If you are planning breakfast for a crowd, a breakfast strata is the way to go - make it the night before and just bake in the morning.
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What is a Breakfast Strata?
A breakfast strata is a layered casserole of bread, eggs and cheese, along with other flavorful ingredients. It’s similar to a bread pudding, but a strata generally has a higher egg to liquid ratio, making it a traditional breakfast or brunch dish. A strata does require soaking time before you bake it and that makes it a perfect make ahead breakfast item. You can make it the night before, let it rest in the fridge and then all you have to do is pop it into the oven in the morning.
Strata Fillings and Flavors
One of the nice features of a strata is how versatile it is with respect to the ingredients and flavors you put inside. It can be savory, like this breakfast strata with sausage, spinach, roasted red peppers and Gruyère cheese, or you could make a sweet strata with fruit, cinnamon sugar and cream cheese. It’s a great way to use up what you have in the refrigerator. You could use the custard with any number of different fillings AND different breads. Here I used a whole wheat sourdough bread, but you could use brioche, Italian bread, baguette, or even cinnamon raisin bread or a Christmas pannetone if you are making a sweet version.
Overnight Breakfast Casserole
The soaking is important to a strata. Letting the bread really soak up the egg and milk custard is what makes the strata creamy inside once it’s baked. I never see the soaking time required by this recipe as a negative. To me, soaking the casserole overnight gives this dish a level of convenience, although it does require thinking in advance. But since a strata is a special occasion breakfast, not a seat-of-your-pants breakfast, you’ve probably planned to have it in advance anyway.
How to Build a Strata
Building a strata is as simple as layering the bread, the filling, the cheese and then pouring the custard on. Do this two or three times and your strata is ready for its rest. The one tip I have for you when building the strata is to spread all the layers as evenly as possible so that the casserole bakes and rises (and eventually falls) evenly. That means you need to make sure your bread reaches into all the corners of the pan. If you’re using square bread slices, this is relatively easy. If, however, you are using oval slices as above, make sure to cut some pieces to fill the gaps. If the bread goes all the way into the corners and the other layers are spread evenly over top, every piece is just as good as the others.
How Long to Soak and How Long to Bake
Soaking the breakfast strata takes at least 6 hours, but a full 12 hours is probably more convenient and gives you a creamier result. Do make sure to leave the strata out on the counter while the oven pre-heats and then bake it for about an hour, covered for part of the time, or a little longer until it has browned nicely on top and the egg has set in the very center. It will be puffy when you take it out of the oven, but it will sink pretty rapidly. Not to worry, it will be just as tasty.
What to Serve with a Breakfast Strata
You can serve the breakfast strata right out of the oven, or you can let it cool to room temperature, making it perfect for those occasions when people come down to breakfast at staggered times. It could be part of a brunch with other offerings like a winter fruit salad, and some ham and Cheddar grits, or you could serve it with some buttermilk biscuits or a slice of no knead bread and a simple little side salad. Whatever you decide to serve along with the strata can certainly be made while it’s in the oven baking. You’ll have time on your hands.
Sausage and Spinach Breakfast Strata
Nutrition InfoPrint Recipe
- Prep Time: 30 m
- Cook Time: 1 h 10 m
- Resting Time: 8 h
- Total Time: 9 h 40 m
- Servings:
8
Ingredients
- 12 ounces breakfast sausage
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 small onion thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
- ½ cup roasted red bell peppers cut into 1–inch strips
- 5 ounces fresh baby spinach
- 9 eggs
- 2½ cups half-and-half
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (1-pound) loaf artisan or sourdough bread sliced ½-inch thick
- 2 cups grated Gruyère cheese or Swiss cheese (about 6 ounces)
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Generously grease a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan or casserole with butter.
Remove the sausage from its casing. Pre-heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage to the skillet, breaking it up into pieces, and cook until it is no longer pink. Drain away all but 1 teaspoon of the sausage grease.
Add the butter to the pan, along with the onion and sauté the onion until it is lightly browned. Stir in the dried sage, roasted red pepper and spinach and sauté until the spinach has wilted. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Whisk the eggs, half and half, Dijon mustard, salt and freshly ground black pepper together in a bowl and set aside.
- Arrange half the bread slices in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Top the bread with half of the sausage and spinach mixture. Sprinkle half of the Gruyère and Parmesan cheeses over the sausage layer. Pour half of the egg mixture over the bread, pouring evenly to coat as much as possible. Repeat the layers with the other half of the ingredients and pour the rest of the egg mixture evenly overtop. Push down on the ingredients lightly to make sure the bread is submerged in the liquid. Cover and refrigerate for at least eight hours to overnight.
Remove the baking pan from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 25 to 35 minutes until the strata has puffed up and is set in the middle.
- Let the breakfast strata rest for 15 minutes before cutting into portions and serving.
Enjoy,
If you made this recipe, please add your comments and ratings below.
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Nutrition Facts
Sausage and Spinach Breakfast Strata
Amount Per Serving
Calories 650Calories from Fat 360
% Daily Value*
Fat 40g62%
Saturated Fat 19g95%
Trans Fat 1g
Cholesterol 288mg96%
Sodium 1308mg55%
Potassium 513mg15%
Carbohydrates 38g13%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 35g70%
Vitamin A 2686IU54%
Vitamin C 11mg13%
Calcium 565mg57%
Iron 4mg22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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Comments (4)Post a Reply
This strata received rave reviews from everyone at the table! It’s definitely a keeper, and we’ll be making it again, and again. Made it exactly per the recipe and it baked to perfection in the time given. Thank you for a great recipe.
Reply
Was wondering if you could make your Sausage and Spinach Breakfast Strata with hash browns instead of bread.
Reply
Well, you could make a breakfast casserole with hash browns but it would not be a strata. You could try it, but you might not need as much of the egg mixture because the potatoes will not absorb the liquid like the bread would.
Reply
This was very good and times were spot on, but I found it just a tad bland and missing something, I think if I make it again I will add a clove of garlic and maybe some chopped sun-dried tomatoes and chives to kick it up a notch.Reply
