Sous Vide Roasted Red Pepper Eggs – Like Starbucks

For several years, on my way to work, I have been stopping at Starbucks a few times a week, always having Gary on the other end of my phone, hearing him rib me for stopping to pick up something as simple as Roasted Red Pepper Egg White Bites. In his head this was something that could so easily be made at home. One morning when Gary was joining me for breakfast, he got to taste these egg bites. The taste, the texture and low-calorie count, won him over, but not at the price of $5. This led us to looking into the whole idea of sous vide style cooking. Now he owns 2 different precision cookers and I’m in the process of learning to cook this way. One is the Anova Precision Cooker and the other is an “As Seen On Tv” precision cooker. He is looking into adding a third to his arsenal of cooking weaponry, The Joule.

So what is Sous Vide Cooking?
Sous vide cooking is a method of cooking where you use a regulated water bath to precisely cook food to a specific temperature. You want to cook a steak to medium rare? Good news! If you sous vide the steak, the entire steak will come out medium rare, not just the middle. The great thing about the sous vide is that whatever you are trying to cook, will come out perfectly even. Typically, meats and other foods such as eggs or vegetables are vacuum-sealed (sous vide means in a vacuum) in a plastic bag, the air is removed, sealed and then submerged into the water bath.

There are other ways to vacuum seal without the vacuum sealing machine. For this egg recipe, we used a Mason Jar as the vessel, which works in the exact same way. Another very inexpensive way to vacuum seal is a freezer or storage bag most commonly know as a Zip-Loc style bag.

Sous vide egg bites, like Starbuck’s, are easy to make at home with the Anova Precision Cooker. Gary has discovered so many different ways to use this nifty cooking tool. He uses it to make amazing steaks, ribs, cheesecake and so much more. You will quickly fall in love with sous vide cooking with the Anova Precision Cooker. So good and no over-cooking or burnt food.

SOUS VIDE EGGS

• 1 ½ cups egg whites
• 4 whole eggs
• 1/2 c/4oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese of your choice
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup finely chopped mixed red and orange pepper
• 1/8 cup onions, finely chopped
  Equipment:
• 16 4oz/125ml canning jars
• Anova Precision Cooker
• Stock Pot

Directions

• 

• 

Step 1
First, attach your sous vide to the edge of your stock pot. Since all stock pots are different sizes, place your Mason Jars inside to see how many will fit when cooking. (I know that 16 jars fit perfectly stacked in my stock-pot) After you’ve gotten your count, remove the Mason Jars and then fill the stock pot up with water about halfway. The goal here is to make sure your Mason Jars will fully submerge in the water, so you’ll want to fill it at least to that height. [TIP: Our water is high in lime, so we had a bit of vinegar to our water to keep that white dried lime scale off our jars, pot and Anova Precision Cooker.]

Set the Anova Precision Cooker to 172ºF/ 77.8ºC.

Step 2
Roasting and toasting:
Roast peppers and onion in a fry pan until lightly toasted (no oil)

Step 3
Spray jars lightly with spray oil like ‘Pam”, and then
Add 1 teaspoon of the roasted peppers and onion mixture to each jar,

Step 4
In a blender, combine egg whites, cream cheese, and cottage cheese and process at medium-high speed until smooth. I love my new Ninja Mega Kitchen System Blender. It seems like we are using it every day. Check it out here.

Step 4
Divide the mixture evenly among the jars, filling the jars about ¾ of the way full. The egg mixture doesn’t expand in the jars so 3/4 works well.

Step 5
Season with salt and pepper to taste

Step 6
Top each jar with a light sprinkle of shredded cheese of choice

Step 7
Attach two-part canning lids “fingertip tight” – when attaching the ring, use only fingertips to close it. Over-tightening will lead to pressure within and possibly shatter the jar. You want air bubbles to be able to escape past the lid and ring. This part is also very important because you don’t want to screw the lids on too tight or you will risk them exploding in the water bath.

Step 8
Now it’s time to sous vide! Once the water has heated up to 172ºF, place all of the Mason Jars on the bottom of your stock pot. They should sink right to the bottom and you should see lots of bubbles come to the top IF you unscrewed the tops properly. Set your timer to 1 hour and let your egg cups cook.

Finishing
Use tongs to remove your egg bites from the water bath and let cool. You can enjoy these straight from the jar. Or you can sear with a blow torch, or broil for a few minutes to get a little color. If you choose to broil, please use an oven-safe plate or baking tray/pie plate. Jars can also be kept refrigerated for a week and reheated for breakfast.

• 

I no longer need to stop at Starbucks on my way to work. These are great source of protein. Many times I grab a jar and take it for my lunch at work. I also am saving so much money by doing my sous vide eggs at home.

One addition advantage to making our own egg bites is that from week to week we can change up what we put into them. Sausage, bacon, mushrooms, spinach or shrimp. Really what ever you like can be added to these eggs.

We’d love to hear if you try this recipe and what you add to yours.

ENJOY!

PRODUCTS USED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS BLOG ~