Quick Pesto Vegetable Frittata

Pesto vegetable frittata is a simple yet satisfying recipe that is perfect for a quick lunch or dinner. Loaded with vegetables and protein packed thanks to the eggs. It all gets taken up a level with the addition of pesto and cheese, ensuring this frittata is full of flavour!

Originally posted May 2017 | Updated (reviewed and new images) April 2023

This is a great recipe to add to your meal prep list if you’re partial to getting everything organised for your week ahead. It’s also lovely to make for a group brunch! Pop it out alongside a loaf of great bread, butter, your favourite spreads, a fruit salad and yoghurt.

Why you will love this Pesto Vegetable Frittata

• One of the best meal prep recipes. Having a frittata ready in the fridge is such a handy meal option, chuck it in your lunch box or simply heat up a slice for dinner when you get home late and can’t face cooking.
• Great way to use up leftover vegetables. Whatever you’ve got sitting at the bottom of the crisper, looking a little sad… can basically go into a frittata. Reduce your food waste and get a delicious meal to boot.
• Budget friendly recipe. You don’t need anything fancy to make this recipe and even better it is a great one to help stretch out your groceries further. Eggs are a really economical source of nutrition and a much cheaper option than meat.

Ingredients needed to make vegetable frittata

This is a flexible ingredients list, as I’ve mentioned above you can definitely adapt this recipe to use up what you’ve got laying around!

• Eggs – kind of obvious, it wouldn’t be a frittata without some beautiful eggs, get the best quality you can.
• Pesto – store bought pesto is absolutely fine to use in this recipe! Or you can make your own if you prefer. Just grab whichever pesto you like the best, personally I prefer a classic pesto with a lot of basil involved.
• Milk – use any milk you like in this recipe so long as it is unsweetened. You only need a small amount, I will usually use regular cows milk or unsweetened almond milk.
• Shredded cheese – tasty or cheddar cheese is my favourite for this recipe.
• Red onion – using some onion in the base of this frittata adds a great flavour, red onion or brown onion will both work.
• Capsicum (also called a pepper) – same as the onion, adding capsicum to the base of this frittata adds a delicious flavour especially if it’s browned a little beforehand. You can use any colour capsicum. It’s not absolutely necessary to use capsicum in this recipe though.
• Spinach – it’s not essential to use spinach, but I love having a handful of leafy greens in the frittata.
• Extra mixed vegetables – told you this recipe was veggie-packed! I recommend adding around 1 and ½ cups extra veggies. Use anything you like, such as broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, zucchini, carrot, asparagus, peas.
• Salt, pepper and garlic powder – to season the frittata.
• Extra virgin olive oil – for preparing the vegetables and greasing the baking dish.

See the recipe card below for the ingredient quantities.

How to make a healthy vegetable frittata

Step 1. Preheat your oven and grease the baking dish. Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper and set aside.

Step 2. Prepare the vegetables. Slice the onion and capsicum and cook for a few minutes in a large frypan until slightly softened. Stir in the pesto, garlic powder, baby spinach and the other vegetables and toss over the heat until the spinach is wilted and everything is coated in pesto.

Step 3. Place the vegetable mixture into the baking dish and spread out evenly. Sprinkle the grated cheddar over the vegetables. Carefully pour the whisked egg mixture over the top.

Step 4. Gently place the baking dish into the oven and cook for approximately 30-40 minutes, or until the top of the frittata is a golden brown and the centre feels firm and set.

You can serve the frittata warm or cold. I like to serve it with a thick slice of good bread and a simple salad.

Frittata cooking tips

• I typically use non-starchy vegetables in this frittata, i.e. I don’t use potato, sweet potato, parsnip, pumkpin. These veggies take longer to cook. If you want to use thicker, starchy vegetables in this recipe, I would recommend lightly cooking them first so you can be sure they’ll be fully cooked and soft when the frittata is done. Alternatively, you could grate them in so they’re super thin and will cook in the frittata.

• This frittata is the perfect way to use up leftover veggies from other meals, so to be honest I often just throw in a medley of items which I haven’t been able to jam into other meals. My favourites are broccoli, spinach, peas, mushrooms and zucchini, if you’d like some inspiration!

