
Whenever I visit Manhattan to see my friend Susan, we often have breakfast at Pret a Manger. One of my favorite menu items at Pret is their Ham and Spinach Frittata. I also love their “Pret’s Famous Ham & Cheese” sandwich. I judge a sandwich by its bread, and Pret’s baguettes have a perfect crisp crust and chewy center. However, I have had their Ham and Spinach Frittata more often than I have had their ham and cheese sandwich. It’s been over a year since I was last in Manhattan, and I have been having a bit of a craving for their frittata.
I have an app on my iPhone called AnyList, which I use to collect recipes. AnyList helps me organize my recipes and quickly add recipes from other sources, like email messages, websites, and blogs. I used to copy and paste all my recipes into a Word document, but then I found it wasn’t easy to find a recipe when I needed it. AnyList also allows me to tap on ingredients to add them to my shopping list, and I can plan an entire week or month of meals with the meal planning calendar.
Every day, I get an email from Taste of Home, and if there are recipes I want to save, I can easily do so with the AnyList app. I clicked on the link in Monday’s email for the “Recipe of the Month.” Clicking on the link was the only way to see the recipe they described as a “spring dish can be served for breakfast, brunch or dinner.” The email described the dish as pretty, colorful, and absolutely delicious. They also said it always wins compliments. How could I resist checking out this recipe? It turned out to be a recipe for a Bacon and Asparagus Frittata, which looked easy enough and reminded me of Pret’s ham and spinach frittata. So, I did a Google search for ham and spinach frittata and found one for a “Ham, Cheese, and Asparagus Frittata” at The Rustic Foodie. It’s actually a ham, cheese, asparagus, and spinach frittata, and I made it for breakfast on Tuesday, halving the original recipe. It was delicious, and the addition of the asparagus was perfect. My cast iron skillet was too small, so I finished it in an 8″ x 8″ cake pan (a very versatile piece of cookware). Even at half the recipe, it was a lot of food for just me. Yesterday, I made the recipe again but omitted the asparagus and made a quarter of the original recipe so that it would fit in my cast iron skillet. It tasted just like the Pret version.
I had never tried to make a frittata before making this recipe. I always thought it was a little too involved. However, it turns out to be exceedingly simple and easy to make. I prepped the ingredients the night before so that they were ready to go when I got up in the morning. In just twenty minutes, I had a lovely breakfast with minimal effort. It beat my usual breakfast of a sausage and cheese English muffin, my version of a McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin, except that mine is better. I use English muffins from the Vermont Bread Company, which makes all the difference (I’ve tried numerous different English muffins brands, and I have found that the Vermont Bread Company makes the best.) As I said before, without good bread, a sandwich is just mediocre.
I hope y’all will enjoy this recipe.

Ham, Cheese, and Asparagus Frittata
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups chopped ham steak (make sure ham is precooked)
- 2 cups chopped asparagus
- 2 cups chopped fresh spinach
- 10 eggs
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup grated cheese (any variety—I used Cabot’s Seriously Sharp Cheddar)
- salt (adjust to taste)
- pepper (adjust to taste)
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions or chives (optional, but I used some chopped chives)
Preparation Steps
- Heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Chop all of your ingredients – ham, asparagus, and spinach and then grate the cheese.
- Heat cast iron skillet and add cooking oil of choice.
- Add chopped ham steak and cook for 3-4 minutes or until lightly caramelized.
- Add chopped asparagus and sauté for 4-6 minutes or until slightly tender.
- Deglaze with cooking stock if necessary.
- Mix eggs, heavy whipping cream, grated cheese, and generous pinch of kosher salt and pepper.
- Add the egg mixture to the pan and then toss in spinach. Gently fold spinach into the egg mixture.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes on stove top until the edges start to set.
- Top with chopped green onions or chopped chives.
- Transfer skillet to oven and cook for 10-14 minutes.
Notes
This Ham, Cheese, and Asparagus Frittata recipe is easy and makes a healthy breakfast. This baked vegetable frittata is great for brunch or a quick dinner!
Thank you for commenting. I always want to know what you have to say. However, I have a few rules: 1. Always be kind and considerate to others. 2. Do not degrade other people's way of thinking. 3. I have the right to refuse or remove any comment I deem inappropriate. 4. If you comment on a post that was published over 14 days ago, it will not post immediately. Those comments are set for moderation. If it doesn't break the above rules, it will post.