Fluffy, soft scrambled eggs are given a filling boost with perfectly al dente macaroni noodles in these Peppery Scrambled Macaroni & Eggs! Pasta for breakfast might sound strange, but this much loved Great Depression era recipe has been passed down through generations of family because of how delicious it is!
Savory breakfasts are so good! Some other favorites you will love are Best Homemade Biscuits and Gravy, Breakfast Burritos, and Easy Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole!
When it comes to breakfast at our house, these peppery scrambled macaroni & eggs is the hands down favorite, despite how weird it sounds to have pasta cooked with eggs for breakfast.
But I grew up with macaroni & eggs as a part of our regular breakfast rotation, always served with baking powder biscuits and raspberry freezer jam, and it’s still what I ask my mom to make whenever I’m back at home visiting, even though I’m perfectly capable of making it myself.
My girls have done me proud and decided that this is their favorite breakfast as well and they always ask for second, and sometimes third, helpings whenever I make it for them, which is frequently since they request at least once a week.
The story behind this unusual pairing is that during the Great Depression, my great-grandparents lost their ranch because they were unable to pay taxes on the land.
With 9 children to feed, including my grandma Vivian who came along after six older brothers had already been born, and limited financial means, they combined inexpensive macaroni noodles with the eggs that their chickens would lay in order to create a hearty, filling meal that could stretch pretty far to feed the large family.
My grandma then made this for her children, including my mom who was 3rd of 5, my mom made it for me and my siblings, and now I’m making it for my girls.
And if you were to come stay at our house, I’d be making it for you too. Seriously, you can better believe you would be eating macaroni & eggs because it’s my favorite and it’s not like you will find it anywhere else!
This is one of those recipes where I had never actually measured or kept track of how many eggs or how much pasta was going into it before I decided to share it on the blog.
The real trick is figuring out the right ratio of eggs to macaroni. Since you scramble the cooked noodles with the eggs, it might seem like too many eggs and not enough pasta at first. But the pasta will absorb some of the eggs as they cook.
Make sure you don’t overcook your eggs while you are scrambling them. Take them off the heat just before they are completely set and the hot eggs and residual heat of the pan will finish cooking them for you before you get everything on the table.
And I always serve these with the peppermill on the table because I love to crack extra pepper over my macaroni & eggs.
Go on and give these peppery scrambled macaroni & eggs a try! They just might be your new favorite breakfast too!
More Breakfast Recipes You’ll Love
- Make-Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches
- Easy, Ultimate Breakfast Frittata
- Smoked Salmon Scrambled Eggs
- How to Make the BEST French Toast
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Peppery Scrambled Macaroni & Eggs
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dry elbow macaroni noodles
- 10 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the macaroni noodles according to package directions in a small pot of salted, boiling water until al dente. Drain.
- While the pasta is cooking, crack the eggs into a large bowl and add the milk, salt and pepper. Beat well with a fork or whisk.
- In a large, non-stick skillet, combine the eggs and the cooked, drained macaroni over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally with a spatula to scramble the eggs.
- Just before the eggs are completely set, remove from heat and allow them to finish cooking with the residual heat of the pan. Sprinkle with additional pepper, if desired, and serve immediately.
This is such an unusual recipe and I love your story behind it. It reminds me of how my mom used to make green beans and eggs for dinner which is very similar to your recipe as it’s essentially scrambled eggs with steamed green beans. The photos of this dish are amazing!
Thanks, Julia! Eggs are really so versatile, I’m sure many families have taken their own special twist on them over the years!
What a unique recipe. It’s so great to have a family favourite that stands the test f time. I’m sure your Great Grandmother would be delighted to learn her family are still enjoying her creation.
Pasta for breakfast! This has been the most interesting thing I’ve seen all week, maybe even longer! I cannot wait to try this Saturday morning!
Lol – I know, it’s such an unusual thing to have pasta for breakfast, but I promise it’s delicious!
I like the creativity your family had in creating a recipe that would stretch and be filling during tough times. But, it’s also tasty and used today. Looks delicious!
Her family didn’t create this. This was a very common meal in the old days. I’ve been making it for years. I love it for a light dinner in summer. It’s not exclusively for breakfast.
Whoa! I didn’t see that coming. At first the title confused me, but after reading the post, I said “Why not.” This sounds like it could become a family favorite. My husband would want to know where the cheese was. 🙂
I know! That’s what everybody always automatically thinks!
What a fun combination! This looks like perfect comfort food!
This recipe caught my eye on pinterest, I love pasta and having it for breakfast/brunch made so much sense.
It is just the best recipe!!! Everything you need for breakfast but so much better than normal breakfast fare!
I serve it with crispy bacon…..so good!
Thank you for sharing x
This recipe looks really delicious! I like that it can be cooked fast and easy! This is the perfect breakfast for me and my family. I definitely want to try this! Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
Looks so delicious! I’m sure my kids would love this too.
What a great twist on a couple of classics!
