A frequently asked question I get about *all of this* (waves hands in the general direction of the internet/air) is where I get my inspiration from. And almost without fail, I will say “not here.” No offense to this space we’ve created, but inspiration hits when I’m not pressed to find it, like when I’m on a bus or in a cab, looking out the window, or traveling — in this case, in DC a few months ago. I was there for the wedding of an old college friend (hi Aaron!) and another friend (hi different Aaron!) had a brunch at her house the next morning to celebrate and the unbelievable spread in her gorgeous house included not one but two rolled omelets and I was riveted. “WHAT IS THIS!” and she said, “This old thing? It’s so easy! I’ve been making it forever!” and I was like, “No. Tell me everything.”
It turns out it comes from an April 2009 Everyday Food magazine, a shuttered Martha Stewart publication that was wonderful in every way. The focus was on weekday cooking for regular people with busy lives but the food was special. It was eventually folded into Living magazine and (I think) has dissipated* from there. This omelet perfectly exemplifies what everyday but special can look like because the ingredients are simple (frozen spinach, cheddar, eggs, milk), the process is quick (hand-whisked, bakes in under 15 minutes), but the presentation is gorgeous enough for the fanciest holiday brunch spread.
I know the prospect of rolled cakes strike fear in most of our hearts, but the only test I made that was even slightly cracked was overbaked, and it still looked great. It’s also almost impervious to my tweaking; more about ways to do that below. I love how much it looks like a yule log, not a replacement for the best one ever (no bias here whatsoever), but a very green one I find my system crying out for between regular visits to the cookie tin, naturally. You can also make it just for you, just because you’re craving it, and if that sounds appealing to you in this frenetic season, month, time we’re in, well, I think you know what to do next.
* I know I pouted for some time when Gourmet magazine folded, and now I am pouting about Everyday Food, but not all magazine news is bad! Saveur is, in fact, coming back into print next year and you can read more about it here.
Previously
6 months ago: Summer Pea Salad with Unexpected Dressing
1 year ago: Baked Brie with Garlic Butter Mushrooms
2 years ago: Short Rib Onion Soup
3 years ago: Gingerbread Yule Log
4 years ago: Unfussy Sugar Cookies
5 years ago: Falafel
6 years ago: Dutch Apple Pie
7 years ago: Union Square Cafe’s Bar Nuts
8 years ago: Pull-Apart Rugelach and Tres Leches Cake + A Taco Party
9 years ago: Decadent Hot Chocolate Mix and Gingrebread Biscotti
10 years ago: Eggnog Florentines
11 years ago: Cashew Butter Balls
12 years ago: Caesar Salad Deviled Eggs
13 years ago: Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms
14 years ago: Coffee Toffee
15 years ago: Zuni Cafe’s Roast Chicken + Bread Salad
16 years ago: Chicken and Dumplings
17 years ago: Pecan Squares
Rolled Spinach Omelet
- 1 cup (225 grams) milk, any variety
- 1/3 cup (45 grams) all-purpose flour or 1/4 cup (35 grams) cornstarch (gluten-free option)
- 8 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 package (10-ounce or 283-gram) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid
- 3 scallions, minced (white and green parts)
- 1 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) coarsely grated white cheddar
- Arugula or another salad green, halved cherry tomatoes, and minced chives to serve (optional)
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line the bottom and sides of a 10×15-inch rimmed baking sheet (jellyroll size) with a larger piece of parchment, pressing it into the inner sides and corners.
- The original recipe calls for 2 packs of frozen spinach but I prefer one, which you can see, leaves it still very green. My changes, reflected in the recipe above, were to reduce the spinach, nix the dijon mustard (it wasn’t adding a lot), plus I add minced scallions, and I skip oiling the pan by using a large piece of parchment instead.
- I also tested several variables: this works with nondairy milk. If you’d like to make it gluten-free, you can use cornstarch instead of flour.
