Back to top
Home | Holiday Brunch and Breakfast Egg Casserole

Holiday Brunch and Breakfast Egg Casserole

Breakfast casseroleWith the holidays and their houseguests nearly upon us, this easy and delicious egg-based casserole is a terrific idea for breakfast or brunch, especially if you're trying to feed family and guests. Inspired by a dish served for breakfast at the Gunn House hotel in the Gold Country town of Sonora, this casserole can be scaled up or down to feed as many people as you need to (this recipe serves about 8).

The best thing about it is that you can vary the ingredients depending on what you have on hand or what sounds good to you. (At the Gunn House they added artichoke hearts and cream cheese as an impromptu variation.)

Make sure you prepare the casserole the day before and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight, as per the directions. While you can make it and cook it immediately, it really turns out much better if it sits overnight. The great thing about this is all you need to do is pop it in the oven in the morning! This dish is great as part of a holiday brunch buffet. It's rich and filling, so a little bit goes a long way.

Ingredients

  • 12 large eggs
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • Half a loaf of sourdough bread, cubed
  • 1/2 pound ham or sausage, diced
  • 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

Breakfast casseroleLayer the bottom of a casserole dish with the cubed bread. We always use leftover sourdough bread, but any kind of sturdy white bread can be used. Stale bread is perfectly OK to use, too. (Heavy, hearty whole wheat bread is not recommended for this recipe.)

Top bread with meat and shredded cheese. This is where you can start to get creative with different kinds of meats, vegetables, and cheeses: roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, and green onions are all great additions. In the version that we made for this recipe, we used some locally made breakfast sausage, but it's equally fantastic with diced ham, smoked chicken apple sausage, a sprinkling of crisp crumbled bacon, or even no meat at all. We used sharp cheddar cheese because that's what we had in the refrigerator, but gouda, Monterey jack, and fontina are all equally good substitutes.

Now whisk eggs and milk together in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Pour egg and milk mixture over the ingredients in the casserole dish. Cover and put it in the refrigerator to rest until the morning.

When you're ready for breakfast, remove the casserole from the refrigerator and uncover and preheat the oven to 350º. Bake casserole for 30 minutes or until top is golden and bubbly and eggs are set. Let cool for a few minutes, then cut into squares and serve.