Eggs En Cocotte (Baked Eggs)
on Jan 27, 2022, Updated Feb 21, 2024
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This Eggs En Cocotte recipe (French Baked Eggs) is such an amazing, quick and impressive breakfast! Oftentimes also known as Oeufs Cocotte. This is one of the baked egg recipes that will surely impress. Not only that, it comes together so quickly, and taste so creamy and delicious. The perfect breakfast/or brunch. (Dinner is also acceptable for this!)
All it takes is a few staples, topped with herbs and served with crusty bread, it is so good!
What are Eggs En Cocotte?
Eggs en Cocotte (also called baked eggs) is a French way of slow baking eggs in a water bath – with cream and cheese (sometimes ham). They are traditionally served with toast strips to dip in the yolk. This is truly one of my favorite baked eggs recipes.
What ingredients do you need to make this eggs en cocotte (Oeufs Cocotte) recipe?
- Softened unsalted butter
- Large eggs
- Heavy cream
- Cheese of choice: like parmesan cheese, Boursin garlic & herbs, feta cheese, herbed goat cheese, Comté, Emmental, Gruyere cheese all can work
- Chives
- Salt and pepper
- Crusty bread
Other additions you can add to this recipe: Ingredients like bacon, zucchini, red onions, breakfast potatoes, salsa, cherry tomatoes, any veggies such as spinach, or really anything you have available to you will also work.
How do you make french baked eggs?
Step 1
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and bring a kettle to a boil.
Step 2
Take your softened butter, and spread around your ramekins to help with any sticking/and to add more flavor. Crack 1-2 eggs in each ramekin (depending on the size of your vessel).
Step 3
Finish off with crumbled or shredded cheese of your choice (you can use Boursin garlic & herbs, herbed goat cheese, Comté, Emmental, Gruyere all can work)
Step 4
Finish with your cream; 1/4th cup total divided into 3 ramekins.
Step 5
Place your ramekins in a baking dish/oven-safe dish that has a little bit of height. Next, you’re going to make your water bath (bain-marie) by pouring your boiling water into the baking dish until it reaches halfway up the sides. Cover with your ramekin tops or foil. This helps cook the eggs really gently, and it stays really creamy!
Step 6
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the eggs are your desired doneness. I like mine more on the runny side, so I will take them out earlier, but if you want them completely hard boiled, bake for 16-20 minutes. Remove from the oven; season with flakey salt, pepper and garnish with chopped chives and crusty bread. You can also top with your favorite fresh herbs like parsley, dill or cilantro.
Tips, Tricks and Substitutions for Oeufs En Cocotte
A bain-marie is a type of heated hot water bath, where you place your dish in a platter with heated water, where it helps heat the ingredients gently and smoothly during the cooking process. For this recipe, it helps the eggs cook to a creamy custardy consistency.
The ramekins I used for this: I’m using these white cocotte’s!
Bake your eggs until the eggs whites are just set. This part is totally up to your preference as well.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the eggs are your desired doneness. I like mine more on the runny yolks side, so I will take them out earlier, but if you want them completely hard boiled, bake for 16-20 minutes.
You can add ingredients like grilled mushrooms, prosciutto, onions, shallots tomatoes, bacon, spinach, pancetta and more!
You can make mini shakshuka as well, chowder, individual cinnamon rolls, French Onion Soup, to just name a few!
More breakfast recipes to check out
- Jammy Eggs with Chili Butter and Garlic Yogurt
- Skillet Huevos Rancheros
- Butternut Squash Butter
- Easy Harissa Shakshuka
- Whipped Ricotta Toast with Strawberry Jam
If you do make this Eggs En Cocotte recipe (first of all, thank you!!), be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram and through social media so I can be sure to see what you’re making! If you’d like to stay in touch and get the latest to your inbox, sign up for our Newsletter here as well!
In addition, we can also be found on YouTube, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Watch How To Make This Recipe
Eggs En Cocotte (Baked Eggs)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon softened unsalted butter
- 3-6 large eggs, 1-2 in each ramekin, depending on size
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup cheese, Boursin garlic & herbs, herbed goat cheese, Comté, Emmental, Gruyere all can work
- bundle of chives, thinly sliced to serve
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- crusty bread, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and bring a kettle to a boil.
- Take your softened butter, and spread around your ramekins to help with any sticking/and to add more flavor. Crack 1-2 eggs in each ramekin (depending on the size of your vessel).
- Finish off with crumbled or shredded cheese of your choice (you can use Boursin garlic & herbs, herbed goat cheese, Comté, Emmental, Gruyere all can work)
- Finish with your cream; 1/4th cup total divided into 3 ramekins.
- Place your ramekins in a baking dish/oven safe proof dish that has a little bit of height. Next, you’re going to make your water bath by pouring your boiling water into the baking dish until it reaches halfway up the sides. Cover with your ramekin tops or foil. This helps cook the eggs really gently, and it stays really creamy!
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the eggs are your desired doneness. I like mine more on the runny side, so I will take them out earlier, but if you want them completely hard boiled, bake for 16-20 minutes. Remove from the oven; season with flakey salt, pepper and top with chopped chives and crusty bread.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Baked our eggs for 17 minutes and they’re still runny goo. They’re going back in, but this cook time is wildly off for us.
Absolutely delicious recipe! Only problem was bake time for me was more around 17 minutes at 175 Celsius to have it runny
First time here, wish you good！
Fantastic recipe!! This is the first one I tried of yours, but all of your recipes look very classic and prestigious, almost Gordon Ramsey level.
Fantastic recipe!! This is the first one I tried of yours, but all of your recipes look very classic and prestigious, almost Gordon Ramsey level. I wish I could upload the picture I took of “Eggs in Cocotte” that I made. 20 minutes is the perfect time for mine!
Thank you for your sweet review! 🙂 Happy new year!
Eggs did not set even after 30 minutes, Checked temperature. No idea what is wrong. Used boiling water in pan. Normal ramekins. Covered in tinfoil per recipe. Complete disaster and quite complicated fail of an attempted fancy brunch.
This recipe sucks. You should fix it
I’m sorry you didn’t like this recipe! Can you let me know what went wrong? I’m here to help! Thank you,
I’ve had trouble with them setting too, it seems ok with just one ramekin in the oven but when trying to do there at the same time (to serve the whole family), they don’t seem to set. I’ve tried keeping them in for longer and raising the temperature but still can’t get to set with more than one ramekin. Do you have any suggestions? This is a fantastic dish it tastes absolutely wonderful and it’s so creamy and amazing I just need to get the egg whites to set and it’ll be perfect!
Hi Rhonnie! I am here to help! Were your ramekins on the bottom, middle, or top rack? What size are your ramekins? Some ideas to help would be to cover the ramekins with foil. Another option that may help is to take your eggs out at room temperature before cooking, this way they can set faster since they’ve already been brought up to a warmer temp. I would also keep them in even longer if they’re still not setting, or turn off the oven and keep them in there to finish setting, too without overcooking. I hope this helps!
this was amazing. Added prosciutto that I crisped up before baking. WIll definitely be making agan
Thanks for your review, so happy to hear you liked this recipe!
Super simple and yummy.
I was looking for a new breakfast idea and found d your recipe. I made it for my husband and he loved it. We also had a chance e to remince over our trip to Paris and how much we enjoyed it.
Hi Toni, so happy to hear it! Thanks for your review!