Low Carb Baked Scotch Eggs. 0.5g carbs. A British classic that will never cease to be a favourite.
Breakfast. Lunch. Appetiser. Snack. Picnic. Whatever. They’re simple and yummilicious. With great keto macros to boot.
Just because you’re eating low carb, doesn’t mean you have to deny yourself the tasty foods you used to love. As long as you have some pork mince, eggs and seasoning, you can do this in a blink. Super healthy and utterly delicious. And if you prefer, you can use sausage meat. Totally up to you. The main thing is that these Scotch Eggs are baked, not fried, which means they are clean keto in every way.
But please don’t buy pre-boiled eggs. I don’t know why anyone would want to do that, but apparently it’s a thing. Really??? Does anyone know what kind of preserving chemistry has gone into those shop-bought pre-cooked eggs? And what about the contamination risks? Boiling an egg is something a five-year old could do, especially when you want a hard yolk. It’s impossible to get wrong. So please, boil fresh eggs.
How to Make Low Carb Baked Scotch Eggs
Once you’ve mixed the lean minced pork (must be lean or you’ll end up with a greasy mess), spices, herbs and salt, you just need to wrap it around your boiled eggs. That’s the trickiest part. For me, the easiest way to do it is like this:
Divide the seasoned meat mixture so you have 6 portions of 85g each (you need scales, folks!). Place one portions in the centre of a piece of cling film. Cover with anther piece of cling film. Flatten with a small rolling pin to form an approximate disc about 13cm (5″) in diameter. Flip it onto your hand, place an egg in the middle, cup it, and sculpt the meat mixture around it. Pinch and smooth with your finger tips, until the egg is entirely encased. Set aside and repeat the same process for the remaining eggs.
The cling film will annoyingly move and get sticky. And will need repositioning, or replacing with a fresh sheet. But I think this technique is still less tedious and difficult than just using your hands to mould the meat around each egg. If you have a tried and tested way that works for you, by all means, you don’t need to follow my suggestion.
As for the classic Scotch Eggs coating… Well, we’re not using Paxo breadcrumbs, obviously, so we cannot replicate that beautiful, golden, crispy outer shell. Instead, you can blitz pork crackling (a.k.a. scratchings/skins) in a food processor and use those crumbs as a coating. My favourite brand is the one in the images below.
When blitzed, the crumbs become quite oily, so they stick nicely without having to add flour and egg.
Alternatively, you can use nothing. In which case, you may wish to finish the baked Scotch Eggs by grilling (broiling) them for a few minutes so they’re more caramelised (I don’t bother). The photos show Low Carb Baked Scotch Eggs baked both ways (with pork crackling and with nothing), so you can see the difference.
I know many of you don’t care about calories. But let me just put it to you that using 100g of pork cracklings will add about 140 Kcal to each Scotch Egg.
Either way, these Low Carb Baked Scotch Eggs are incredibly tasty. A winning recipe, in my eyes.
Enjoy!
- Yield: 6
- Serving: 1
- Calories: 171
- Fat: 8.5g
- Net Carbs: 0.5g
- Protein: 24g
- 500g lean pork mince (<5% fat)
- 6 medium eggs
- 1 TBSP coarse Himalayan pink salt (U.S. option HERE)
- 1 tsp fine Himalayan pink salt (U.S. option HERE)
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp paprika
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp Season All
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 100g crumbed pork scratchings (optional - not included in macros)
- put eggs in a pan and cover them with water, add coarse salt and place over medium-high heat; when the water starts to boil, set the timer for 3 minutes, then drain the hot water and fill the pan with cold running water and drain it; repeat 2-3 times to cool the eggs; peel and set aside.
- in a large mixing bowl, combine meat, spice and seasoning, squeezing and squishing between your fingers (I recommend food safe disposable gloves, U.S. option HERE).
- pre-heat oven to 200°C fan.
- divide the pork mixture into 6 equal portions (85g each).
- place a portion over a sheet of cling film, cover it with another piece of cling film, and flatten it using your hand or a small rolling pin.
- flip the flattened meat onto your palm, position an egg over the middle and cup it; gently wrap the meat around it, pinching and sculpting with your fingers until the egg is fully enclosed.
- repeat with the remaining meatballs and eggs; roll lightly in crumbed pork scratchings (optional), then transfer to a baking tray lined with foil (shiny side up).
- bake for 15 minutes, turn eggs over and bake for another 15 minutes.
- serve hot or cold.
