My dad (the scrambled eggs genius) has a new version of this breakfast favorite, with swiss chard, pepperoni, cheese, and lots of herbs. Plus a few tips and tricks for cooking without any waste!
In an earlier post with a recipe for Creamy Eggs with Caramelized Onion Confit, I called my dad a “scrambled egg genius.” His wife, my step-mom Nicole, took quite a liking to this name, as it fits him perfectly – he has a magic way with scrambled eggs. The only name I can think of that would fit him any better would be “scrambled egg mad scientist,” but these names actually go hand in hand – he is the mad scientist who seems completely out of control, but his creations end up being a work of pure genius. A recent Sunday morning breakfast at his house upstate proved just this fact; a hodgepodge of veggies, herbs from the garden, and ingredients left over from making pizzas the day before lead to what I am lovingly dubbing the kitchen sink scrambled eggs, swiss chard and pepperoni style.
Gorgeous swiss chard – including the stem! – gets diced up and added to the pan with onions
The beauty of scrambled eggs is that almost any ingredients can be used to make them, and that’s why my dad has always been so fond of them. As someone who never throws any food away – and I plan on doing many more posts about his ability to use each and every part of an ingredient – scrambled eggs have been his long time go-to for using up left over food, or bits of food that people would normally throw in the trash. And while he used very specific ingredients for these eggs – swiss chard, red onion, pepperoni, cheese, and lots of basil and parsley from the garden – you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand for this quick breakfast dish.
Tons of swiss chard make this dish super-packed with vitamins!
If you plan on using this recipe, I have a few tips and tricks to make these the best green-packed scrambled eggs you’ve ever had. For one, whenever my dad makes scrambled eggs, he always starts with onion in the pan first. Onions serve as a great base for any eggs, adding a great savory-sweet flavor, and getting them in the pan first will give them some time to break down and caramelize. The next tip I’ll give for these eggs – and this goes along with my dad’s commitment to never waste anything – is to use the whole swiss chard, stems included. A lot of people will throw out the slightly tough stem and only use the leaves, but my dad finely minced the entire stem and added these pieces to the pan just after the onions, giving them a chance to break down and cook through before the more tender leaves are added. Not only will you feel great for using the whole ingredient without waste, but you also get all the added nutrition value of the plant that lives in the stem, and the gorgeous colors of the stems will brighten up the dish.
Chard, onion, and pepperoni fry up in the skillet; then the eggs are added
The other ingredients of these scrambled eggs include pepperoni – added in to the pan soon after the chard, to get those oils released the let them crisp up – lots of cheese – in this case mozzarella and asiago left over from pizza making the day before – and fresh herbs from the garden. As I said before, feel free to use this recipe for your next breakfast meal, or simply follow my guidelines to make your own kitchen sink scrambled eggs with any ingredients you may have left over!
My favorite side to any breakfast – crispy skillet potatoes.
- 8 eggs, scrambled
- 1 bunch swiss chard, leaves chopped and stems finely minced
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup shredded asiago cheese
- 1 small red onion, minced
- ½ cup pepperoni, diced
- fresh basil and parsley, minced
- olive oil, salt and pepper
- Coat large skillet over medium heat with olive oil. Sauté onions until slightly browned and translucent, 5 minutes. Add swiss chard stems and continue to sauté another 5 min, followed by swiss chard leaves, cooking until wilted. Add pepperoni and sauté until browned, another five minutes.
- Add scrambled eggs to pan, season with salt and pepper. Quickly add cheese and cook stirring constantly until eggs are firmed, 5 minutes. Finish with fresh herbs and serve.
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