Frittata is an Italian twist on the humble omelet. Since there’s no tricky flip to perform, they’re actually easier to make. Fantastico!

What Are Frittatas?

Frittatas combine eggs and various combinations of vegetables, meat, cheese and even cooked pasta. The end result looks a bit like a quiche, without the crust.

How to Serve Them

Frittatas can be served in wedges for breakfast, lunch or dinner, either hot or cold. Fill the rest of the plate with salad, or add a bowl of soup. If you make frittata for dinner, you’ve got a lunchbox-friendly lifesaver for the next day. They work as a quick weeknight dinner, or as a main dish for brunch with friends.

Invent Your Own Frittata

Once you’ve made one frittata, you can make them all – adjust the fillings and flavors based on what’s in the fridge. Frittatas can give new life to leftovers, and they are a great way to get several food groups into a meal. If you’ve got company coming, go for fancier ingredients like olives, asparagus and goat cheese.

Frittata – How to Cook

Frittatas are usually cooked in a fry pan on the stove first, and then finished in the oven. This means you need to use an oven-safe fry pan. Your pan might be labeled as oven safe on the bottom; if not, try looking for information on the manufacturer’s website. No guessing is allowed- either your pan is oven-save or it is not! While some recipes suggest that you can oven-proof a skillet handle by wrapping it in aluminum foil, startcooking.com does not recommend doing this. (It's just not worth the risk of having your fry pan handle melt in the oven!) Just remember that the handle will be very hot when you take it out of the oven. Fritattas can be cooked only on the stovetop, but this means they have to be flipped—not easy. Some frittatas can be cooked entirely in the oven.

Here are five recipes that show what you can do with frittatas:

1. If there are eggs on hand and some odds and ends to use as fillings, here’s how to build a frittata using whatever you’ve got. There's also a recipe here for a frittata that is cooked entirely in the oven, rather than on the stove.
2. Go for a Greek-style frittata with this recipe, which calls for zucchini, tomatoes and, of course, feta cheese.
3. Back to Italy, here’s a fondly remembered Asparagus, Mushroom and Parmesan Frittata that grandma used to make.
4. Get some healthy spinach along with the luxurious flavors of goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes in this Spinach Frittata.
5. If you’ve got leftover pasta – yes, even if it has sauce on it – throw it into this Spaghetti frittata.

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