Google muffin top and you’ll find nearly 12 million results. Every search is different, but my results seem to be filled with muffin top melter workouts and articles about the best exercises for losing your muffin top. Since I was struggling to come up with a witty intro for the low carb carnitas breakfast muffins, I thought it might be a great time to tell you the truth about losing a muffin top.
If you know your stuff and want to get to the recipe, feel free to skip to the ingredients section below!
The truth is, the best exercise for losing a muffin top is losing body fat through your diet. Since you can’t spot reduce or lose body fat from one area, you’ll have to let your physiology do its work. If you store fat around your waist and hips first, there’s a good chance that will be the last place to go. Meaning, it’s going to take a long time.
Now that we’ve dispelled the myth of magical muffin top burning exercises, let’s get to the carnitas breakfast muffins recipe.
Ingredients for Crispy Carnitas Breakfast Muffins
The most obvious need will be the crispy carnitas. You can use my Ninja Foodi pork tenderloin carnitas (my favorite), low fat chicken carnitas, or buy them pre-made. It’s totally up to you. You can also make both recipes in a crockpot.
Either way, you should probably give the carnitas recipe a looksie just for the pairing ideas like cilantro lime cauliflower rice and pan roasted black beans and corn.
Once you’ve nailed down your carnitas, the remaining ingredients are fairly straightforward. I’m a fan of using fat-free mozzarella in most of my recipes, but I’ve opted to go with regular mozzarella since these are so low in fat already. If you want to use fat-free and cut a few extra calories, do it to it. I’ve included the nutrition breakdown with three different types of shredded mozzarella below.
You could also include a few whole eggs instead of strictly egg whites if you’d like a bit more fat in your breakfast muffins.
More Protein Options to Use Instead of Carnitas
Here’s a handful of bulk protein recipes you might want to play around with:
- Crispy Crockpot Pineapple Chipotle Chicken
- The chicken from my Fajita Chicken Burrito Bowls
- Cuban Style Baked Pork Tenderloin (shredding instead of slicing would work great for these muffins)
- Pressure Cooker Barbacoa Beef
- Mexican Shredded Chicken Thighs
Macronutrient Breakdown for Carnitas Breakfast Muffins
As I mentioned above, the cheese will be your most customizable ingredient for tweaking nutrition values.
Per Carnitas Breakfast Muffin (recipe makes 12):
- Regular mozzarella: 71 Calories | 9.6P | 2.2C | 2.4F
- 2% mozzarella: 71 Calories | 9.9P | 2.5C | 1.8F
- Fat-free mozzarella: 59 Calories | 10.3P | 2.5C | 0.4F
You can see there’s not a huge difference between the three on a per muffin basis. Still, I know how valuable the tiny differences can be when you don’t have as many calories to play with.
All right, that’s about it for recipe notes. Here’s the full recipe.
Low Carb Crispy Carnitas Breakfast Muffins
A low calorie crispy carnitas breakfast muffin filled with delicious sweet peppers and gooey cheese.
Ingredients
- 6 oz Crispy Carnitas, cooked weight
- 1 1/2 C (368g) Liquid Egg Whites, or 8 whole egg whites
- 1 C (112g) Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 C (120g) Diced Peppers, I used orange, yellow, and red sweet peppers
- 1 Tbsp (15g) Minced Garlic
- 1/4 tsp Paprika, optional
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper, optional
Instructions
- If you haven't prepared crispy carnitas ahead of time, you'll need to start here.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- With prepared carnitas, weigh out six ounces and add to a large mixing bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients, stirring well.
- Once the oven is warm, add the mixture to the muffin tin. Distribute the carnitas evenly between each muffin slot by stirring often.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the bottoms are firm. Extend the baking time until the bottom of each muffin is no longer soggy.
- Remove from muffin tin to cool and serve with fresh pico de gallo or guacamole. Enjoy!
Notes
- Each muffin has 1 Smart Point.
- Per muffin (recipe makes 12) with regular mozzarella: 71 Calories | 9.6P | 2.2C | 2.4F
- Per muffin (recipe makes 12) with 2% mozzarella: 71 Calories | 9.9P | 2.5C | 1.8F
- Per muffin (recipe makes 12) with fat-free mozzarella: 59 Calories | 10.3P | 2.5C | 0.4F
- If you'd like a bit more density, you could swap 1/2 C plain fat-free Greek yogurt for 1/2 C egg whites.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 muffinAmount Per Serving: Calories: 71Total Fat: 2.4gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCarbohydrates: 2.2gProtein: 9.6g
More Low Carb Breakfast Recipes You Might Like
- Breakfast Nacho Boats
- Cheesy Hash Brown Muffins
- 100-Calories Breakfast Chili
- Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potato Hash Browns
- Egg and Chorizo Breakfast Casserole
Skip to Recipe
Charlotte Vercellotti
Monday 12th of April 2021
These little guys are the PERFECT way to use leftover carnitas. The sweet peppers add the best flavor and I highly recommend not using fat free cheese— I didn’t mix the cheese in- I just topped it to create a cheese crust topping. So good