Cozy Christmas Breakfast Casserole Ideas to Kick Off the Holiday
Including bunch casserole options loaded with oats, tots, pasta, bagels, and beyond!
BHG/Ana Cadena
Talk about a gift: These easy Christmas breakfast casseroles will help you feed a crowd—without the fuss of acting as a short-order cook over a skillet whipping up omelets or stack upon stack of pancakes. Many of our best festive morning meals are even overnight Christmas breakfast casseroles, so you can get a headstart on Christmas Eve. Others are easy Christmas breakfast casseroles you can whip up in a slow cooker or Instant Pot. Whether you prefer sweet or savory Christmas morning breakfast casseroles, we have an option that will satisfy. Zero wrapping required!
Monte Cristo Breakfast Casserole
If your crew is craving breakfast sandwiches, but you’d rather not assemble them one by one, turn to this easy Christmas breakfast casserole. A nod to one of our favorite French-inspired meals between bread, Monte Cristos are a riff on the classic Croque monsieur. And this is our spin on that; a glorious, serves-12 casserole filled with savory egg custard-soaked bread, ham, mustard, and cheese. Yes, please!
Savory Tot Breakfast Casserole
Whether you call it “hot dish” or “casserole,” you’ll call this overnight Christmas breakfast casserole a winner after you see how easy it is to assemble up to 24 hours in advance. Simply refrigerate, then bake, garnish as desired, and devour. The crown of potato nuggets and pork sausage do a brilliant job of disguising a generous dose of vegetables—mushrooms, bell peppers, onion, and zucchini—so this actually makes for a fairly well-balanced start to the holiday.
Blueberry and Mascarpone-Stuffed French Toast Casserole
BHG/Ana Cadena
If you’re more Team Sweet than Team Savory at brunch, try this easy Christmas morning breakfast casserole. We take the concept of “hasselbacking,” which you make have tried with potatoes or squash, and use it for baguette. That makes it possible to stuff French toast with berries and vanilla-scented mascarpone. Top with egg custard, chill overnight, then back to feed 12 from one pan. “This recipe is amazing; beautiful presentation and reheats really well,” a BHG fan says, alongside her five-star review. “I've made it so many times and get rave reviews!”
Ham and Cheese Brunch Casserole
Need to use up leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner? This make-ahead casserole is a delicious vehicle from the extras from your ham main dish (for the sandwich filling), bread basket (save those sourdough slices), and cheese board (red pepper jelly, cheese). Just round up eggs, a few spices, and a handful of fresh parsley, and you have everything you need to assemble this overnight Christmas breakfast casserole. Make it before tucking in; an overnight rest in the refrigerator allows the egg mixture to really penetrate the sandwiches so they’re ultra-flavorful after you bake in the morning.
Baked Cherry Oatmeal
One of the biggest TikTok food trends of 2021: baked oats every which way. Our family-sized twist on the popular oatmeal recipe concept is simple enough for a weekday but festive enough to flex as a holiday centerpiece thanks to sweet-tart dried cherries, warming cinnamon applesauce, and molasses-forward brown sugar. All of the above team up with rolled and steel-cut oats, milk, egg, and butter in one extremely easy Christmas breakfast casserole. It can be prepared entirely the morning of and on the table in less than one hour!
Chile Verde Breakfast Lasagna
You need not reserve lasagna recipes for dinner alone, and they need not stay within the Italian lane. This slow cooker breakfast casserole for Christmas takes the cozy concept on a trip to Tex-Mex territory, with corn tortillas standing in for the noodles, salsa instead of marinara or bechamel, and plenty of peppers and punchy spices.
Vegetable-Cheese Strata
Clean out the crisper drawer with this vegetarian overnight Christmas breakfast casserole. Jam-packed with sweet pepper, mushroom, onion, and spinach, this whole-wheat bread and egg recipe offers plenty of vitamins to balance out the cookies and candy canes. Put the pieces of this casserole together before bed, chill, then bake for about an hour until it’s gorgeously golden brown.
Chilaquiles Breakfast Casserole
A nicely-spiced Christmas breakfast casserole is the perfect antidote to a frigid winter morning, as many Christmases can be. While it’s a treat any time of year, when the temps dip or snow falls, we especially love to make this crowd-pleasing Mexican casserole. More smoky than hot, due to the chipotles in adobo, this corn tortilla, chicken, and egg bake only gets better when you serve it with a buffet of toppings like avocado, crumbled cheese, tortilla strips, and cilantro, so guests can top to their hearts’ content.
Pressure Cooker Scrambled Breakfast Hash
If you went to bed on December 24 with no plan for the next morning’s meal, this Christmas morning breakfast casserole can save the day. Your Instant Pot (or any electric pressure cooker) can make this brunch dream a reality in less than 45 minutes. Showcasing eggs, crispy bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, and cheese all in one family-sized dish, everyone will think this was part of your master plan all along.
Bagel, Lox, and Egg Strata
After giving it a shot for the first time in October, a BHG home cook says, “This is one of the best recipes I have tried so far! Will be making it for Christmas brunch.” It features our favorite deli bagel brunch order ingredients—a buttered bagel, lox, and chives—plus eggs, cottage cheese, and milk to make this easy Christmas breakfast casserole even more of a feast. The bow on top of this already amazing present: The savory brunch feeds 12(!) and can be assembled up to 24 hours ahead.
Chocolate-Banana French Toast Bake
A chocolate recipe before noon is totally appropriate on a holiday, if you ask us. (Or any day—hey, some kinds of chocolate promote brain and heart health!) Short on ingredients yet rich in flavor, this breakfast casseroles for Christmas will be a hit with kids and kids at heart. It’s like a supersized banana and Nutella sandwich, dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with maple syrup.
Test Kitchen Tip: If you don’t have, or don’t love, chocolate-hazelnut spread, try this Christmas breakfast casserole with ½ cup of your favorite kind of nut or seed butter instead.
Kale, Chorizo, and Red Bean Brunch Casserole
A healthy kale recipe for Christmas?! Stick with us here. Spicy chorizo sausage, plenty of Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, a glug of whipping cream, and cups of whole grain bread deliver plenty of decadence to make this feel special—and taste incredible. Beyond the flavor, what really sold us on serving this on December 25 is the color scheme. Red beans and sun-dried tomatoes pop beautifully next to the green kale, and golden egg yolks only amp up the festive factor.
Crescent Roll Breakfast Casserole
Preheat the oven and pop open a tube of refrigerated crescent rolls. That semi-homemade staple acts as the flaky, buttery “crust” for this easy Christmas breakfast casserole. Top the partially-baked pastry with sausage, eggs, veggies, cheese, and chives, and this entrée is oven-ready. About 40 minutes later, you’ll have 12 slices of casserole that tastes just like a diner’s blue plate special.
Fig, Pancetta, and Goat Cheese Brunch Casserole
This sweet, savory, and salty creation is a stellar Christmas morning breakfast casserole—and so much more. “My family looks forward to having this every Christmas day brunch, and on special occasions in between,” a BHG reader shared.
