Everything Bagel Make Ahead Breakfast Casserole
This Everything Bagel Make Ahead Breakfast Casserole is an easy breakfast or brunch recipe that turns your favorite breakfast bagel into a meal that feeds the whole family!
Full disclosure, I love breakfast. Bacon, cream cheese, bagels…those are my jam. This awesome everything bagel breakfast make ahead casserole takes everything I love to pack into an amazing breakfast sandwich and gives it to me casserole style.
The best part? It’s a make ahead casserole. Just like our ham and cheese english muffin breakfast casserole or cinnamon roll french toast casserole, you chop everything up, pour your eggs over it and then put it in the fridge for as long as overnight.
In the morning you pull it out and pop it in the oven and you have an amazing breakfast.
This is a great breakfast or brunch recipe for holidays or parties because you can assemble everything the night before, and it feeds a large crowd.
Or if you’re like me you can make it for your small family and eat it for breakfast and lunch and be perfectly happy :).
If you love easy breakfast casseroles, try our overnight french toast bake, make ahead eggnog breakfast casserole, sausage and spinach crustless quiche, and low carb ham and cheese crustless quiche as well!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
- Everything bagels – This is the type of bagel we prefer to use because it adds lots of flavor to the casserole but you can certainly substitute your favorite bagel if you prefer.
- Bacon – You’ll need to cook and chop your bacon before adding it to the casserole. That way it will be nice and crisp.
- Gruyere Cheese – This is one of my favorite cheeses! It’s similar to swiss so if you can’t find Gruyere you can substitute swiss cheese. If you don’t like swiss you can substitute with your favorite firm cheese (cheddar, gouda, or fontina would be delicious!)
- Cream cheese – What’s a bagel without cream cheese! You’ll dollop some softened cream cheese in so it bakes amount the bagel pieces.
- Eggs – This holds everything together and gives you that breakfast sandwich with egg flavor.
- Heavy Cream – The cream is whisked together with the eggs to help bake the whole casserole together.
- Salt & Pepper
- Chives – these are just for garnish but I loves cream cheese and chives on my bagel so I recommend you don’t skip them!
Instructions
This is a super easy breakfast casserole to make ahead of time. Throw it all together and then stick it in the refrigerator overnight. pop it in the oven to bake in the morning and breakfast is served.
Step 1 – Prepare the dish. Grease a 13×9 inch casserole dish with a little bit of butter or nonstick spray.
Step 2 – Layer the dry ingredients. Add ½ of the everything bagel cubes to the casserole dish. Sprinkle with half of the bacon. Then half of the Gruyere, and ½ of the cream cheese.
Repeat with another layer of everything bagel, bacon, Gruyere, and cream cheese.
Step 3 – Whisk together the wet ingredients. In a bowl combine eggs, heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
Step 4 – Put it all together. Pour the egg mixture over the bagels making sure to cover everything with the liquid. You can press down on the casserole gently to kind of push it all down into the liquid and help the bread begin gto absorb some of it.
Step 5 – Refrigerate. Tightly cover the casserole dish and place in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
Step 6 – Bake. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
When ready to bake cover the casserole with aluminum foil and place in the oven to bake for 40 minutes. Then remove foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes.
Step 7 – Serve. When it has finished baking remove the casserole from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with chives and enjoy!
Substitutions for Meat and Cheese
We used bacon and gruyere cheese for our casserole but the whole point is to be like a breakfast sandich in casserole form so feel free to substitute our the bacon for sausage, ham, or any other breakfast meat you like. Just be sure that the meat is cooked before adding it to the casserole!
The same goes for the cheese. We like Gruyere but you could also try cheddar cheese, fontina cheese, gouda (or smoke gouda, yum!), or any other firm cheese that sounds good to you.
I would stick with cream cheese for this recipe because it adds a little creaminess to the dish.
How to Store It
Once you have baked the casserole you can store any leftover for up to 3 days. Let them cool completely and then wrap tightly or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
To reheat set oven to 350 degrees F, cover casserole dish with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes or until warmed through.
