How To Prevent Egg Muffins From Sticking to the Pan
My Experiments
I was at one of Nom Nom Paleo’s book signings recently, and an audience member asked what was the best way of preventing egg muffins from sticking to the muffin pan. Diane Rodgers and Melissa Joulwan were also there, and some interesting answers came up.
I had my own thoughts about what would work to prevent sticking, but I went ahead and did some experiments (i.e., I made some egg muffins under various conditions)! And since egg muffins are a fantastic pre-prepared Paleo breakfast/snack, I thought I’d share my findings here so no one has to scrub their muffin pan again.
Below are my 3 best methods for preventing egg muffins from sticking to the muffin pan:
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Method #1: Use a Silicone Muffin Pan
This was my instinctive answer when I first heard the question, and it was the answer Michelle (Nom Nom Paleo) gave. Nothing ever sticks in my silicone muffin pan, not even egg muffins! I’ve made plenty of egg muffins this way before, and it works perfectly! You don’t need to grease the muffin pan at all.
This is the link for the silicone muffin pan that I have. I think it’s fantastic for just $12 on Amazon.
Method #2: Use Unbleached Muffin Liners
This is obviously a very easy option to save you from scraping your egg muffins out and scrubbing your muffin pan. These liners peel off very easily, and it’s especially great if you’re planning to eat the egg muffins on the go (no grease on fingers).
I use these If You Care unbleached liners (you can get them in a lot of US stores, including Whole Foods) and also on Amazon (the link is an Amazon affiliate link). These liners are actually coated with silicone. (Michelle mentioned this option and suggested that people look at Diane Sanfilippo’s blog for the type of liner to use – Diane uses the same liners as me.)
Method #3: Over-Grease Your Muffin Pan
Diane Rodgers said she just greases her pan with bacon fat, and she’s never had any problems getting her egg muffins out. I decided to test this out. I tried it 3 different ways:
First Way: Using Liquid Bacon Fat
I used liquid bacon fat first (since I had just finished cooking some bacon), and greased each cup with a paper towel soaked in liquid bacon fat. Then I dripped a few drops of bacon fat into the bottom of each pan. The result: The egg muffins stuck like crazy, and I ended up spending 10 minutes coaxing them out with a spoon and then another 10 minutes scrubbing the pan! Don’t do this!
Second Way: Using Solidified Bacon Fat
I know that eggs soak up tons of oil (my experience from making scrambled eggs), and so I thought my initial lack of success may have been due to a lack of bacon fat. In particular, most of the liquid bacon fat flowed down into the cup so there wasn’t much on the sides. So, I tried using bacon fat that was more solid (I left the liquid bacon fat overnight to solidify). I spread approx. 1-2 teaspoons of it into each muffin cup (see photo below) so that it covered the sides of the cup as well as the bottom of the cup.
The result: It worked! The muffin didn’t stick at all and came out quite easily (it was a bit greasy). You can see it rose in a different way to the ones in the muffin liners (probably due to the fact that there was more bacon fat in some parts of the cup than others).
Third Way: Using Solidified Coconut Oil
Last, I tried the same as the second way but with coconut oil instead. It worked as well! So the trick is to use softened (but not liquid) fat so that you can easily spread a thick layer of it on the sides and bottom of the muffin cups.
My Fav Egg Muffin Recipes
Ok, now that you know how to make egg muffins without them sticking, here are my 2 favorite recipes for egg muffins:
