This Breakfast Bagel Strata takes all of the elements of a hearty breakfast bagel sandwich, and combines them into a make ahead casserole!
I like to make my husband’s breakfasts once a week, and have him just live on them for a week.
I enjoy the efficiency of only cooking it once a week, he enjoys minimizing the amount of dishes he has to clean... and how easy it is to reheat them for breakfast.
Sometimes, I’ll get in a mood and make the same sort of thing for several weeks in a row, just playing around with a bunch of different ideas.
Usually, it muffins. All. Sorts. Of. Muffins.
As I mentioned in my Ham, Swiss, and Kale Strata, sometimes I end up going on a wild strata kick, making a new one each week for my husband’s breakfasts for the week.
Deluxe Pizza Strata was another one I did recently, but today... we’re talking about my Breakfast Bagel Strata!
What is a Strata?
You may be wondering what I’m talking about - a strata is a fun, easy to make, egg-based breakfast casserole.
You cube up some bread - usually a baguetta - layer it with other tasty stuff, and then cover the lot of it in a raw egg custard.
Pop it in the fridge overnight, bake it in the morning.
Think “Bread Pudding”, but in layers. (“Strata”is the name, after all!)
It’s a super easy, highly customizable thing.
Also: Super nice to have a full, hearty breakfast without all the effort in the morning!
No matter how tired I am, I’m generally capable of taking it out of the fridge, wrapping it in foil, and popping it in the oven.
Breakfast Bagel Strata
Recently, I had the idea of swapping out the usual baguette, for a bunch of bagels.
What fun!
While bagels can still be a pretty neutral base for a strata and would go with all KINDS of different veggies, meats, etc... I decided to theme this one around a fairly traditional breakfast sandwich.
The bagels and eggs were already there, so I went with bacon, sausage, and cheese to finish it off.
I used “Everything” bagels, as the toppings on those would season the casserole. Efficiency!
Breakfast Bagel Casserole Variations
Meats
Due to his dietary restrictions, I used a chicken based bacon, and turkey breakfast sausage, but feel free to use traditional pork bacon and sausage if you’d like!
You can double one meat and leave the other out, or swap out one or both meats for something else, like ham or back bacon
For that matter, you can use vegetarian versions, if that’s more your speed.
Bagels
You can use any other kind of bagel that you’d normally use for a breakfast sandwich, or even a mix of them.
I think this would be great with a mix of everything, wheat, and sourdough bagels... but we ended up just buying a package of mass-produced bagels, as that was easiest for the current situation.
Cheese
Really, use any cheese that you’d like on a breakfast bagel.
The possibilities are endless!
Other Stuff
Feel free to add a cup or two of veggies to this - spinach, kale, or broccoli are fantastic - just make sure to chop it up and cook it down before adding.
Otherwise, water can cook out of the veggies and screw with the custard. No one wants a soggy, un-set strata!
Feel free to add a bit of mustard to the custard, or even squeeze a drizzle of mayo over the bread layers.
If you like it in your bagel sandwich, you can totally incorporate it in this casserole!
Reheating Your Strata
If you’re not serving this to a crowd of 8-10 people the morning you make it, you will definitely end up with leftovers.
While you CAN heat it up in the microwave, I definitely recommend heating it up in an air fryer, if that’s an option.
Microwaving it will give you a soft result, but an air fryer crisps up the casserole leftovers beautifully - it’s like eating it fresh from the oven!
The Instant Vortex 4-in-1 Air Fryer, 6 Quart by Instant Pot is the Air Fryer we purchased, and we love it.
If I had my time back, I may have ordered this one - a size bigger - but we had no idea how much we'd use it, so we weren't really willing to pay more or sacrifice more counter space for it!
I’m sure all air fryers are a little different, but for reference: he reheats his strata for 4-5 minutes at 400F.
How to Make Breakfast Bagel Casserole
The Night Before
In a large frying pan, cook bacon until almost crispy. Remove bacon from pan, leave the fat in the pain.
In the same frying pan, cook the breakfast sausage until cooked through.
Remove from heat, slice into bite-sized chunks, combine with cooked bacon.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, salt, and pepper, and milk, until well combined.
Using cooking spray or butter, grease a 9’x 13″ baking/cake pan.
Arrange half of the bagel slices evenly in the pan. Top with half of the breakfast meat mixture, then half of the cheese.
Repeat layering one more time, ending with cheese on top.
The fully layered strata, before and after adding the egg mixture.
Pour egg mixture evenly over everything, wrap with plastic wrap, and chill for 2-4 hours, or overnight.
The Morning Of...
About an hour and a half before serving:
Remove strata from the fridge, preheat oven to 350F. I like to let the strata sit on the counter for 20 minutes or so, to take the chill off it.
The strata, after the bagels have absorbed some of the custard over a few hours.
Remove plastic wrap from strata, cover with foil, and bake for 40 minutes.
Remove foil, bake for another 10-15 minutes. Strata is ready when it is cooked through and golden brown on top.
Serve hot!
More Breakfast and Brunch Recipes
Looking for more ideas to jazz up your breakfast experience! Here are a few more recipes for you:
Ambrosia Belgian Waffles
Apple Cinnamon Buns
Baking Powder Biscuits
Biscuits and Gravy - MY Way!
Blueberry Banana Bread
Breakfast Pizza
Chai Cinnamon Rolls
Easy Banana Bread
Easy Cheese Souffle
Eggless Banana Bread
Fig, Honey, and Goat Cheese Strudel
Ham & Swiss Breakfast Pizza
How to Make Peameal and Back Bacon
Maple Walnut Spiced Pumpkin Buns
Peanut Butter & Jelly Rolls
Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Rosemary Peach Balsamic Scones
Smoked Gouda and Chive Scones
Strawberry Orange Rolls
The BEST Hash Browns Recipe
Looking for even quicker options? Check out my Muffin Recipes, too! There are also some fantastic Bagel Recipes on this blog...
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Breakfast Bagel Strata
Equipment
- 9 x 13 Baking Dish
Ingredients
- ½ lb Bacon Chopped
- 1 lb Breakfast sausage
- 9 Large Eggs
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
- 2 ½ cups Milk
- Cooking spray or butter
- 8 "Everything" Bagels Sliced into ½" slices
- 2 ½ cups Grated Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a large frying pan, cook bacon until almost crispy. Remove bacon from pan, leave the fat in the pain.
- In the same frying pan, cook the breakfast sausage until cooked through. Remove from heat, slice into bite-sized chunks, combine with cooked bacon.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, salt, and pepper, and milk, until well combined.
- Using cooking spray or butter, grease a 9’x 13″ baking/cake pan.
- Arrange half of the bagel slices evenly in the pan. Top with half of the breakfast meat mixture, then half of the cheese.
- Repeat layering one more time, ending with cheese on top.
- Pour egg mixture evenly over everything, wrap with plastic wrap, and chill for 2-4 hours, or overnight.
- About an hour and a half before serving:
- Remove strata from fridge, preheat oven to 350F. I like to let the strata sit on the counter for 20 minutes or so, to take the chill off it.
- Remove plastic wrap from strata, cover with foil, and bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove foil, bake for another 10-15 minutes. Strata is ready when it is cooked through and golden brown on top.
- Serve hot!
Nutrition
This Breakfast Bagel Strata takes all of the elements of a hearty breakfast bagel sandwich, and combines them into a make ahead casserole!
[…] Bagel Strata from Celebration Generation. Another easy to make breakfast that you can make ahead of […]