How To make The Best Breakfast Strata (2024)

Learn how to make one of the best breakfast strata casseroles. This fluffy strata recipe is an easy and versatile egg dish perfect for breakfast, brunch, and family gatherings.

It is an ideal make-ahead dish, especially during the holidays. Prepare it the night before, and pop it in the oven the next morning for a special quick, and delicious breakfast that feeds a crowd.

What is a Strata?

Strata is a savory breakfast or brunch casserole prepared the night before and baked the following day. The basic ingredients are bread (lots of it), a custard made with eggs and milk, or eggs and cream and cheese. Meats like bacon, ham, salami, or other cold cuts and vegetables are also part of the dish.

It is an American layered egg casserole dish, very easy to make, and highly suitable for a hearty breakfast or brunch.

This egg dish is perfect for feeding a house full of guests and if you want to prepare something simple and delicious that doesn't require a lot of time in the kitchen.

You can put the strata together before you go to bed. The next morning you just have to remove it from the fridge and bake it, which is a very unstressful way of having people over. Just like my Cheesy Ham Hash Brown Egg Casserole, this dish is easy and hearty with minimum work involved.

Strata is usually made with stale bread that is layered together with anything you have in the fridge. This is the beauty of it. You can make it with whatever you want.

The liquid base is usually milk and eggs, but I saw recipes that use sour cream and eggs instead. I personally like the strata with sour cream instead of milk.

However, if you make it with sour cream, the texture will be a little bit different, just more "egg-ish" than the one made with milk.

This dish is perfect for Christmas, Easter, any brunch that involves guests, or anytime you have people out of town visiting your house.

Equipment

• Baking dish: for 4-6 people, you might need an 8x8x2 inches baking dish. For more than 6-8 people, you might need a 13x9 inches dish.
• Knife
• Cutting board
• Mixing bowls

Ingredients

Bread- Any bread will do. I like a French baguette, sourdough, French loaf, and artisan bread, but even gluten-free would work.

I like to cut the bread into chunks and leave it covered in a bowl on the kitchen counter for the day. This is how I ensure the bread is dry and ready to absorb the milk(or the sour cream) and the eggs.

If you don't have stale bread, then use a fresh one, but cut the bread into chunks, or just break it into pieces, place it on a baking pan, then in the oven at 350F for 5-7 minutes until the chunks are crisp on the outside but not completely dry.

When cool, measure the bread and make sure it fits in the baking dish you want to use. To serve 4-6 people, you will need about 4-5 cups of cubed bread.

Liquid base: As I said before, the traditional strata is made with milk and eggs, but the sour cream and eggs combination is perfectly acceptable. I like the sour cream. I also use it when I make quiche.

Note on using the sour cream instead of milk: A strata is baked for about 40-45 minutes if made with milk. If you use sour cream with eggs instead, reduce the amount of baking to only 30-35 minutes, as there is not a lot of liquid in the pan to evaporate.

You can flavor the liquid base the way you want it. A good start would be salt and pepper. A little nutmeg and maybe some hot sauce would work well if you like it spicier.

Shredded Cheese- Any melting cheese is excellent for this recipe.

The most popular is, of course, cheddar cheese. Gruyere, mozzarella, and Mexican cheese work well. If you don't like it very cheesy, add less. Not a big deal. However, it needs some cheese. This is not an ingredient to skip entirely.

Some other possible ingredients

Meat: Sausage/chorizo, bacon, ham, and other cold cuts are the most popular.

Vegetables: asparagus, peppers (I prefer the red, yellow, or orange), sun-dried tomatoes, scallions, white or red onion, mushrooms, leeks, spinach, etc.

Note: Don't add them all, just pick and choose the ones you have available in the refrigerator and go with them. Two to three veggies are just enough. Although they are not mandatory, having them in the mixture is nice.

Herbs: thyme, marjoram, rosemary, dill, etc.

Spices: nutmeg, mustard powder

Variations of the recipe

• Ham and green onion
• Ham or bacon, green onion, pepper, and sun-dried tomatoes
• Spinach, bacon, and red onion
• Ham and spinach
• Mushrooms, green onions, and dill
• Bacon and leeks
• Asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, and green onion

Assemble the strata

In a baking dish, place the bread on the bottom and add the shredded cheese, chopped meat of your choice, and vegetables, also chopped small.

Add the mixture of milk/eggs and top the dish with more shredded cheese. Cover with foil and place in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Overnight is better because the ingredients will have time to get friendly with each other. Friendly ingredients = delicious dish!

Bake it

The following day, preheat the oven to 350F/180C and place the dish inside. Bake the dish for about 40 minutes and check the inside. It is ready if it doesn't jiggle when shaken. The dish should be golden brown on top, and the cheese should be melted.

You can also ensure it is cooked by checking the internal temperature in the center. It has to be 160F.

Remove it from the oven and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.While baking, the strata will puff up, but after you remove it from the oven, it will deflate.

Note: If the dish was at room temperature, it might need only 40-45 minutes to bake. If the dish was super cold, it might need another 5-10 minutes. The dish should reach 160F inside to make sure the eggs cook inside. Check and make sure you don't overcook it!

What can you serve with this Strata?

For a brunch, you can also make some of these items:

Fried peppers with tomatoes,eggs,and cheese

Cracked Black Pepper and Ham Scones

Apricot And Sour Cream Scones

Farmer Cheese Sweet Pastries

Easy Yogurt Drop Homemade Doughnuts

Serve everything with my special Turkish Coffee.

Recipe Faqs

How to store leftovers strata

After baking, leftovers should be refrigerated within two hours and kept in the refrigerator for up to four days. You can also freeze already baked strata for up to three months.

You can serve leftovers hot or at room temperature for breakfast, brunch, or lunch, next to a beautiful salad.

Egg Recipes For Breakfast Or Brunch

Best Quiche Recipes

Vegetarian Mini Quiche

Crustless Spinach with Smoked Meat and Gouda Cheese Quiche

Crustless Broccoli Bacon Quiche

More recipes to love

Here is my favorite Strata recipe I make:

📖 Recipe