Mini Spinach and Cheddar Frittatas

As I mentioned in my post about the naming ceremony we recently hosted for the peanut, I decided to plan a menu that mixed traditional bagels with some homemade sides that helped round out the meal.  I was serving lox (smoked salmon) with the bagels, but for people who may not be a fan, I thought it would be nice to have another protein selection.  I love egg dishes, but thought it would be difficult to make enough quiches or frittatas for 35 people.  While doing some recipe searching, however, I found this recipe for Crustless Spinach Quiche which had tons of suggestions in the comments to make it in muffin tins instead of a pie plate.  I thought that sounded perfect!  When testing the recipe, I made some other changes suggested by reviewers (more egg, less cheese, less spinach, add milk) and also decided that this really isn't quiche since it has no cream and a very different consistency.  And so mini frittatas were born.  I served these to two separate groups - the friends I tested them on last week, and my family at the naming, and got tons of rave reviews.  On top of being delicious, they were also so fun to serve and eat, and even reheated well the next day (or were yummy straight from the fridge!).

I quadrupled this recipe for my crowd and borrowed muffin tins from my mom so I could make all 48 at one time.  But if you are making this for a crowd and don't have multiple muffin tins or enough oven space, they were delicious at room temperature, so feel free to make them one batch at a time.  I also prepped the egg mixture and the spinach/onion mixture the day before and mixed up all of the ingredients right before baking, which saved me a good amount of time and didn't seem to impact the final result at all.

As a side note, you could definitely play with this recipe if you want - I think it would be great with broccoli, or different kinds of cheeses, using the proportions here as a base.  Please let me know if you find any variations that are especially yummy - I have a feeling I'll be returning to this recipe time and time again!

Mini Spinach and Cheddar Frittatas
adapted from All Recipes

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
8-10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or any cheese you prefer)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and just starting to carmelize.  If you're not sure your spinach is well drained, you can add it to the pan for a few minutes with the onions to get rid of any extra water.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk.  Add cheese, salt and pepper, spinach, and onion. Distribute mixture evenly into 12 standard muffin cups.  Bake until eggs have set and sides are light brown, about 20-25 minutes.  Let cool for 5-10 minutes and gently remove from muffin tin before serving.

Makes 12 mini-fritattas