Oven-to-Table Baked Frittata Recipe (2024)

Upgrade your next brunch with this baked frittata recipe. It’s filling, ready in 30, and easy to customize based on the ingredients you already have.

Oh, baked frittata, I love thee a-lotta.

If you’re growing tired of bacon, toast, and over-easy eggs every weekend, here’s an idea for your next home-cooked brunch. Not only is this baked frittata recipe easy to make, but it’s also filling, delicious, and ready in 30 minutes or less. Plus, you can customize the ingredients and use up any produce you already have in the fridge.

Frittatas are also known to pair fabulously with a mimosa or two. Who’s bringing the champagne?

Before we get started, I want to share a little Frittata History 101 with you.

Do you know what the word “frittata” meant in Italy?

The word frittata loosely translates to “fried” in Italian.

The Italian folk used the word frittata to describe eggs cooked in any fashion in a skillet rather than a particular dish. So, if you were in a café sipping a macchiato and decided to ask for a frittata, you could be ordering anything from fried eggs to omelettes or Spanish patatas.

However, outside of Italy (and especially in the American culture), frittatas were considered “Italy’s version of open-faced omelettes.” And that, my friends, is what we’re making today.

What’s the Difference Between an Omelette and a Frittata?

While a frittata looks like and has similar ingredients to an omelette—different types of meats, veggies, and melted cheese—the major difference is the cooking method.

Unlike an omelette, a frittata requires you to start by cooking your veggies, meat, and hashbrowns in a skillet or cast iron pan until tender, and then to pour the beaten egg mixture over top of the ingredients to cook until the bottom becomes slightly crispy. No flipping of any sort takes place.

As you may have noticed, with this particular baked frittata recipe, you can cook the hash browns right into the dish itself, which adds another element of flavor and texture. With an omelette, you’d always serve hash browns on the side. It’s a delicious change-up.

The frittata egg mixture is also seasoned with salt, pepper, and a pinch of dried tarragon. These seasonings run evenly through the frittata when you beat the eggs vigorously, which is an important step because it also incorporates more air into the egg mixture. This is what you want, because it yields a deeper filling and fluffier frittata. Heck yes.

On the other hand, an omelette will often use milk or heavy cream to achieve a fluffy texture.

How to Make a Frittata (Step by Step)

As I promised you, a frittata is very simple to make. However, there is one thing you can do to help the whole process go smoothly—and that would be to have a trusty cast iron skillet or a soapstone sautépan that can go directly from the stove into the oven to be baked.

As an added bonus, you can serve the frittata straight out of the same skillet to save on clean-up.

• Step One: Prepare your egg mixture and set aside. Cook veggies, meat, and hashbrowns in the skillet until tender.
• Step Two: Pour the runny egg mixture on top of the meat, veggies and hashbrowns and allow it to set on low heat for 8-10 minutes or until the bottom becomes slightly crispy. Since you’ll need a little bit of patience during this step, now is a good time to grab your coffee or mimosa and take a little break. Also, don’t forget to preheat the oven now if you haven’t already.
• Step Three: Once the egg mixture has set, it has not yet matured into a frittata! It still resembles an open-faced omelette. However, the final (and most exciting) step is what turns it into a frittata.
• Step Four: The final step is to sprinkle a thick layer of cheddar cheese on top and pop it in the oven to bake. Watch through the oven window in anticipation as the cheese creates a layer of delicious, gooey, bubbly heaven.

Once the cheese is evenly melted, and your open-faced omelette has been baking for seven minutes or so, you have officially made a frittata. Congratulations!

You could even go as far as calling it a crustless, gluten-free quiche. Whatever floats your boat. Now, slice it up, serve, and dive in.

4 Ways You Can Customize This Baked Frittata Recipe

Like omelettes, the beauty of this baked frittata recipe is that you can make a different version every time. In fact, a frittata is a perfect breakfast or brunch if you want to use up produce that’s about to go to waste.

• If you want to make a vegetarian frittata simply omit the meat and add extra veggies, like zucchini or asparagus.
• Greens like kale, swiss chard, spinach, and arugula add a pleasant hint of bitterness (and extra nutrients).
• Green onions or red onions also pair well with a frittata. Feel free to use either one in addition to the diced yellow onions in this recipe.
• Not a cheddar fan? You can use feta, goat cheese, and parmesan in addition to or in place of cheddar cheese.

Why I Prefer Cooking with Soapstone Over Cast Iron (Especially When Making a Frittata)

To be honest with you, I love my cast iron skillet to death, but I prefer my soapstone sautépan, especially when I’m making a frittata. Here’s why.

• It withstands temperatures up to 1800°F.
• Soapstone is a rock that lasts forever, as long as you give it proper care. (In other words, a soapstone pan is a good one-time investment for your kitchen that provides an endless return.)
• It heats up fast and evenly, which provides excellent baking results, and it keeps hot food hot for longer periods at room temperature.
• You can also pop soapstone in your freezer for an hour and use it to serve your frozen treats, like ice cream. It will keep your goods chilled longer at room temperature, even on a scorching summer day.
• As an added bonus, I love that soapstone cookware has a sleek, elegant design, which makes you feel like a queen (or king) when eating at home.

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Note: This recipe was originally published in May 2016. It’s updated in July 2019.