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Share All sharing options for: What Exactly Are Starbucks’s Egg Bites? An Investigation
Starbucks, a caffeine and sugar merchant pretending to be a community center, built its reputation on its coffee drinks, which satisfy base caffeine addiction with dessert flavors so they feel like a treat. (Another way to say “Frappuccino” is “coffee milkshake.”) But despite its continual best efforts, the chain’s food offerings don’t often break through. There’s a lot of variety — cold sandwiches and hot sandwiches and salads and pastries and protein boxes, which are like a salad but made of animal products and grapes. But no adult human has ever said, “I can’t wait to get a sandwich from Starbucks.” Even the pastry case’s beautifully displayed baked goods only serve to remind you of other, better versions of the same treat. Experiencing the pale sense memory of a truly luscious lemon pound cake while picking at a diminished Starbucks version in the car is pleasant enough that I keep buying that lemon cake, and then wishing it were better.
One food item stands out from this dim roster: the sous vide egg bites. Launched in 2017, the small, round egg globules, made with bacon and gruyere, or the egg-white version with red pepper, do not have the obvious makings of a delicious fast-food hit. Less derivative than anything else on the Starbucks menu, they are eerily smooth and pale, and look diminutive compared to every other item displayed around them. But when the bites arrive in their own little sleeve, served warm and in pairs, they’re compelling. The texture is savory and silken, not unlike tofu, and their small, meaty, self-contained nature recalls the pleasures of a slider. They’re cheesy without being greasy, savory without being strong, and oddly complementary with Starbucks’s smooth and mildly sweet cold brew, introduced around the same time. And they have a fandom. Multiple paleo and keto blogs (and Lifehacker) have reverse-engineered the recipe, and based on a highly scientific survey of which food-world people reply to my Instastories, I’m not alone in thinking they’re disconcertingly good.
But what exactly are egg bites? Like, what kind of food are they, and what purpose do they serve? They’re too hearty to be a snack food in the traditional sense; two don’t quite make a meal. They’re healthy in that they don’t have refined flour or sugar, but unless you’re extremely devoted to keto, the bacon and cheese don’t scream “health food.” Their primary ingredient isn’t even egg: It’s cottage cheese.
The egg bite, contrary to my first thought, isn’t exactly a frittata. Frittatas are mostly egg, and a frittata is baked, with a crispy texture on top and the slightly stiff egg architecture used to showcase the ingredients it conveys, whether they’re potatoes or spinach or ham, rather than create a slippery, eggy experience. And a frittata isn’t meant to be eaten whole.
Maybe, instead, the egg bite is a cookie. It’s round, and cutest when it comes in multiples. Its structure is uniform; its flavor changes with mix-ins (red pepper as chocolate chips). Its texture is firm, but most satisfying when it yields and the center is a little soft. But a cookie cannot be slurped down to fool your brain into thinking you had breakfast, at least not as satisfyingly as an egg bite demolished on the road. And a cookie is an unambiguous treat. Egg bites are good, but they’re not chocolate chip cookie good.
Maybe they’re bonbons made of animal protein, and without the filling. Or they’re raindrop cakes, except they actually have a taste and look their worst on Instagram. Perhaps they’re a pate, except egg, and you’re definitely not supposed to eat them with any type of bread.
The egg bites’ predecessors are probably the frittata-like creations baked in muffin tins meant to be quick breakfasts that also take dents out of the appropriate macros (and the appropriate macros only) by paleo, keto, and other types of bloggers. Those foods, though, are the product of a fad diet rather than a specific cuisine or even craving. They’re worry foods. Starbucks says customer requests for low-carb, protein-packed breakfast foods inspired the egg bites, and it’s unsurprising their version is so successful. Starbucks might not be strong in the food department, but it’s a remarkably nimble trend snatcher, second only to Whole Foods in its skill to popularize the diet preferences of the urban, neurotic upper middle class (see: that cold brew).
Egg bites remind me, more than anything else, of an equally odd foodstuff I consumed far too much of in the ’90s: Snackwells devil’s food cookie cakes. The confusion starts right in the name. In my house they were treated primarily like cookies, even if the light, chocolatey confections tasted more like cake, but without the heft of fat, so they were also airy, like meringues. They were a treat, packed with something later reframed as terrible (sugar), yet not a pure snack the way an Oreo was. They were a simulacrum food, a copy of something that never quite existed, because no one but a giant corporation would make a low-fat chocolate cookie cake.
When I look back at my childhood, I regret eating all those hollowed-out faux cookies, even as I feel an odd nostalgia for their strange, light texture. Maybe egg bites will be just like Snackwells, looked back on as cutting out one villain (carbs) only to over-deliver on others (protein), crowding out the thing we’re actually supposed to be eating (fiber), and maybe we should have stuck to that egg sandwich all along.
But the egg bites might be the unicorns of non-food diet foods — they’re hefty, and cheesy, and not direct substitutes for some other, better treat. You don’t even really want to eat them with bread. I don’t want a cuisine dictated by opportunistic misinterpretations of nutritional science and disordered eating, but it wouldn’t be the first time those things resulted in a genuinely delicious industrial food. Diets are fleeting, but I won’t be mad if the egg bites are here to stay.
Egg Bites ( that are way better than Starbucks)
FAQ
Are Starbucks egg bites worth it?
How healthy is Starbucks egg bites?
Are Starbucks egg white bites real eggs?
What egg bites does Starbucks use?
Are Starbucks egg bites good?
Starbucks’ egg bites present a perfect solution for those seeking a quick yet satisfying breakfast. Conveniently served in a pack of two, they come with a small plastic fork, making them ideal for on-the-go meals. This offering caters particularly well to those looking to avoid bread-heavy options, offering a protein-rich, lower-carb alternative.
What are the benefits of eating eggs?
Eggs have great amounts of protein, vitamins and minerals, offering several health benefits, including improving the immune system, increasing muscle mass and preventing premature aging. In addition, eggs are also composed of the vitamin biotin, vitamin B12 and proteins, nutrients that, together, make the hair healthier.
What are Starbucks egg bites?
As mentioned before, Starbucks Egg Bites are a food menu item. Though they are categorized as “breakfast,” like other Starbucks menu items, you can order them throughout the day, according to The Daily Meal.
Are egg bites good for You?
Fortunately, egg bites help to solve that problem. Made famous by Starbucks since its debut in 2017, egg bites are hailed as a quick and easy way to get a protein-filled meal to start the day along with your favorite flavored latte.