In a large bowl, whisk together milk and flour until smooth. Add eggs, salt, and many grinds of black pepper and whisk until the eggs are evenly mixed. Stir in spinach, breaking up any clumps, then scallions. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake the omelet, rotating it once just so that it bakes in an even layer, until the the edges and most of the center are set (a little runny is fine), about 10 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle the top with cheese and return to the oven for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove from the oven and slide the omelet and it’s parchment onto a large cooling rack. Grab a clean kitchen towel to use to protect your hands from the heat as you roll. Begin rolling the omelet from a shorter end, lifting the parchment to help roll the omelet tightly. I find it can help as you lift the parchment over the roll with one hand, to use the edge of a spatula to keep tucking the log under as you roll. Roll the omelet onto a serving plate.
Garnish the serving plate with greens, tomatoes, and chives, if using. (You can dress them in a bowl first with a drizzle of olive oil, teaspoon of white wine vinegar, salt and pepper, if you wish.) Serve the omelet in 1-inch slices.
Do ahead: You can make this ahead in one of two ways: 1. Mix the eggs, milk, flour, spinach, and scallions and keep in the fridge overnight. Bake right before serving. 2. Make the omelet in full and reheat it when needed. I’ve not reheated the whole omelet before, however, just 1-inch slices for breakfast in the days that follow. I microwave it for 30 seconds. The omelet keeps surprisingly well!
Notes:
Oooh this does seem like it would be good stuffed with a filling as well! (like the cream in a buche?)
Yum! Maybe a softened cream cheese & lox blend?
I’d stick a slice of cheesed & rolled egg between halves of a toasted everything bagel in a heartbeat.
Like spread with boursin!
Have you tried this in a smaller pan? Potentially 6 eggs in a 9 by 13 pan?
I haven’t but mostly I’ve found that smaller ones are harder to roll — could work with this, though!
I sometimes make Deb’s Spinach Sheet Pan Quiche sans crust in a 9×13 and I think that’s thin enough to roll out. You could try that one and adjust the flavorings according to this.
To this day some of my favorite and most successful recipes came from Everyday Food and I still mourn its loss.
I fortunately saved every issue. I miss it too.
I miss it so much!! I’ve snipped and saved many recipes from my old copies.
Addendum: I used fresh spinach and steamed it in the microwave, squeezed out the liquid and chopped it before adding to the egg mixture
this was my inevitable question! thanks
I saved my issues too!
In 2009, I was invited to visit its test kitchen in the Starrett-Lehigh Building. They were working on a recipe for moussaka and we got to try it; it was unreal. I don’t think it was ever published and I was distraught. They limited ingredient lists to 10, if I remember correctly, but it never felt like it in the results.
Because I don’t have a jelly roll pan, I went and did the math. Jelly roll pan holds about 15cups, and a 9×13 holds 8 so if I’m scaling then it’s multiply everything by about 0.53 (4-5 eggs) to do a half-sized omelette?
I would halve the entire recipe and the result will just be a tad thinner than Deb’s, which might also be a benefit in rolling it up (Deb says it’s harder to roll smaller “slabs”, so thinner might be a little easier?) Just a guess…
This was delicious and very pretty to serve to guests. Used Gruyère instead of cheddar and served with fried goat cheese rounds on the salad. May have been overkill but it went well with the eggs. I also went the gluten free route with cornstarch and it stuck (a lot) to the parchment. I’ll grease it up next time. Any reason you can’t just use a gf flour mix instead of cornstarch?
I’d be keen to know if this would also work with either tapioca flour or potato flour?
I used aarowroot and it worked great. Close enough to tapioca you should be good.
How could I make this keto? Would almond flour work instead of regular flour? Or a mix of almond flour and bamboo flour?
This would work with just regular fresh spinach too, right? I’m in a part of the world where I’ve never seen frozen spinach…
I think it would work if you just blanched/sautéed and then squeezed the water out.
Yes, I’d start with about 1 pound then wilt it, squeeze it out, and chop it.
Thanks! Going to try it.
Made this with Aarowroot starch, coconut milk & goat cheddar. Baked full recipe in a small lipped cookie sheet. Checked at lower time, let go full amount. Rolled up easily. Was delicious and looked impressive. My mom thought I got restaurant takeout. May replace my holiday overnight yeasted waffles (also from SK) thanks for another winner Deb!
Even easier option: wash your spinach leaves, shake the water off pretty much, stick them into an airtight bag or container and freeze. No blanching required. You can break off as much as you want and then chop it. I grow spinach and this is how I deal with the extra when it’s coming in fast.