• For a dairy free version of this recipe, omit the cheddar cheese and use a dairy-free pesto and dairy-free milk (e.g. soy milk). You can add a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast to the egg mixture for more of a ‘cheesy’ taste without the cheese, if you like.

How should I store this vegetable frittata?

This frittata will keep up to four days in the fridge. Store in an airtight container. You can freeze this frittata for up to a month, however take care when reheating. It needs to be reheated in the oven to retain a decent texture. If you microwave it, it will likely be quite soggy after being frozen.

Whisk up some eggs and give this simple recipe a try. It’s such a delicious way to get in lots of veggies, alongside nutritious eggs which are full of healthy fats and replenishing protein. All of the good things.

I always love seeing your recipe creations too, so take a snap and tag me on Instagram if you make it.

More fantastic recipes using eggs:

• Sweet Potato and Broccoli Frittata

• Banana Berry Baked French Toast

• Kale, Dill and Ricotta Crustless Pie

Quick Pesto Vegetable Frittata

This pesto vegetable frittata makes an easy, healthy meal that can be made ahead of time.

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast, Main Course

Cuisine: gluten free, grain free, nut free, vegetarian

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 serves

Calories: 251kcal

Equipment

• frying pan
• baking dish

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk of choice – any variety is fine, so long as it’s unsweetened
• 2 tbsp pesto
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 small capsicum
• 1/2 red onion
• 2 large handfuls baby spinach
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese grated
• 1 and 1/2 cups mixed vegetables thickly diced e.g. broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, carrot, peas, cauliflower, mushrooms
• extra virgin olive oil for frying and for greasing baking dish

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 160℃ and lightly grease a baking dish/pie dish with olive oil. I typically use a shallow round pie dish approximately 23 cm in diameter; this is what I used for the frittata pictured.
• Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper and set aside.
• Prepare the vegetables. Slice the onion and capsicum and cook for a few minutes in a large frypan until slightly softened. Stir in the pesto, garlic powder, baby spinach and the other vegetables and toss over the heat until the spinach is wilted and everything is coated in pesto.
• Place the vegetable mixture into the baking dish and spread out evenly. Sprinkle the grated cheddar over the vegetables.
• Carefully pour the whisked egg mixture over the top of everything, so it’s evenly distributed throughout the baking dish.
• Gently place the baking dish into the oven and cook for approximately 30-40 minutes, or until the top of the frittata is a golden brown and the centre feels firm and set. (If you use a deeper, smaller dish, it may take a bit longer to cook through).
• The frittata will puff up a bit while cooking but will settle once it starts to cool. Once the frittata has settled, slice and serve warm. Alternatively store in the fridge, ready to be served hot or cold as desired. This should last up to 5 days refrigerated.

Notes

*I typically use non-starchy vegetables in this frittata, i.e. I don’t use potato, sweet potato, parsnip etc. These veggies take longer to cook. If you want to use thicker, starchier vegetables in this recipe, I would recommend lightly cooking them first so you can be sure they’ll be fully cooked and soft when the frittata is done. Alternatively, you could grate them in so they’re super thin and will cook in the frittata.

*This frittata is the perfect way to use up leftover veggies from other meals, so to be honest I often just throw in a medley of items which I haven’t been able to jam into other meals. My favourites are broccoli, spinach, peas, mushrooms and zucchini, if you’d like some inspiration!

*For a dairy free version of this recipe, simply omit the cheddar cheese, and use a dairy-free milk in the egg mixture. You can add a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast to the egg mixture for more of a ‘cheesy’ taste without the cheese, if you like.

Have you made this recipe?I love seeing your creations! Take a photo and then tag me @nourish.everyday on Instagram!

Nutrition

Calories: 251kcal (13%) | Carbohydrates: 15g (5%) | Protein: 16g (32%) | Fat: 15g (23%) | Saturated Fat: 6g (38%) | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 262mg (87%) | Sodium: 889mg (39%) | Potassium: 428mg (12%) | Fiber: 4g (17%) | Sugar: 3g (3%) | Vitamin A: 6128IU (123%) | Vitamin C: 36mg (44%) | Calcium: 207mg (21%) | Iron: 2mg (11%)