Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Eggs en Cocotte 

Let's upgrade your brunch game and introduce you to your new favorite way to cook eggs! These prosciutto and goat cheese eggs en cocotte are gently baked with a drizzle of heavy cream for a custardy, luscious texture and finished with a sprinkling of fresh basil.

Simple and quick to prepare, baked eggs are the perfect brunch dish for entertaining and are always a crowd favorite.

Brunch Egg Recipe

Now that spring is finally here, I find myself wanting brunch more than ever. With Easter and Mother's Day coming up, I go into planning mode, and for us, those holidays mean brunch. Naturally, the more I think about brunch, the more I crave a good brunch, and I often serve this sausage egg casserole, but I feel extra excited to share such an easy and delicious egg recipe with you today.

Plus, there's something so spring-like about enjoying a mimosa or two on a beautiful weekend day while brunching with friends on a patio. To me, a nice outdoor brunch is a perfect way to welcome the warmer days, and I, for one, am so ready to move on from winter. Bring on outdoor brunches!

Here's Why This Recipe Works

• You've got a perfectly cooked egg, with a slightly runny yolk, mixed with melted goat cheese.
• Each bite contains fresh prosciutto and is mixed with a flavorful cheesy sauce and fresh basil.
• An egg brunch recipe that can be served with a crisp piece of toast to soak up all that delicious flavor from the meal, golden yolk, and cheese.

What Are Eggs en Cocotte?

Basically, eggs en cocotte is a fancy way of saying eggs baked in ramekins or small pots. As you may have guessed, eggs en cocotte is a French-style preparation with the technical French term being oeufs en cocotte -- oeufs meaning eggs in French.

Look at that. Come to a food blog and get a language lesson!

Eggs en cocotte are also known as shirred eggs, but I don't like calling them that. Shirred eggs don't sound nearly as fancy and fun. Say it with me, "shirred." It's just not a pretty word, but eggs en cocotte? That sounds like one appetizing brunch dish. But enough about that. Let's start cooking!

Ingredients You'll Need

Before we jump into the recipe, let's take a moment to gather our ingredients. Here's everything you need to make these delicious baked eggs.

What is Prosciutto?

Simply put, it's "Italian ham". It's made from the hind legs of pigs and it's aged during a dry-curing process. There are mainly two types of prosciutto. Prosciutto cotto is cooked. Prosciutto crudo is is uncooked, yet cured. There is a lot that goes into curing and production. You can read more about it in detail here.

How to Cook Eggs en Cocotte

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then, we'll start by buttering six oven-safe ramekins. This keeps the eggs from sticking to the surface.

Step 2

Take a slice of prosciutto and wrap it around the inside of each ramekin, making a little nest. If needed, you can tear the meat to help it fit.

Inside the prosciutto nest, crack an egg and top it with heavy cream, salt, pepper, and goat cheese.

Step 3

And just like that, we're ready to start baking. That was quick, huh?

To bake these eggs, we put our ramekins in a large pan with boiling water to make a water bath. This method evenly heats the eggs to prevent potential curdling. Add just enough water so that three-fourths of the ramekins are covered.

Place the eggs in the oven.

Exactly how long we bake the eggs depends on how you like the consistency of your yolk. See all that liquid goodness below? I baked these eggs for 16 minutes to get that type of consistency, which was just enough time to set the egg whites.

If you want more of a jammy egg, which I also love, a few more minutes will do.

Once the eggs cook to our liking, pull them out of the oven, sprinkle them with fresh chopped basil and get ready to enjoy one decadent brunch!

Other Variations

Eggs en Cocotte is easily customizable. Looking to cut back on meat? Skip the prosciutto and add some spinach.

Not a big goat cheese fan? Try some freshly grated Parmesan or a nice melting cheese, like fontina.

Expert Tips

• For making the water bath, I find boiling water in a tea kettle is less messy and a bit easier to control when pouring hot water. If you don't have a tea kettle, you can simply boil water in a pot but pour it into the pan slowly to minimize splashes.
• When checking on the baking time, keep in mind the yolks will continue to cook once they come out of the oven.
• When removing the ramekins from the oven, tongs or a spatula works well. You'll also want to set the ramekins on a kitchen towel, so you're not plating the eggs with hot water dripping all over.
• While these baked eggs are delicious on their own, they're also perfect for dipping crusty bread, toast or biscuits. If you follow a gluten-free lifestyle, no worries. Just use your favorite gluten-free bread.

More Egg Brunch Recipes

You can never have too many brunch recipes as far as I'm concerned. If you're in need of a little more brunch inspiration, try these recipes:

• Breakfast galette
• Beer-lamb shakshuka
• Roasted strawberry-Aperol spritz
• Breakfast Egg Muffins

Trust me. Your next brunch just got a whole lot more delicious with this recipe.

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Update Notes: This post was originally published in April 2019, but was re-published with updated step-by-step instructions, pictures and tips in March 2020.