Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole

If you’re looking for a great breakfast casserole, this has you covered. It’s a deep-dish merging of grated cheese, bagels, eggs, plant-based sausage and the crunch and savoriness of everything bagel seasoning.

Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast casseroles are a thing for good reason. You can prep them the day before. They’re great for serving a crowd, and they’re endlessly adaptable. This is my take on the popular Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole. It’s a deep-dish merging of grated cheese, bagels, eggs, plant-based sausage along with the crunch and savoriness of everything bagel seasoning. The bagels that break through the top get beautifully crunchy and kissed with oven-toasted cheese.  Like many things in life, the details matter here and I’ve gone into some depth on the things to think about as you make your own brunch-time fave.Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole Close-up

Make Ahead?

Absolutely! The great thing about a breakfast casserole like this one is you can completely prep it the night before. Wake and bake it in the morning. Or, you can bake it right away, after combining all the ingredients in the baking dish. You end up with slightly different textures, depending on your timing, but both are great. An overnight casserole results in a more custard-like texture.
Just baked breakfast casserole surrounded by three plates

Stale Bagels vs. Fresh Bagels

My attitude here is to use what you have. Bagels that are a bit stale work brilliantly. Freshly baked bagels work great too. There’s a bit of a calculus if you’re hyper-specific about the texture you like. Bagels that are on the fresh side combined with the egg mixture the day prior to baking will yield a breakfast casserole with a more custard-like texture. Think French toast. On the other hand, if you use stale bagels and toss everything together just before baking you’ll end up with a casserole that has more definition and a slightly drier overall texture to the bread chunks. I love them both, but am a bit partial to the version pictured here - tossed just before baking, made with 3 day-old bagels.
Ingredients to make an Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole arranged on a marble counter

What Kind of Bagels Should I Use?

I’ve baked this casserole with a number of different bagels over the years. As far as supermarket-brand bagels go, the version I liked best was made with Dave’s Bread Epic Everything Bagels. I like to work whole grains in wherever I can, so that’s what I use here, but any good bagels will work.

How To Make a Breakfast Casserole Video


Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole in the oven baking

Can I Substitute ____ Cheese in This Breakfast Casserole?

The short answer here is yes. A wide range of cheeses can work in this sort of thing. Basically you’re dealing with one grated cheese that you work into the egg mixture, and another cheese that functions more as a topping or punctuation. So, on the grated front if you prefer a strong cheddar or Swiss cheese, by all means make the swap. A lot of people use cream cheese for the "punctuation" cheese in this style breakfast casserole, because the theme here is...bagel. But the best version I’ve made was when I took some Boursin garlic and herb cheese from my dad’s refrigerator and used that instead. It ended up being creamy, oozy, herby magic where it hit the golden bagels on top. Feta works great too. Same goes for goat cheese. This is a long way of saying cream cheese is the standard here, but feel free to up your game by using something with a stronger flavor and personality.Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole close-up with one portion gone

Breakfast Casserole Variations & Ideas

  • Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole: Sometimes I skip the plant-based sausage crumbles (processed plant-based meats aren’t typically my thing but they work well here), and throw in a few well-cooked hashed browns instead, Or you could do both. If you keep frozen hash browns, or frozen sweet potato hash browns on hand this is an easy add. Brown them up in a skillet and allow to cool (enough so they won’t cook the eggs instantly). When assembling the casserole I tend to add them to the baking pan and then pour the egg and bagel mixture on top of them. So you get some potato thickness and not just shredded potato bits.
  • Green It Up Version: Add a few handfuls of well-chopped kale or spices to the egg mixture. Or, if you have something like saag paneer left over, add that! Finish with lots of chopped green onions and chives. The onions can go on either before or after baking.
  • Pretzel Version: Whenever I make this I always think to myself that an old-fashioned soft pretzel version would be fun. You’d use a few of those big Bavarian-style soft pretzels in place of the bagels.
  • Buttermilk & Bagel Breakfast Casserole: I mention this down below, but I’ll emphasize here as well. I actually love to make this casserole with some buttermilk if I have it on hand. It works beautifully, especially along with the mustard accent. Just swap out about 1/2 cup of the milk called for and replace with buttermilk.
  • Leftover Breakfast Casserole:  You can smash leftover pieces of this casserole into a medium-hot skillet with a bit of oil to reheat. Parts get nice and toasty cheesy, and it’s super good. Smash casserole.

Top down view of Breakfast Casserole with spoon in baking dish
One last thing I want to call out here is that this recipe was written for a standard 9x13-inch baking pan, but don't let that limit you. If you have a big enough skillet, that'll work. What you see here is an enameled cast-iron pan I love. Use whatever big pan you like for this, just don't fill let the eggs get higher than about 3/4 full. If you're still a little nervous about over-flow just place a rimmed baking sheet below the casserole.. 
Top down view of Breakfast Casserole on marble table with spoon in baking dish

More Breakfast Ideas

I love a good breakfast, and if you’re in the same boat, take a browse through these breakfast ideas. If I had to call out some all-time favorites: This has been my go-to waffle recipe for years. Or these for classic pancake lovers out there. Fregola sarda is a top choice for brunch. I love a good frittata,  same goes for a good omelette. Lastly, I like to make my own breakfast cereal blend

If you’re just a casserole fan in general, please try this mushroom casserole I’ve loved since I was a kid. 

