Eggs for Dinner: Broccoli Dutch Baby Pancake
Breakfast for dinner: worked for you in your twenties; works for your kiddo in his/her twos. And, sure, you can always fall back on scrambled eggs when your kiddo blanches at whatever you serve and/or you don’t have the time or energy to make dinner, but why not make a breakfast that feels like dinner? Satisfying, yet slacker-ish. Nutritious, yet nourishing.
This one is just that–and just right for the occasion. It splits the difference between the first and last meals of the day: definitely eggy (in a quiche sort of way) but also savory and substantial, more pizza than omelet. And it’s got a vegetable lurking inside! Everyone wins here, especially dinner.
- 3 large Eggs
- 3/4 cup Milk (dairy or plant is fine)
- 4 oz frozen Broccoli (or one fresh broccoli crown)
- 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tbsp Cornstarch
- Cheese of your choosing (optional)
- 2 tbsp unsalted Butter (3 if using fresh broccoli)
- Take eggs, milk, and butter out of the fridge roughly 30 minutes before you make the dish.
- Preheat oven to 425. When hot, place a large (10”) oven-safe skillet or saute pan in the oven and allow to heat for at least five minutes.
- If using frozen broccoli, microwave for roughly 2/3rds of the suggested cooking time, Remove and allow steam and heat out of bag. If using fresh, basically saw off the canopy of the crown and d iscard the stem and stalk.
- Crack the eggs into the blender and mix on High for one minute, then turn blender to Low, open up the blender top and pour in milk and broccoli + pouch sauce; blend until mixed. (Note: if using fresh broccoli, melt 1 TBSP of butter and add it in when blending.)
- Add flour, cornstarch, a shake or two each of salt and pepper; blend until just combined.
- Remove pan from oven–wear oven mitts: the handle will be hot–and drop in the butter; swirl it all around the pan until melted.
- If it’s been more than a few minutes since you blended the egg mixture, blend again for 15-20 seconds; if adding cheese, pour roughly half of the blender’s contents into the pan, then sprinkle cheese throughout before pouring in rest of batter. (If not using cheese, just pour the whole thing in.)
- Return pan to oven and cook until puffy at edges and browned throughout, roughly 18-20 minutes.
A spritz of lemon is really all this baby needs, especially if you’ve added cheese to batter. If your child is curious and/or skeptical about a big green pancake, though, one thing that worked very well for us the first few times making it was to cut and serve it like pizza: cut your child’s piece as a triangle, then sprinkle sauce and/or cheese over the top. They can pick up and eat like it’s a slice.
You can easily switch out the greenery here–say, kale or chard or spinach, or even zucchini. Make it more omlet-y by adding chopped ham and diced peppers when you pour the batter in. Or, heck, leave all the extras out altogether–a little powdered sugar and some berries on top after cooking is mighty fine, too.
Brad (the Dad) is the founder and Chief Recipe Officer of New Dad's Kitchen. His own cooking/feeding journey started humbly during his son's infancy, preparing and managing his son's bottle intake in order to support his wife; it has since blossomed into a full-on passion to feed his child and family delicious and healthy meals that can satisfy both a toddler and his very tired parents.