I just love recipes handed down generations and still be a favorite ! Have to admit I would never have thought a breakfast like this even existed. Thanks for sharing and I’m making this soon for my family 🙂
I was thinking Of something different for breakfasts do realized I hadcookrd some Mac for later snacking& then thought of Mac n’eggs so I decided to try itt. While eating me new finding I thought of “googling” it , that is when I found your article, talk about busting my bubble, hahaha, but,it is FANTASTIC!!!! Thank You!!!!
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Lol! That’s a great story, Keith! I’m SO glad to hear that somebody else is eating macaroni & eggs! It’s the BEST!
This is a favorite in my house too! My grandmother always made it for a quick dinner, especially on Friday’s during lent. My kids friends always look at them crazy when they talk about their favorite dish lol.
I love that it’s a family favorite at your home as well! It’s such an unusual sounding dish but so well-loved by those of us who grew up with it!
Oh my gosh, just Googked the egg macaroni combo as we grew up eating it often but never was able to get it right. Cant wait to try your version. I just remember yhe egg sticking to the pasta but am sure there were kess eggs used. Thanks for giving me a lead! I so remember my mom and aunt talking about trading their allotments to get by.
It’s funny that my daughter, grandkids and I were talking about this the other day. I was raised on it and my children ate it growing up and she made it for her kids too. I thought I’d go online and see if there were any recipes for it. I wonder where it originated. I’m from Pennsylvania and when I ask friends it they ever had it they think I’m weird. Thank you for the recipe.
You are very welcome! Always fun to hear from someone else whose family loves this as much as ours does!
Well…. in the Caribbean in my family we ate Mac and eggs as well although not for breakfast. We’d have it as lunch or dinner. No one makes it anymore but suddenly I have a craving for it and thought I’d do a search to find out if this was a thing or just in my family.
So interesting that your family made this in a different part of the world! We love this dish!
My mom made this for me growing up as well, and I make it for my husband and kids all the time. The beauty is, if you over cook the macaroni, it will soak up the eggs and become firm again!
I love hearing from people who grew up enjoying this as well!
Omg I cannot believe I found this?! I’m mid40s and my mother’s family has been making a version of this for generations. The story is similar, large depression era family on a farm, using what they had. We all love it and have passed it to our children! The only difference is in our version we lightly pan fry the cooked noodles and then pour in the eggs so the noodles have slightly crispy bits. And then we serve for dinner … or lunch … or whenever! Amazing because we have never known a single person outside our family who’s had this!
Your great grandma didn’t invent that , we ate it and still do , it’s a German dish actually .how can you act like she created this , everyone ate it in the 30s and your house isn’t the only place to find it 😂😂😂😂😂tru squirting a little mustard on it
In Poland it’s eaten as well and it’s really common (we fry onions first, add eggs after) but I don’t think it’s German or Polish dish either. I think people just changed the recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara adding eggs only because at the time cheese and especially meats wasn’t easy to have.
Come on all you people saying “your grandma didn’t invent this”…in her house, she did! There was no Google or Pintrest or Allrecipes back then. It was something she had never made, then decided to try it, thus for her family, she invented something they had never had before. There is nothing new under the sun…and people come up with the same ideas without being taught…just leave it alone, have something nice to say or don’t say anything at all. BTW, I did not invent that saying.
I grew up eating this dish as well and it is still favorite meal. I taught my dorm mates how to cook it in college and I remember no one had ever heard of it. It got a ton of requests, (especially late night after the cafeteria was closed!) In the two decades since college I have tweaked it a few different ways–sometimes I add a dash of cumin or tarragon, and to make it into a dinnertime meal I sometimes add diced kielbasa. My grandmother survived the Great Depression as well. So cool to hear how this recipe came about Thanks for sharing!
P.S. In our family we call it “Little Eggs and Macaroni”
I love hearing from readers who love this too! I’m going to have to try it with tarragon now! And kielbasa!
I grew up with this only we used spaghetti leftover from dinner the night before. We cooked extra spaghetti noodles so we could have this for lunch. We called it egg mess. I still make it for myself.
I grew up on this recipe too! Mostly the night following a “traditional” pasta dinner. My mother had the greatest way of disguising leftovers. But her version was made with wide egg noodles slightly fried in the pan before the eggs went in. Truly a favorite at my house! Thank you for sharing 😊
I tried this out for dinner because of my shrinking shelter-in-place pantry – delicious! I didn’t have milk so I substituted plenty of butter – and I added lots and lots of garlic! I’m supposed to save the rest for breakfast tomorrow….something tells me I’m not going to be able to hold back. Thanks for sharing!
My mom made this for us for dinner. 7 kids required stretching food when there was no meat. Only difference was adding butter to make a creamy texture. Lots of salt & pepper Another breakfast was sliced fried hotdogs mixed in scrambled eggs
I love hearing from readers who love this dish as much as we do! I haven’t tried the fried hotdogs in scrambled eggs but it sure sounds good to me!
Omg! I grew up eating this too!! I thought we were the only ones! Even here in the Midwest I’ve never found another family who eats it. My mother (75) grew up with it, we loved it growing up and I’ve ensured my kids also love it. Only difference is, we brown the noodles a little before tossing the eggs in. Good for any meal, any day, anytime!
I sometimes brown the noodles a bit before adding the eggs too! So fun to find that other families love this as much as we do!