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Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole

5 from 12 votes

A couple pro-tips for this recipe if you’re game! I like to grate the Gruyere cheese on a box grated. You end up with thicker pieces of cheese versus the wispiness of cheese coming off a microplane grater. On the liquids front, I actually love to make this casserole with some buttermilk if I have it on hand. Just swap out about 1/2 cup of the milk called for and replace with buttermilk, In an effort to keep the recipe streamlined I won’t write it into the recipe, just know it’s a nice swap if you keep it on hand.

Ingredients
  • a splash of extra virgin olive oil
  • 6-8 ounces plant-based sausage (optional)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
  • 1/4 + teaspoon cayenne powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 2 cups milk, oat milk, or other plant-based milk
  • 8 eggs
  • 2 large bagels, torn into 1 1/2-inch segments
  • 1 1/2 cups Gruyere cheese, grated
  • 4 ounces Boursin cheese, feta, goat cheese or cream cheese
  • 3 tablespoons everything bagel seasoning
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F with a rack in the center. Oil a 9x13-inch baking dish, or equivalent.
  2. If using, cook your plant-based sausage per package instructions (usually in a small amount of oil), until browned on both sides. Remove from skillet and place on paper towel until it has cooled a bit. Crumble and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl whisk together the mustard, cayenne, salt, milk, and eggs. Add half of the Gruyere cheese, the bagel segments and the cooked plant-based sausage. Toss until everything is well coated.
  4. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining Gruyere, then dot with crumbled pieces of the Boursin cheese. At this point you can either bake the casserole or refrigerate it, covered, overnight.
  5. When you’re ready to bake, sprinkle the casserole with the everything bagel seasoning. Cover with foil, poke a few holes in the foil with a fork, and bake for 45 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and bake for another 30-40 minutes, or perhaps a bit longer if you are baking straight from the refrigerator. The casserole should be beautifully golden when it is ready. Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Notes

Serves 8.

Serves
8
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
1 hr 10 mins
Total Time
1 hr 20 mins
 
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5 from 12 votes (9 ratings without comment)
Recipe Rating




Comments

I made this and it is wonderful. One cautionary note is to take into account how much salt is in your everything bagel seasoning. Mine had a lot of large salt crystals (cheap filler?) which made the dish a tad saltier than I’d like. I did add frozen spinach (microwaved, squeezed, chopped) which a nice offset to the eggs, cheese and sausage. I did prepare this the night before but I thought it had plenty of chew left.

Melissa

    Thanks Melissa, and great tip re: the salt!

    Heidi Swanson

This was our breakfast on Christmas morning, and it was absolutely divine.

Followed the recipe to a T and will do so again the next time, which might make it the first breakfast of the New Year.

Thanks for all these years of beauty, and deliciousness, Heidi! Wishing you all the best in 2023, and all the years to come.5 stars

coneyc22

    Same to you! So happy you enjoyed it.

    Heidi Swanson

Heidi I used one 14 ounce pack of extra firm tofu and about 1 1/2 cups almond milk. I didn’t put foil on top and baked for about one hour. It had a very nice texture after it sat for a little while after baking. Thanks again!!5 stars

Molly

I’ve been wanting to make a vegan version of this since I read this post! I used puréed tofu and nutritional yeast for the eggs, almond milk and of course Dave’s Everything Bagels. Also used vegan mozzarella cheese and vegan cream cheese on top. It turned out wonderful! Such a great idea to use torn up bagels in this dish. Thank you for the great recipes!5 stars

Molly

    Wow! Thanks for reporting back Molly. It sounds really good – pureeing the tofu sounds like a good call. Did you use silken tofu, or something more firm?

    Heidi Swanson

hi heidi! for the cheese- is it 1.5 cups once grated or 1.5 cups cheese, then grated? as in- the block of gruyère is 6oz which means i would need two blocks to make 1.5cups but when i grated one block, it’s about 1.5 cups measured. i’m overthinking this but don’t want to accidentally overload on cheese!

jessica

    Hi Jessica, it’s 1 1/2 cups of grated cheese. Enjoy!

    Heidi Swanson

I love this idea. Every Christmas morning, we spend time with our little family to open gifts. So much fun with good breakfast foods, and this just sounds so ideal. I’ll have to keep this in mind. I love your recipes!! Can’t wait to try it. Woot!!

Hishinlai' R Peter

    Thanks! Enjoy!

    Heidi Swanson

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