Crisp sourdough, creamy ricotta, a softly cooked egg and plenty of basil pesto make this a breakfast that feels a little special without requiring much work.
The eggs and ricotta provide protein, the sourdough gives the plate substance, and pesto brings herbs, richness and enough flavor that breakfast does not need twelve ingredients to be interesting. Add tomatoes or greens on the side and you have an easy, satisfying MW&B breakfast built from real food.
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 13 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 large slices sourdough bread, about 2 oz or 55–60 g each
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons basil pesto
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, only if needed for the pan
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Small pinch of sea salt
- Squeeze of fresh lemon juice, optional
- Chopped fresh basil, parsley or chives, optional
Method
1. Toast the sourdough
Toast the bread until golden and crisp around the edges.
Do not under-toast it. There is a soft egg, ricotta and pesto going on top, so the bread needs enough structure to hold everything without turning into a wet sponge.
2. Prepare the ricotta
Place the ricotta in a small bowl with a pinch of sea salt and several turns of black pepper.
Add a small squeeze of lemon juice, if using, and stir vigorously until creamy. For an even lighter texture, whip it for 30 to 60 seconds with a small whisk or fork.
Spread half of the ricotta over each slice of toast.
3. Cook the pesto eggs
Heat a nonstick skillet over low to medium heat.
Add the pesto and warm it gently for about 20 seconds.
Crack the eggs directly into the pesto. Cook gently until the whites are set and the yolks are cooked to your liking.
Pesto contains oil, herbs, nuts and cheese, depending on the recipe or brand, so moderate heat is the better choice here. Commercial basil pesto can also be quite concentrated in fat and sodium, which is why one tablespoon per serving is plenty. For example, Barilla’s Pesto alla Genovese lists about 47 g fat and 3.2 g salt per 100 g.
4. Build the toast
Place one pesto egg over each slice of ricotta-covered sourdough.
Spoon any remaining pesto from the pan over the eggs.
5. Finish
Scatter with red pepper flakes, freshly ground black pepper and chopped herbs, if using.
Serve immediately.
MW&B Why This Fits
Real Food First
Eggs, sourdough, ricotta, basil pesto and fresh herbs keep the ingredient list simple and recognizable.
Protein Matters
One egg plus ¼ cup ricotta and a substantial slice of sourdough gives each serving approximately 18 g protein. That makes this a solid breakfast, although it is not quite as protein-rich as the original 20 g estimate suggested. Ricotta itself provides about 7.5 g protein per 100 g, while a large egg provides roughly 6 g.
Plants Add Flavor
Basil pesto, fresh herbs, chili and optional lemon contribute plant ingredients, but I would not describe this as a truly plant-forward breakfast on its own. Adding tomatoes, arugula or berries on the side rounds out the plate.
Fat Quality Matters
Pesto commonly contains vegetable oils, nuts and extra virgin olive oil, which contribute unsaturated fats, while the ricotta and egg also contribute saturated fat. The American Heart Association recommends emphasizing unsaturated fats in place of excess saturated fat as part of an overall healthy dietary pattern.
Balanced Breakfast
The sourdough supplies carbohydrate, while the egg and ricotta add protein and fat. That combination makes this a more complete breakfast than toast on its own without needing to make unsupported promises about what it will do to someone’s blood sugar.
Flavor Is Compliance
Crisp bread, creamy ricotta, runny yolk, basil pesto and chili flakes hit creamy, crunchy, savory and spicy in one bite. If healthy food tastes like something you genuinely want again tomorrow, we are getting somewhere.
Nutritional Breakdown
Approximate per serving, using ricotta rather than cottage cheese and no additional olive oil
| Nutrient | Approx. per serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | ~410 kcal |
| Protein | ~18 g |
| Carbohydrates | ~38 g |
| Fiber | ~2 g |
| Total Fat | ~20 g |
| Saturated Fat | ~7 g |
| Total Sugar | ~4 g |
| Added Sugar | 0–2 g |
| Sodium | ~650–700 mg |
How I calculated it
For each serving I assumed approximately:
- 60 g sourdough: ~163 calories
- 1 large egg: ~78 calories
- ¼ cup/approximately 62 g whole-milk ricotta: ~93 calories
- 1 tablespoon/approximately 15 g basil pesto: ~74 calories
That produces roughly 408 calories before tiny contributions from herbs, lemon and spices, which I would sensibly round to about 410 calories. USDA-linked sourdough and ricotta data and a representative commercial pesto support those estimates.
I cannot confirm the exact nutrition without the actual bread, ricotta and pesto brands and the weight of each slice of bread. Sodium in particular can shift considerably because sourdough and pesto can both contain meaningful amounts of salt. Generic USDA sourdough contains about 602 mg sodium per 100 g, while the Barilla pesto example contains 3.2 g salt per 100 g.
Also, if you substitute cottage cheese for ricotta, recalculate the nutrition rather than using this table. Cottage cheese can substantially change the protein, calories and sodium.
Chef Mark’s Tip
Keep the heat under control when you cook the eggs in the pesto.
The goal is to gently warm the pesto and use its oil to cook the eggs, not fry the herbs and cheese into submission. Moderate heat keeps the pesto fragrant while giving the egg white time to set without turning the yolk hard.
And get the sourdough properly toasted. Creamy ricotta and a soft egg need something crisp underneath them.
A note about soft yolks
The photograph and recipe call for a soft yolk. FDA guidance for maximum food safety is to cook eggs until both the white and yolk are firm. Anyone choosing lightly cooked eggs, particularly pregnant people, older adults, young children or people with weakened immune systems, should consider pasteurized shell eggs.
MW&B Serving Suggestion
Serve each toast with a handful of arugula and sliced tomatoes dressed with lemon, or add berries on the side.
For more protein, the easiest option is a second egg per person. That adds roughly another 6 g of protein.
You could also replace the ricotta with cottage cheese if you want a higher-protein version, but treat that as a separate nutrition calculation rather than pretending dairy products are nutritionally interchangeable. Food labels would never allow life to be quite that convenient.
Crisp sourdough. Creamy ricotta. Pesto. Egg. Real ingredients and enough flavor to make breakfast worth repeating.
