Mary Berry’s courgette frittata is a stovetop Italian omelette made with six eggs, thinly sliced courgettes and diced prosciutto. It cooks in olive oil for 10 minutes then finishes under the grill for 1-2 minutes, serves 4, and takes about 20 minutes.
Berry includes this in Cooking with Mary Berry (2016) as a breakfast and brunch recipe. It uses five ingredients and cooks in a single frying pan. She softens the courgettes gently in olive oil for 5 minutes “until just tender” before adding the eggs.
The technique that makes or breaks this is Berry’s way of setting the egg evenly. She says to “lift the frittata with a spatula and tilt the pan to allow the uncooked egg to run underneath.” Lift and tilt, don’t stir, or you’ll break up the courgettes.
Mary Berry Courgette Frittata
Course: BreakfastCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
servings5
minutes15
minutes270
kcalFrom Cooking with Mary Berry (2016), a five-ingredient stovetop frittata designed for quick breakfasts and brunches. Cooked entirely in a frying pan with a brief finish under the grill.
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
625g (1¼ lb) small courgettes, thinly sliced on a diagonal
6 large eggs
Salt and black pepper
60g (2 oz) prosciutto, diced
Shredded fresh basil or chopped flat-leaf parsley to garnish
Directions
- Cook the courgettes: Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the courgettes and cook gently for 5 minutes or until just tender.
- Add the eggs: Break the eggs into a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and beat with a fork. Add the prosciutto to the courgettes in the frying pan, then pour in the eggs.
- Set the base: Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. As the eggs set, lift the frittata with a spatula and tilt the pan to allow the uncooked egg to run underneath. Continue until almost set and the underside is golden brown.
- Finish under the grill: Place the frying pan under a hot grill, 10cm (4 in) from the heat, for 1-2 minutes until the top is a light golden brown colour and the egg is cooked through and quite firm when pressed.
- Serve: Cut the frittata into wedges and lightly garnish with shredded fresh basil or chopped parsley. Serve hot or cold.
FAQs
Why does Berry use diagonal-cut courgettes?
Cutting on the diagonal creates longer, wider slices that overlap beautifully in the frittata, giving each wedge a visible layer of green. Straight rounds are smaller and tend to sink into the egg. The diagonal cut also exposes more surface area to the hot oil, so the courgettes soften faster and more evenly in the 5-minute cooking time.
Berry specifies “small courgettes” because they have fewer seeds and less water than large ones. Large, mature courgettes release moisture as they cook, which can make the frittata watery. If you can only find big ones, halve them lengthways and scoop out the seedy centre before slicing.
How is this different from Berry’s oven-baked frittata?
Berry’s Summer Frittata in Cook Up a Feast (2010) bakes entirely in the oven in a springform tin, using potatoes and goat’s cheese with no stovetop cooking at all. This courgette version cooks on the hob and finishes under the grill, which is the more traditional Italian method.
The result is different too. The oven version is thicker, denser and designed to be sliced cold for picnics. This stovetop version is thinner, lighter and better served straight from the pan. Berry uses this one for breakfasts and brunches, while the oven version sits in her summer entertaining chapter.
Can I use the oven instead of the grill to finish?
If your frying pan isn’t grill-safe or your grill is temperamental, you can finish the frittata in a preheated oven at 200°C for 3-4 minutes. The grill is faster and browns the top more evenly, but the oven works if you give it a couple of extra minutes.
Make sure your frying pan handle is ovenproof. Berry doesn’t mention this, but plastic handles melt under a grill or in a hot oven. If in doubt, wrap the handle in a double layer of foil. I ruined a pan handle the first time I made a frittata because I didn’t check.
What can I use instead of prosciutto?
Berry uses prosciutto (Parma ham) for its thin, salty slices that crisp slightly when added to the hot pan. Sliced pancetta is the closest alternative because it has a similar salt level and crisps well. Regular bacon works if you fry it until crisp first and drain off the fat.
For a vegetarian version, leave the prosciutto out entirely and add sun-dried tomatoes or a handful of pitted olives instead. The courgettes and eggs carry enough flavour on their own. Berry’s crustless quiche from Simple Comforts uses bacon and spinach in the filling if you want a meatier egg bake.
Can I make this ahead?
Berry says to serve this “hot or cold,” so it holds up at room temperature for a few hours. She doesn’t give a specific prepare-ahead time for this recipe, but her oven-baked Summer Frittata can be made up to 8 hours ahead, and this one would keep similarly.
Neither of Berry’s frittatas is suitable for freezing: eggs go rubbery when frozen and reheated, and the courgettes would turn mushy. If you need to feed a crowd with something you can freeze, her Quiche Lorraine freezes for up to 2 months because the pastry and cream custard hold up better.
How much courgette is 625g?
That’s roughly four to five small courgettes, depending on size. Berry says “small” specifically, which in a British supermarket means about 12-15cm long and slim. You want enough to cover the base of a large frying pan in a single overlapping layer once sliced.
Don’t be tempted to reduce the amount because it looks like a lot. Courgettes lose volume as they cook, shrinking down to about half their raw size. If you use less, the frittata will be mostly egg with sparse vegetable. The generous courgette-to-egg ratio is what makes this a proper vegetable frittata rather than a plain omelette with a few slices in it.
