Baked Eggs with Parsnips & Walnut Pesto

Sharing one of my favorite breakfast dishes today: baked eggs with parsnips & walnut pesto. It’s healthy, satisfying, and has a “straight from the market” feel to it. Crispy parsnips mixed with lots of greens on the bottom, eggs baked until set and runny right on top, and then a vibrant, earthy toasted walnut pesto spooned over it all. I add a little goat cheese and more herbs right on top, too.

As far as savory breakfasts go, I’d say this is one of the best. I love the concept of baked eggs because it feels approachable and inviting. It’s a one skillet kind of dish that’s easy to whip up, yet so beautiful when finished. You’ve got the vegetables and eggs right in the skillet, and all you really need is some good bread and maybe some fruit on the side for a perfectly complete breakfast.

You can easily adapt these baked eggs to use whatever you have on hand. Here I’m crisping up some parsnips and melting down some swiss chard and spinach as the “base” for the eggs. Most of the flavor is coming from the bright green pesto, full of herbs, garlic, lemon, pecorino, and rich toasted walnuts.

Use different vegetables, swap out the greens, or even use whatever herbs you have on hand for the pesto. So many different combinations would work really well for this dish. If you want to have something sweet to eat alongside, I think this baked blueberry french toast or these lemon poppy seed muffins would be perfect. Enjoy!!

Baked Eggs with Parsnips & Walnut Pesto

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simple baked eggs with parsnips, wilted greens, walnut pesto, and goat cheese

serves: 4-6

• Author: Kayla Howey

Ingredients

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Walnut Pesto

• 2 ½ oz fresh spinach
• ½ oz fresh basil
• ¼ oz fresh mint
• 2 ½ oz walnuts, toasted
• 1 ½ oz grated pecorino cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• ½ lemon, juiced
• kosher salt

Baked Eggs

• 2 medium parsnips, peeled
• olive oil
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch swiss chard, stemmed and roughly chopped
• 2 large handfuls spinach
• 6–8 eggs

Toppings

• ½ cup crumbled goat cheese
• ¼ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
• watercress, torn mint, and torn basil
• toasted bread (to serve on the side)

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Instructions

Walnut Pesto

1. Combine the spinach, basil, mint, walnuts, pecorino cheese, and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until roughly chopped.
2. With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil until incorporated. Blend in the lemon. Season with salt to taste.

Baked Eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Slice the parsnips into ¼-inch slices. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the parsnips and season with a pinch of salt. Let the parsnips cook in an even layer until caramelized on one side. Flip them over and continue to cook until tender.
2. Remove the parsnips from the skillet and add a little more olive oil. Add the shallots. Cook for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the swiss chard and spinach. Let the greens cook down until wilted. Season with a good pinch of salt.
3. Add the parsnips back to the skillet and toss with the greens. Spread everything out into an even layer and make 6-8 little “wells” for the eggs. Crack the eggs into the wells. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 7-8 minutes, or until the egg whites are set and the yolks are still runny.
4. Spoon some of the pesto on top of the eggs and serve the rest on the side. Garnish the skillet with the goat cheese, walnuts, watercress, mint, and basil leaves. Drizzle olive oil over top. Serve with toasted bread on the side.