Fridge Bottom Frittata – My Favourite Way to Use Up Leftovers....

I first shared my fridge bottom frittata way back in 2013 and it’s one of those things that I’m still making all these years later.

The idea is exactly what it sounds like – have a look through the fridge, see what needs using up and turn it into a frittata rather than letting anything go to waste. There’s no real recipe because the whole point is to use what you already have rather than going out and buying specific ingredients.

My original fridge bottom frittata had leftover cooked potatoes and broccoli, some ham, a couple of tomatoes that were past their best and some grated cheese. I cooked that version in the slow cooker, but these days I’m much more likely to make one in the oven.

And today’s version is probably an even better example of a fridge bottom frittata because it really was made up as I went along.

I started with some bacon pieces that I’d bought yellow stickered and stashed in the freezer. I also had some sliced mushrooms in there that I’d bought from the pizza section in Morrisons. They randomly sell full bags of pizza toppings sometimes and they’re brilliant for freezing – I can just grab a handful of mushrooms out whenever I need them.

I was making mini roasties for tea, so I deliberately made extra and kept some back for the frittata. I also had some tomatoes from my wild little patch of self-seeded tomato plants in the garden.

And then, just as I thought I had everything sorted, I found a few slices of chorizo lurking in the fridge, so they went in too. 😂

That’s exactly why I love this kind of recipe.

What can you put in a fridge bottom frittata?

Pretty much anything within reason!

Leftover cooked potatoes and roasties are perfect, as are cooked vegetables like broccoli, peppers, spinach and courgette. Mushrooms and tomatoes work really well too.

For meat, you could use leftover ham, chicken or sausage, or things like bacon and chorizo. Just make sure anything that needs to be cooked is cooked before it goes into your frittata.

It’s also a great way to use up those random bits of cheese that seem to collect in the fridge. Cheddar, feta, mozzarella, goat’s cheese or pretty much whatever you have can all work.

If you’re using anything particularly watery, it’s worth getting rid of as much excess moisture as you can before adding it. Things like mushrooms, spinach and courgettes can release quite a lot of water and you don’t want that making your frittata soggy.

The basic fridge bottom frittata formula

You absolutely don’t need to follow an exact recipe for a fridge bottom frittata, but if you’ve never made one before then it can be helpful to have some rough proportions to start with.

A good basic ratio is:

6 large eggs

60ml milk or cream

1–2 cups of cooked, chopped fillings

Around ½ cup of grated or crumbled cheese

Salt and pepper to season

That’s your starting point and then you can adapt it depending on what you have.

For mine, the fillings were a mixture of bacon pieces, sliced mushrooms, chopped chorizo, leftover mini roasties and some of my homegrown tomatoes. I used grated cheese on top and seasoned the egg mixture with salt and pepper.

If you’ve got more leftovers to use, you can make a bigger frittata – just increase the eggs and dairy so there’s enough mixture to work its way around everything and hold it all together.

How to make an oven-baked fridge bottom frittata

Preheat your oven to 180°C fan and lightly grease an ovenproof dish.

Anything that needs cooking should be cooked before it goes into the frittata. For mine, I cooked the bacon, mushrooms and chopped chorizo first. The mini roasties were already cooked because I’d deliberately made extra, so they could go straight into the dish.

Add your fillings to the ovenproof dish and spread them out reasonably evenly so you get a bit of everything in each slice.

Beat the eggs and milk or cream together in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and pour the mixture over your fillings. Give the dish a little shake to help the egg mixture find its way into all the gaps.

Sprinkle your cheese over the top and bake for around 20–25 minutes, or until the egg is set in the middle and the top is starting to turn golden.

Leave it to sit for a few minutes before cutting it into slices.

You really don’t need to follow my recipe

I know I’ve just given you the ingredients I used, but please don’t go out and buy bacon, mushrooms, chorizo, potatoes and tomatoes specifically to make this.

Have a rummage through your own fridge instead.

If you’ve got half a pepper, use that. Three lonely cooked potatoes from yesterday’s tea? Get them in. A bit of ham that needs eating? Perfect. A handful of grated cheese, some leftover chicken or a couple of mushrooms that have seen better days can all go in.

The basic proportions above are there to give you somewhere to start, but the fillings should be whatever you have that needs using.

That’s the whole point of a fridge bottom frittata.

Can you eat frittata cold?

Absolutely, and that’s one of the reasons it’s such a useful thing to make.

It’s lovely warm for tea with some salad, but once it’s cooled you can keep it in the fridge and have it cold for lunch the next day. It’s also great for packed lunches, especially if you cut it into individual portions ready to grab from the fridge.

Can you freeze frittata?

You can freeze frittata, although the texture of the egg can change slightly after it’s been frozen and defrosted.

I like to let mine cool completely, cut it into individual portions and freeze them separately. That means I can just take out one portion when I want an easy lunch rather than having to defrost the whole thing.

I’d defrost it overnight in the fridge and then either eat it cold or reheat it thoroughly until it’s piping hot.

Still saving leftovers after all these years…

When I first wrote about my fridge bottom frittata back in 2013, I don’t think I expected to still be making versions of it more than a decade later.

But that’s probably the best recommendation I can give it.

This one used yellow-stickered bacon from my freezer, mushrooms I’d frozen after finding them in the Morrisons pizza section, roast potatoes I’d deliberately made extra of, tomatoes from plants that somehow planted themselves in my garden and a few slices of chorizo I found lurking in the fridge.

The one I first shared is this one which was made with leftover gammon, potatoes, broccoli and some tomato slices…