!
• Spinach – Any green will do here but do not skip the greens! Try kale, swiss chard, collard greens or mustard greens. Each ingredient in this recipe was specifically chosen to support gut health and provide a punch of nutrition first thing in the morning. 
• Shitake Mushrooms – In a pinch you could use just about any mushroom but the umami blast from shitakes is a welcome counterpoint to the sour kimchi. Shitake mushrooms are loaded with antioxidants and phytonutrients and studies have shown they are supportive to immune health and protect against certain cancers. 
• Scallions – Thinly sliced, you can substitute leeks, any onion, or shallot for the scallions. 

TOOLS YOU WILL USE:

• Cutting board
• Good knife
• Saute pan
• Mixing bowl
• Muffin tin

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:

(See the recipe card for detailed instructions and ingredient quantities)

PREPARE EGGS – In a large bowl whisk together eggs with milk of choice and season with a generous pinch of salt and black pepper

PREPARE KIMCHI – Chop kimchi into bite-size pieces (see below for tips on how to get the BEST gut benefits from kimchi)

SAUTE VEGGIES – In a large saute pan, saute scallions in avocado oil until they begin to lightly brown. Add shitake mushrooms, kimchi, liquid from kimchi, and spinach until just wilted, this should all take 4-5 minutes.

 

PREPARE MUFFIN TINS WITH VEGGIES – Spray muffin tins with avocado oil, or use silicone muffin cups, fill muffin tins 1/2 full with sauteed veggies

ADD EGG MIXTURE – Add eggs to muffin cups, evenly distributing egg mixture to all of the muffin cups. 

BAKE –  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until muffins are baked through and no longer jiggle. Do not overbake! There is nothing worse than hard overcooked eggs (IMHO!). Allow to cool on a wire rack

SERVE WITH: Serve egg muffins with a healthy serving of kimchi (trust me!), hot sauce (I LOVE this spicy kimchi hot sauce) and a green salad. If you are new to salads for breakfast, welcome, it's a beautiful thing!

FERMENTED FOODS AND PROBIOTICS – WHY IT'S SO IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE!

I call this recipe “gut healthy” and it is for many reasons:

• Diversity of nutrients (FUNDAMENTAL to gut health)
• High in fiber (FUNDAMENTAL to gut health)
• Shiitake mushrooms are rich in a specific type of carbohydrate that acts as a prebiotic which stimulates the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut
• Fermented foods (Beneficial to gut health)

But let's chat about fermented foods and gut health for a quick second. 

Did you know?

1. Fermented foods are high in beneficial bacteria, but it is what is referred to as “wild strain” bacteria meaning it hasn't specifically been studied for targeted gut health benefits.
2. When you cook fermented foods the beneficial bacteria is degraded and no longer “alive”. Wait what?? That's right! I LOVE cooking with kimchi for its culinary/ flavor punch, but once it's cooked it is no longer considered wild strain beneficial bacteria. So when you are cooking with kimchi or any fermented food I always recommend two things: 1) Serve cold raw fermented food on the side! 2) Take a probiotic

Why I still take probiotics even though wild strain fermented foods are part of my health care routine:

I have been taking Seed's Daily Synbiotic (probiotic + prebiotic) for over a month, before I switched to Seed's Daily Synbiotic I have taken a probiotic daily as part of my health care routine.

Probiotics are officially defined as “Live organisms that when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host”.

In order to properly understand the benefit to the host, we rely on strain specificity, or studying the exact strains of bacteria in probiotics and their effect on “the host” or YOU! 

So as much as I love including wild strain bacteria from fermented foods into my diet it does not take the place of a strain-specific probiotic like Seed's Daily Synbiotic.

Seed has developed a scientifically and clinically studied probiotic using strain-specific species of bacteria. Trust me when I tell you, this is rare! 

Seed's Daily Synbiotic (probiotic + prebiotic) has a unique prebiotic outer capsule made from Indian pomegranate and concentrated phenolic compounds from Scandinavian Chaga and pine bark. This outer shell and dry powder help to assure the inner probiotic capsule of beneficial bacteria will survive the long journey to your colon ensuring viability through digestion.

Another cool Seed factoid 😉 Seed's Daily Synbiotic was developed for systemic benefits beyond digestive health. Here's the thing, gut health IS whole body health! It is so essential to shed some love on your gut to encourage greater whole-body health. Seed's Daily Synbiotic contains 24 strains of bacteria formulated for digestive, gut immune, and skin health, and more.

Ok, back to the recipe 🙂

STORAGE AND REHEATING

Egg muffins are a great meal prep recipe! They can be stored in either the fridge or the freezer, make sure to cool completely on a wire rack before storing.

• Fridge – Store in an airtight meal prep container for up to 4 days
• Freezer – Store in a freezer bag (I LOVE stasher silicone freezer bags), try to remove as much air as possible from the bag before freezing. Alternatively, you can wrap the egg muffins in parchment paper and store in a meal prep container for up to 2 months.
• Thaw – Best is to thaw in the fridge overnight
• Reheat – You can reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds wrapped in a paper towel, or in a 350° oven for 10 minutes or until warmed through.

DIETARY MODIFICATIONS FOR THIS RECIPE:

This recipe is naturally gluten-free, whole30, paleo-friendly, and keto-friendly. It is also vegetarian as long as you choose “vegan kimchi” (does not contain oysters). 

MORE GUT SUPPORTIVE RECIPES YOU WILL LOVE:

Watermelon Lemonade Gut Gummies

Nourishing Bone Broth Bowls

Homemade Sauerkraut

Turmeric Glow Up Smoothie

Healing Kitchari

I can’t wait for you to try this Gut Healthy Kimchi Egg Muffin Recipe! When you make it, snap a photo and tag me on Instagram @abrapappa or use the hashtag #abraskitchen so I can feature your photo! 

If you’ve tried this recipe, don’t forget to rate and leave a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!