That’s *brilliant*. Thanks for the tip!
This looks delicious! Is the cheese for flavor only, or is it structural? Can it be left out?
I made a version with the cheese inside instead of out and you didn’t get a defined roll appearance — ended up looking more like a solid log. I like the flavor of the cheese but I’m sure it can be omitted.
Deb, when I saw the photo of this egg dish, I thought it was the Korean ‘Gyeran-mari’–cutely demonstrated by popular vlogger, Maangchi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN89ewZjOR8
I’ve never made the Korean version but I love Japanese rolled omelets. They’re very different though; cooked in a pan, no flour, milk. I absolutely love it.
OOO I loved Everyday Food and regret tossing my copies.
This omelet looks lovely and I can’t wait to try it.
Ummm, is that 225grams of milk, or 225ml?
It will be about the same but it’s the weight.
Oh how I miss Everyday Food! Such a great publication.
I’ve been searching for a good everyday food magazine with recipes. I miss Gourmet so much! Any other recommendations?????
I’m so intrigued, but I can’t imagine ever hosting a brunch party and not serving your Sheet Pan Quiche <3
https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/11/spinach-sheet-pan-quiche/
This looks amazing, and I am waiting for someone to tell me how to successfully adjust it to fit in smaller pans (I only have a toaster oven and a 9×13 is the max I can do).
Check out Lyra’s and Bev’s comments above.
Reduce everything by roughly 20-25%: 6 eggs, 3/4 cup milk, 3/4 cup cheese, 8oz spinach, etc. A 9×13 is approximately 20% smaller than a 10×15. It may not be an exact reduction across all ingredients but I think this recipe can handle a little flexibility.
I made this tonight and we loved it! I had only a whole sheet pan that was 11.5×16.5 inches so I 1.25x with great results. Made gluten-free and dairy-free with cornstarch option, soy milk, and Chao brand creamy shredded “cheese.” I think would be even better with Boursin style cashew cheese and will try that next time. I did add the Dijon since I thought the non-dairy cheese would be less flavorful. Mine stuck a bit to the parchment, maybe due to the milk substitution? Would oil next time. Thanks Deb!
I love your website and all your recipes. I also own all 3 of your cookbooks!
I have a suggestion. Is it possible to add a picture of the recipe when people choose “print recipe “? I think that would add huge value. Just a thought to consider.
Happy holidays
The option will be added in the next redesign — people will have to select it (so nobody drains a toner cartridge without opting in first!)
RIP EDF, thanks for lentil soup, chicken pot pie and lighter general tso’s… it was good accessible food. Glad your still here Deb contributing to *this*(waves also into the eather)
A breakfast yule log!
Spectacular presentation, and delicious! I followed the suggestion to increase the ingredients by 25% because I only had a half sheet pan, not a jelly roll pan and the result was perfect. I will make this every time I have company for breakfast or brunch.
Everyday Food was the best. I have a whole shelf full of issues. I really miss it, along with Chocolatier. And Gourmet.
We made this, but although it eventually wes delicious, we could not get the cook time right. I must have not gotten enough water out of the spinach, as that is the only error I can think of that led to the eggs not cooking in the right time.
Really delicious outcome though!
I had the same issue of the eggs not being anywhere close to done in the allotted time for the recipe. Oven temp according to oven thermometer was about 360* when I put the pan in the oven. My spinach was well squeezed, milk and flour were weighed. I will make again but will not add the cheese until at least 16 or 17 minute mark. End result tastes good but was not pretty.
Just had this omelet for breakfast. Easy and elegant and delicious! Thank you!
For those of you mourning Everyday Food: https://www.eatyourbooks.com/magazines/everyday-food
Thanks! Great to know.
Hi Deb,
I just learned about “cook mode” – you should add links to your recipes! So that those of us slow cookers and readers don’t continually have to re-unlock our screens. Life changer!
On an iPhone, I do this in Settings>Display and Brightness>Auto-Lock>5 Minutes or Never.
