The Roll Up Omelet
Rolled Omelet - A step-by-step guide on how to make a rolled omelet packed with spinach and cheese. Perfect for a family-style brunch!
The Roll Up Omelet
Jump to RecipeWhen I first saw this Rolled Omelet recipe, I thought the same thing you are probably thinking which is, “That looks impossible.”
But the recipe looked so cool that I thought I would give it a shot. Turns out that my original thinking was correct. My first attempt was definitely a fail, but it was close enough that it gave me hope that the recipe was fixable and doable.
After a few minor recipe tweaks I had unbelievable success with this recipe! I was shocked by how well the Rolled Omelet turned out. It’s definitely easier than it looks to make and it’s perfect if you are feeding a crowd.
Let’s see how I messed this recipe up and how I fixed it!
Spinach Rolled Omelet
Ingredients
- 8 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 bunch spinach chopped
- 1 cup pepper jack cheese grated
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and milk. Crack in eggs and whisk well to combine until the mixture is a single consistency. Season eggs with a big pinch of salt and black pepper.
- Chop off any large stems from spinach and rinse well. Roughly chop spinach.
- In a large skillet, add a drizzle of olive oil and all the spinach over medium heat. Season spinach with a small pinch of salt and cook until spinach is wilted, about 2-3 minutes. Remove spinach from heat and let cool slightly.
- Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper. Press the parchment paper into the corners of the dish and make sure it wraps up the sides a bit. Pour eggs into the dish which should keep the parchment paper in place.
- Distribute wilted spinach over the top of the eggs and sprinkle with grated cheese. Don’t over-do it on the cheese.
- Bake omelet for 18-20 minutes, rotating it once halfway through, until the eggs in the center are just set. There shouldn’t be any liquid on top, but try to remove it from the oven before the eggs overcook and crack.
- Let omelet cool for a minute and then lift the parchment paper out of the baking dish. Fold down parchment paper edges and start rolling omelet.
- Roll omelet into a tight cylinder and then slice into 8-10 even pieces with a serrated knife. Serve immediately!
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make this?
Snap a photo and tag @macheesmo so I can see your work.
Rolled Omelet
The Egg Custard
Step one to this Rolled Omelet is the egg mixture. Just eggs won’t give the dish enough body to really stand up to the rolling process so it helps to add in some flour and milk. The first time I made this recipe, I used too much flour. I reduced it to about three tablespoons for my successful version which turned out to be just right.
Whisk together the flour and milk and then crack in your eggs.
Really whisk this mixture like crazy until it’s a single consistency. Then season the eggs with a big pinch of salt and pepper.
Now let’s talk about Rolled Omelet fillings.
Lots of Spinach
There are only two fillings for this omelet: spinach and cheese. These work well and I wouldn’t change them too much.
I used one big bunch of fresh, adult spinach and just chopped off the large stems on the spinach.
To wilt the spinach, add a drizzle of olive oil to a large skillet and the add the spinach over medium heat. Season with some salt and pepper and cook until the spinach is just wilted. It will reduce substantially.
Let the spinach cool before you try to make the omelet.
Making the Omelet
Ok. This is where I really messed up on round one of the Rolled Omelet, but here’s how to do it right.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper. It’s really important to use parchment paper or you’ll never get your eggs out in a single layer.
Be sure to use a single, large piece of parchment and wrap it up the edges of the dish. Pour in the egg mixture and make sure the eggs flow into the corners of the dish.
Now distribute the spinach and cheese over the entire dish. Don’t use too much cheese. A small amount will get the job done. I used about a cup of grated cheese.
Bake this sucker for 18-20 minutes, rotating it once halfway through. When it’s done the eggs should be just set in the center. You don’t want any liquid on the top of the omelet, but also try to take it out before the eggs overcook and start to crack.
This is perfect.
Let the omelet cool for a minute and then you should be able to lift out the parchment paper and fold it away from the cooked eggs.
Then, working while the eggs are still warm, just roll the omelet up! It should be pretty flexible and you should be able to get it in a nice, tight cylinder. Then slice the pieces using a serrated knife so they stay nice and clean.
The Mess Up
Ok. So that’s how to do it right.
I messed up my first Rolled Omelet by adding too much cheese and also letting the omelet cook and then adding the cheese. My idea was to have a filling of gooey cheese, but what really happened is that it just became a gooey mess.
See?
I did try a few slices of the mess up and knew that it was fixable. It had decent flavor, but I did think the eggs were a bit too firm so I reduced the flour and added a smaller amount of cheese at the beginning of the cooking instead of at the end so it baked into the eggs better.
The Fix
That did the trick for sure and I’m really happy with the finished version!
Have you ever made a rolled omelet like this?
If you were making omelets for six people, I guarantee you it’s easier to make one of these than six individual omelets!
This looks fantastic! A Hungarian restaurant near my parents does a similar dish — love it! Will need to give it a try at home some time!
Wow! Recipes like this are why I love you.
Ha! Thanks Jeannette. :)
This looks really good! I make omelette a few times a week here, so this is an easier alternative. Aside from adding loads of gooey cheese, do you think it would work with other fillings? We’re more of a meat crowd here.
