18 Muffin Pan Recipes that Aren't Muffins (or Cupcakes!) (2024)

When it comes to kitchen items, the more versatile they are, the better. With this recipe roundup, we're here to show you just how multi-functional your muffin tins can be by highlighting a variety of foods to bake in them beyond cupcakes and muffins. We've got recipes for other sweet treats like Boozy Bourbon-Pecan Tassies as well as savory snacks such as Three Cheese Mini Macs. One of our favorite foods to prepare in muffin pans is eggs — poached, baked, or in crustless mini quiches. It's time to start getting more use out of your muffin tins.

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Hogs in a Blanket

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This fun, high-brow take on pigs in a blanket swaps spicy andouille sausage for the hot dogs, with sweet mustard chutney as a condiment. Baking them in a muffin tin helps create perfectly round bites.

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Quindim (Brazilian Coconut Egg Custards)

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These Brazilian treats feature a rich eggy custard on the top and a chewy coconut crust on the bottom. This recipe is from Jessica B. Harris, a scholar of the cuisine of the African diaspora who fell in love with the dessert on her travels to Salvador, in the Brazilian state of Bahia.

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Breakfast Egg Cups with Parsley Gremolata and Mushrooms

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These surprisingly elegant, savory herb-topped eggs bake up in a muffin pan, so it's easy to make breakfast or brunch for a few days — or for more than a few people. Serve any leftover breakfast egg cups sandwiched between buttered, toasted English muffins or brioche slices.

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Boozy Bourbon-Pecan Tassies

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These pecan pie poppers, with a higher crust-to-filling ratio, offer the perfect bite, spiked with bourbon to both cut through and complement the sweetness. Plus, the cream cheese crust is foolproof.

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Three Cheese Mini Macs

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Anything big made small is ultrafun for co*cktail parties, and these quick, one-bite mac and cheeses are the ultimate example. Cooked in mini muffin pans, the mini macs can be assembled early and baked just as guests arrive.

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Mini Black Bottom Cheesecakes

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In these single-serving desserts, rich and creamy cheesecake is baked atop a chocolate wafer base. You don't need any special equipment to make them — just a muffin tin and foil liners.

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Scotch Egg

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A common party dish in the U.K., Scotch eggs have a history dating back nearly 300 years. To bake the eggs instead of frying, place the sausage-covered eggs in large muffin tins and bake at 425°F until golden and cooked through.

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Maple-Bacon Popovers

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Gail Simmons' popover recipe includes maple syrup and bacon in the batter and more maple brushed on top, giving the adapted American dish a distinctly Canadian accent.

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Sausage-and-Apple Stuffing Bites

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Since stuffing is one of the most popular parts of a Thanksgiving meal, try doing it as fun little hors d'oeuvre bites.

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Parmesan-Herb Cloverleaf Rolls

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After they're shaped and topped with lots of melted butter along with Parmesan, parsley, thyme, and rosemary, the unbaked rolls need to be refrigerated overnight, so plan accordingly.

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Mini Crustless Quiche Bites with Mushrooms, Quinoa, and Cheddar

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These mini crustless quiches are a perfect make-ahead breakfast. They're bulked up with cooked quinoa and layered with sautéed cremini mushrooms — a perfect balanced bite when you're on the go.

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Vegan Brownies

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These wheat-free, butterless brownies are decadent and dense. "It's really, really hard to make a good vegan brownie," says chef Erin McKenna. Her first efforts using applesauce and vegetable oil were cakey or fluffy. It took her six months of making small adjustments to perfect them.

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Gougères

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Instead of spooning the batter onto a baking sheet before baking, Chantal Leroux uses mini muffin tins. Her version of these delicate cheese puffs has a thin, creamy layer in the center.

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Open-Face Egg and Griddled Ham Breakfast Sandwich

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Former F&W culinary director at large Justin Chapple poaches a dozen eggs at once in a muffin pan in the oven, making his cute and tasty breakfast sliders extraordinarily easy to prepare for entertaining.

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Mushroom Pomponnettes

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At restaurant Daniel, chef Daniel Boulud makes these popular bite-size mushroom quiches in individual molds, but mini-muffin pans are perfect substitutes.

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Cheshire Yorkshire Puddings with Sage and Black Pepper

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Star chef Grant Achatz combines the crunch of a popover with the creaminess of Yorkshire pudding in these puffed breads. For maximum cheesy flavor, grated English Cheshire is added twice — stirred into the batter and then sprinkled over the top.

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Mini Chocolate-Hazelnut Cheesecakes

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Whole, cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies are broken up in a food processor with hazelnuts and butter to create a super-crunchy crust for these delectable little cheesecakes. The cream filling in the cookies both sweetens the crust and prevents it from becoming too crumbly.

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Sausage Potato Puffs

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Chef Maria Helm Sinskey has a strategy for parties: There should be a mix of baked, fried, and fresh hors d'oeuvres. Besides ensuring that guests don't overload on one kind of appetizer, she also avoids too much last-minute cooking. These tender potato puffs spiked with spicy sausages are one of her favorite oven-baked starters.

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