To reheat a single slice place in microwave and cook on high for 1.5 – 2.5 minutes.
Everything Bagel Make Ahead Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 5 Everything bagels, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 8 ounces Bacon, cooked and diced
- 2 cups Gruyere Cheese, shredded
- 8 ounces Cream cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 8 large Eggs
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
- Chives for garnish
Instructions
- Grease a 13×9 inch casserole dish.
- Add ½ of the everything bagel cubes to the casserole dish. Sprinkle with half of the bacon. Then half of the Gruyere, and ½ of the cream cheese.
- Repeat with another layer of everything bagel, bacon, Gruyere, and cream cheese.
- In a bowl combine eggs, heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
- Pour the egg mixture over the bagels making sure to cover all of them.
- Tightly cover the casserole dish and place in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- When ready to bake cover the casserole with aluminum foil and place in the oven to bake for 40 minutes. Then remove foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes.
- Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with chives and enjoy!
Nutrition
yum
How far ahead can I prepare this. Is it possible to make it ahead and freeze it.
Kathy, we have not tried freezing it. You can make it 2 days ahead.
This looks amazing! Have you tried it in the crockpot? If you have, how long on what setting?
Sorry, I haven’t tried this in a slow cooker, but that does sound like a really good idea. I might have to give it a try over the holidays.
Any updates on making this in a crockpot?
Sorry, we’ve been super busy this holiday season and we haven’t had a chance to try this out in a crock pot.
Does it have to be heavy cream? can we sub in almond milk?
Hi Kim, almond milk might change the flavor slightly but I think the substitution will work just fine.
What happens to it if you dont refrigerate it for 4 hours, instead you made it and its ready to go in the oven because you have a hungry husband and child? Apparently I didnt read all the instructions, LOL!
Lol letting it sit just gives the bread time to soak up the egg mixture. If I make it right away I usually just press down on the bread and eggs a few times to help the bread soak up the eggs. It will be good either way just a little different texture.
Made it and… I guess it’s just too… bready? The taste is DEFINITELY good because… everything bagels, cream cheese, bacon and cream… how CAN you go wrong? My 3 boys just want a little more substance in their breakfast. It’s definitely got a good flavor, but just felt like a giant grilled cheese… needed a little something extra. Probably won’t make again but glad I tried it.
If you like it but are looking for a little more egg and meat heartiness give our Ham and Cheese English Muffin breakfast casserole a try sometime!
I’m pretty sure I do not need to preheat the oven for 4 hours or overnight. 😉 This sounds delicious, and I cannot wait to surprise my family with it over Easter!!
I’m so used to putting the preheat instructions at the top I didn’t even think about it. Thank you :). I hope you and your family love it!
The whole family loves this dish!! It’s a favorite for all of our special occasions 💞
Yay! I love hearing that. Thanks so much!
Made this for Easter brunch and everyone loved it – including teenagers 🙂 Followed the instructions exactly and it turned out great!
Can I make this 2 days ahead? Ok to sit in fridge for two nights?
According to https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/eggstorage.html you can keep raw eggs out of the shell in the refrigerator for 2-4 days so I think it would be ok to make this 2 days in advance.
Thank you! One of my favorite ever breakfast recipes I’ve tried on pinterest! I mostly followed the recipe exactly except I used parmesan bagels instead, doubled the bacon, added no salt because of this. Added a tiny bit oregano and some garlic powder and onion powder. The flavor reminded me the souffles you get at Panera but way better even. Definitely a keeper 🙂
I’m so happy you liked it!! You can’t go wrong doubling the bacon and parmesan bagels sound delicious!
Can I use a different type of cheese instead of gruyere?