Heya, I think you could add almost any filling honestly but I would keep it light. If you add to many fillings, it will become impossible to roll. You could easily do about a cup of sliced ham or something similar. Add it to the eggs before baking just like i did with the spinach. Should be awesome. :)
There’s a Japanese food called “tamagoyaki” that I’ve made that’s somewhat similar to this concept (I actually thought that’s what this post was going to be about just from looking at the photo, before I clicked it). The difference is that it’s usually made in a special square frying pan, although any old pan will do. Also it’s built up layer by layer so it’s a bit more tedious than this, though it does ensure every layer is cooked through. I think I’ll definitely try this as well , anything with eggs will definitely be delicious!
Absolutely. That’s a great classic dish and I consider this version to be a bit of a cheater’s version of that dish. Tamagoyaki is actually kind of complicated to get right… if you’ve seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi, you’ll know that it can be the bane of many sushi chefs. ;) I leave that one to the experts!
The Koreans have a similar dish as well, constructed just like the Japanese version as mentioned by @Anne.
Way cool looking, will try to make it for two.
Hey Cindy, you should be able to half the recipe and bake it in an 8×8 baking dish. Normally that math will work out well. Good luck!
Very nice. Thanks for doing all the legwork and telling us how we can do it right the first time :)
Hi,
I love spinach it’s my favourite. In Spain we eat lots of Omelet. But we don’t roll them, this is nice and easy. Love it.
Could I use goats cheese?
Thank you for explaining how to do it right, :-)
Hey Loli, certainly! I think goat cheese would work fantastic. Good luck!
First of all, let me say that I REALLY enjoy your site…..I have been following you for awhile now, and I am never disappointed with the recipes I have tried, and the full instructions that come along with them! …..I LOVE putting my own twists to some recipes, and YOURS always inspire me!….My tag line has always been, “A recipe is nothing more than a springboard for your imagination….so, have fun with it”!……That being said, I will be making this rolled omelet tonight, and will try using some pepper jack cheese. I would like to TRY using the Egg Beaters, Southwestern Style egg product. Do you think it will work, being that the liquid is 86% egg whites? Do you think I might need to add a little more flour, or add a regular egg to the mix to compensate? I will also make one using spinach, feta cheese and scallions.
Do you think these slices could be frozen?…….Looking forward to your answer!
Hey Chun! Thanks for reading… I think the egg beaters would work, but I would add an extra tablespoon of flour to firm it up a bit more. Not positve, but I think you should get okay results with it. On the freezing, they will freeze decently I think. Make sure to cool them off completely and wrap them as tightly as possible.
Good luck!
Hi, Nick! Just hopped on to say, that I made the Rolled Omelet last night, and it turned out PERFECTLY! I did play with it a bit, by using the Egg Beaters Southwestern Style liquid, instead of whole eggs…..and I increased the amount to the equivalent of 12 eggs, instead of 8. I followed your suggestion, and added another Tablespoon of flour (on the heavy side). I also used the parchment paper, but lightly sprayed it with Pam, and I poured the egg mixture into a half sheet pan, instead of a 9×13…..I cooked it for 12 minutes, and it was perfect!!! ……………….a HUGE HIT with everyone! In fact, the ONLY thing I was disappointed with was, that there wasn’t ANY left to wrap and put into the freezer! GREAT recipe! This will absolutely be a keeper!
Awesome Chun! Glad it worked out. :) Cheers!
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This is great! My work is going on a professional development retreat this week (Mon – Wed) and I’m responsible for one breakfast for 12. Think I’ll make this tonight (Sun) and hope it reheats nicely for Tues morning. Thanks!!
Hi we loved this omelet.. I dont think Iet it cool enough so it fell apart a little
Nick… is it possible to add nutrition info or calories to your recipes?
Yea… it’s kind of a tricky rolling situation. It took me two times to get it right also. There’s a fine point between rollable and perfect or slightly undercooked or overcooked and impossible to roll… Sounds like you got it close enough though! I don’t really have the manpower to add nutritional info to my site, but there are a TON of great online calculators and you can just copy in the ingredients and they will spit out the info for ya. I think My FitnessPal has a really solid one:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
Hi, Nick – your 2014-end-of-year post said, “I’m not really sure how many people actually tried this recipe, but people loved to look at it!” I made your spinach cheese roll-up omelet for a brunch and it was delicious, plus it had that all-important WOW factor for stunning appearance and plate appeal. When my husband Eric really loves something I make, he gives it his highest compliment, “This is a restaurant-quality dish.” Your roll-up omelet make the grade.
Congratulations to you and Betsy on your soon-to-be-bundle-of-joy!
Awesome Laurie! I’ll take restaurant quality for sure. :) Thanks for the comment!
I made this for my cooking club. Only last-minute I found out I was out of flour, so I used 3 tbsp of Buckwheat pancake mix instead, and I used goat cheese instead of regular cheese, but it turned out beautifully!
Hi Nick,
Just finding this recipe and thinking of making it for Easter Brunch.
Do you have experience making it ahead of time? Like an hour before company arrives? I like to enjoy the crowd and have most of the work done before they arrive.
Gluten-and cow dairy free!
I used non-fat goat milk and 2 slices of cheddar style goat cheese crumbled. I substituted King Arthur’s gluten free flour for the reg. flour. I didn’t wait long enough to roll it and it cracked a little. When I waited a little longer, it seemed to hold it’s shape better.
Wow! I was very happy with my results. It looks just like yours and tastes great. (I didn’t try it but I think it would taste great sprinkled with dry basil and will try it next time) Did anyone freeze it to serve a couple of days later? How did it turn out?