Awesome suggestion…. love online recipes that have the built in button to keep recipe open while making the recipe! 🎉
I save all my online recipes in an app called “Copy me that” (https://www.copymethat.com/) and it does this for you. It’s basically a personal database that lets you schedule specific recipes in a calendar so you I can plan more than a day in advance. It’s fantastic and fully half of mine is Smitten Kitchen recipes!
I used cornstarch and soy milk and had to bake it for almost twice as long for the bottom to cook through; it was gloopy for a while. Not sure if it was the soy/cornstarch combo or being at 7000 feet, but if you find that it’s gloopy, don’t try to roll it, leave it in!
Sorry that this is unrelated to the recipe, more of a technical website question – I noticed that on the front page, under the most current recipe, instead of then showing other recent posts in chronological order the page now shows older recipes (I think from what’s been linked in this current post). Other recent recipes are only shown in thumbnails lower on the page. Is that intentional or a bug?
Noticed this, too. And the recipes below the main have changed, in a way that leads me to believe there is a “holiday food” highlight function. Very confusing, though.
Making this recipe right now, but came to the comments specifically to see if others had noticed this, and to find out if this is the new format for the website. I can’t tell if the recipes that show on the front page are related. Perhaps timely recommendations?
Wow!!!! Looks absolutely amazing. I’m going to make this spinach rolled omelette several times before our next big family gathering to try and get it perfect! SO wish there were a video because my attempts at a jelly roll cake have failed miserably! 🤣
oh my gosh, that looks fabulous and easy..i want to make it for new year’s day…i would like to serve it with a sauce…can you think of one that might work?
Made this for Christmas morning; it was tasty but it turned out a mess! As soon as I started rolling it, it cracked and I basically ended up with a spinach omelet pile. Not sure why. I followed the recipe pretty religiously, using the cornstarch option. I did notice it was pretty gloopy when I went to sprinkle the cheese, so I gave it some extra cooking time and did a minute under the broiler before taking it out as I was very nervous about undercooking. It did not taste overcooked in any way (it even still seemed a touch wet) but maybe that was the underlying cause for the cracking?
Looks yum. Trying to figure out how to cut it in half for two people.
For the editors among us and others who care, please change “it’s” to “its”:
“Remove from the oven and slide the omelet and it’s parchment onto a large cooling rack.”
Thank you!
Oh! I used to make this spinach broccoli roulade, it was from a vegetarian cookbook circa 2001/2
Made this for us this morning. Like Anne N. ours eventually reached the edible stage but there was NO way it was done in the time allotted according to the recipe. My pan is 11″ x 15″ so a little bigger than a normal jellyroll pan and therefore the eggs were a bit shallower. Oven thermometer registered about 360* when I put the pan in the oven. Spinach was well squeezed. I was glad I had sprayed the parchment with non-stick spray. End result was not pretty but tastes good. I will make again but will bake the omelet at least 16 or 17 minutes before I add the cheese.
This looks so good! I remember Everyday Food fondly, I still have tons of pages that I tore out in a binder in my kitchen.
Yum! Turned out delicious and beautiful, even after taking it out of the oven underdone, rolling it halfway, then sticking it back in the oven. Super easy to make, too!
I was so excited to make this! But….the cooking time was not nearly long enough. I left it in much longer and it was still wet and stuck to the parchment and oozed everywhere. I finished in microwave, but it wasn’t as pretty as I had hoped. I will try again with longer bake time!
This looks utterly yum!!! Happy New Year SK!!!
This just got added to The Dinner Rotation! So good and so easy to make. My husband even said it was his favorite “spinach delivery system.” LOL.
I loved Everyday food as well and remember this recipe. Reminded me of the first vegetarian cookbook I received. It was from my grandma and nearly every recipe was a roll. 😆
Just made an Apple pie cake recipe I’ve had and make every year since Everyday printed it in 2003. Two family members that are novice and kitchen challenged even gave it a whirl. Thanks for keeping the recipes alive and bringing that same “simple but fantastic / low input to high output ratio” to your recipes. Love, love, love!
What a very delicious recipe. I love eggs and this recipe is a whole other level :). Yum.
I loved Everyday Food and still have all my old copies. I still enjoy leafing through them and hope that perhaps there is a space one day for a reincarnation (or at least something similar.) Happy New Year!