Yes you could use any cheese that can be shredded. Cheddar would be delicious
This is what I put in my note on Pinterest: Yummy and Rich. I only made half a recipe and we had small servings because of the richness. I might cut the cream cheese in half next time to be less rich. It seemed like the egg mixture was not enough to coat the top so I flipped the whole thing over into another pan and let it sit all day and it was perfect. It even tastes good the next day, which has not been my experience with many breakfast casseroles due to their overly custardy texture. I like how all of the egg and milk mixture seem to have been soaked up by the bread and this one. The bread was moist enough but yet there wasn’t a lot of extra egg on the bottom. I used Einstein’s everything bagels that had been frozen for quite some time and were very dry. I think this will be a new special occasion breakfast/brunch keeper.
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your comment here too. I’m so glad you liked the recipe!
This might be a silly question but do you think it would be possible to add diced breakfast potatoes from the frozen section to this? Would I need to change the temp or baking time? Or make the potatoes beforehand? Thank you!
I don’t think it would be any problem to add breakfast potatoes to this dish. I would heat them up before adding so you don’t have to worry about changing the baking time.
Wow! Wow! WOW!!! This was SO good! Made exactly as directed as every bite was better than the last. Thank you!
This was so good! My husband loved it so much he went back for a third serving! My six and two year old really enjoyed it as well.
Just made this for Christmas morning 2020 and it was a major hit! Annnnd I made it in the crockpot for all those wondering how it would turn out :). Here are my tweaks:
1. I doubled the bacon to make it heartier for the boys.
2. I used 8oz Swiss/Gruyere mix and 8 oz Colby Jack
3. I started the crockpot on low but after an hour and half, it wasn’t cooking as quickly as I would have liked so I bumped it up to high for another 2.5 hours. Next time, I’d prob let it cook all night on low. The cream cheese didn’t melt as well as I would have liked but my family was hungry so we went with it-lol!
4. I’m also thinking you could try plain bagels and use Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel Seasoning. I’d probably add that to the egg mixture.
Thank you for the recipe! It was delish and I’ll definitely make again!
That is awesome!! Thank you for sharing the crock pot instructions!
This looks so good! What a great dish to make for pot luck or to drop off for a family meal!
Thanks for sharing! Does it reheat well?
Made this for this morning’s Packers/Bears game! It was a huge hit! I did make a few changes, I doubled the bacon, and did 12 eggs instead of 8, also added spinac and artichoke (just because I need to feel like it had something healthy 😂). Will definitely make this again, thank you!
Can I use sausage instead of bacon and if so would I need to cook it first and/or change the time or temp?
Yes you can use sausage. I would cook it before and drain the fat from it. The same temp and time will be fine.
This looks amazing! What type of substitute would you suggest if someone doesn’t like cream cheese? Thanks so much!
You can leave it out completely if you want to. I like the creaminess and the bagel and cream cheese flavor it adds but the recipe will work just fine without it. If you don’t like cream cheese but you do like goat cheese that is a great substitute.
Enjoyed the morning of Christmas Eve! Warmed up well for Christmas Day! Love the flavor combinations!
This was by far my favorite breakfast casserole! Very easy to make, and lots of flavor.
Very good! Great twist on traditional breakfast casseroles with cheddar. Didn’t have everything bagels, so made it with leftover crusty bread an everything bagel seasoning. Certainly making again!
I’ve made this a few times for friends and family. It’s been well received each time and they ask for the recipe! Next time, I’m adding green chilies to take it up a notch. So yummy!!!
This casserole has become a Christmas morning tradition in our family the past few years. Its just SO good!
Thank you! So glad you like it 🙂
Love this recipe….
Any ideas for substituting bacon to make a it vegetarian option? Can I just leave out bacon?
You can definitely leave it out if you prefer. You could also replace with a vegetarian bacon or sausage substitute.
I’ve made this 5 times now and I get bombarded with compliments every time!! I’ve also been asked for the recipe every time. This is so so good!!! The last time I made it, I tried to make it a tiny bit “lighter” by using reduced fat cream cheese and using half fat free half and half and half heavy cream. Doesn’t change much but it made me feel a little less indulgent when just making for myself. When taking to a gathering or holiday, I always use the recipe as is, only adding a dash of everything bagel seasoning to punch up the flavor.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!!!