Spinach and Goat Cheese Frittata | The In Fine Balance Food Blog (2024)

Frittatas are an easy and healthy dinner or breakfast. High protein and packed with veggies. Serve this simple spinach and goat cheese frittata for a healthy meal, easy brunch or a quick weeknight dinner.

Frittata's and me, we go way back. Unfortunately, my earliest experience with frittatas was as a short-cut to Quiche -- the crust-less variety. Those of us that remember Weight Watchers (hi! how are you? 👋 long time no see.) will also remember crust-less Quiche - the smart and lower-cal choice. Because who needs pastry? (hello! - I do!) The frittata was just a quick way to fool yourself into making a Quiche and convincing yourself it is just as good without the crust.

And all this sounds so sad and unfortunate for the frittata. And really, there is so much to love about them.

So why make a Frittata?

Once I got over the idea that this is just a Quiche missing its crust, I came to realize a frittata is so much more. It's fast. It can hold so much good stuff. Much easier than omelettes - unless of course, you can manage the foldover. Um.. I can't. And you can get way more stuff in there anyway. I think I said that already. So much stuff. Clean out the fridge stuff. This is a use-up-all-the-leftovers meal.

Things you would never consider stuffing into an omelette. Things you would never stuff into a Quiche. Frittatas can take it.

Frittatas are just so smart.

This Spinach and Goat Cheese Frittata is packed with greens and veggies... and of course some darn good goat cheese. Seriously, a one-pot meal - I use this cast-iron skillet for my frittatas. (Well-seasoned cast-iron is non-stick and can go from stove-top to oven no problem.)

This is a "clean out the fridge because I can't go shopping today meal" for the whole family. And this one is made in about 20 minutes. Serve for breakfast or a quick weeknight meal.

Frittatas are your go-to recipe

• My favourite thing about frittatas is dinner. They make me feel like a superhero - quick, fast and so good. Anything can go in there.
• You can't freeze the leftovers, BUT, you can make it in the morning and serve it for dinner. It will reheat nicely and I like leftovers packed in my lunch the next day.
• Similar to the above, I find that frittatas are good straight out of the oven or room temperature, which makes them great for entertaining. This is an easy brunch recipe when you are serving a few guests You can make this a bit ahead and let it sit while you get some other things done a the last minute when you are serving a crowd.
• You need some sort of non-stick pan to make this work. I like my cast-iron skillet. To prevent sticking, let the frittata cool for a while before you try to remove it from the pan. As your frittata cools, it will pull off the sides of the skillet and make removal easier. For this size frittata -- serves about 6 - I like a 12" skillet.

How to Make a Spinach and Goat Cheese Frittata

• Heat olive oil in an oven-safe skillet (like cast-iron) over medium heat. Add red pepper and saute 2-3 minutes. Add green onions and spinach. Saute until spinach wilts. Remove vegetables from pan and set aside.
• In a medium bowl lightly beat together eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and seasoning.
• Preheat broiler. You will need this nice and hot when you are ready to finish the frittata in the oven.
• Return skillet to the stove-top with heat reduced to medium-low. I don't add any oil at this point, but my cast iron pan is very well seasoned. You may want to add a little oil or spray with cooking spray depending on your pan.
• Pour in eggs. Allow eggs to cook and start to just set on the bottom of the pan. Once the bottom has firmed up slightly, add the spinach mixture, spreading evenly over the eggs. Dot the top of the frittata with goat cheese. Continue to cook on stove-top until the top starts to set. You can even cover the skillet with a lid so that the eggs will begin to firm up. It will begin to puff slightly but you will still see a bit of liquid on the top. (which is okay, this will cook under the broiler in the next step.) Total time on the stove-top, on medium-low heat is 8-10 minutes.
• Once the eggs are mostly set, but still liquid on top, place the skillet directly under the broiler. Watch carefully, you want the top to brown slightly and cheese to bubble a bit, this will only take a couple of minutes. Serve hot or room temperature

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