Spiced Breakfast Egg Casserole

Sharing today, an easy vegetarian, spiced breakfast egg casserole loaded with flavor of warm spices. It makes comforting chili weather breakfast or brunch. You can even prep casserole at night and simply bake in the morning. Meatless, loaded with veggies and flavorful spices, this casserole will some become family favorite. 

Eggs and Bread are two important and humble breakfast ingredients which can be made as fancy or as simple as we want to. When I decided to mix-up my breakfast favorites into a egg casserole.. I decided to keep it super easy and simple yet packed with flavor - loaded with veggies, eggs and bread, and spices (of course).

You won't believe this beautiful casserole needs just 7 minutes of prep. Rest is the job of our trusty oven. 40 minutes later, delicious warm breakfast is ready to devour.

Also, look at the money it will save for a family of 4 - easy 50 bucks!

So, let's get started!

During the long weekend of Thanksgiving, we were planning a grand diner breakfast - more of a brunch. When I went to kitchen to make morning tea.. I saw 3/4 loaf of day old sliced French bread which changed my plans. Instead of going out and spending 1 hr waiting at diner… I decided to quickly assemble a homemade egg casserole for breakfast. 

My inspiration behind this spiced casserole is Indian Egg Toast which is a spiced and savory French toast made with eggs, milk, bread, and spices. In India, breakfast may have eggs but mostly it has no-meat and some veggies. This thought made me keep this casserole vegetarian. 

What Do You Need to Make Egg Casserole?

Few breakfast casserole staples such bread, egg, milk, cheese, with veggies and spices. That's all you need.

Here is a complete list of ingredients:

1. Milk
2. Eggs
3. Day old bread
4. Cheddar cheese
5. Red Onion, Garlic
6. Green Peas
7. Bell Pepper
8. Garam Masala

If you can't find garam masala. Make some fresh at home. I have an easy recipe for Garam Masala. 

Making Breakfast Egg Casserole

To make the casserole, I start by sautéing the onion and garlic, small chopped veggies with garam masala, paprika, and tomato paste. Sauté until veggies are soft.

Next, I follow the key points above to assemble the casserole in 2 quart baking dish. 

To make colorful presentation, I also decided to layer veggies and bread slices in alternate fashion, almost like a breakfast casserole lasagna.

40 minutes in oven and breakfast casserole is ready to serve. Golden crisp edges and kitchen filled with aroma of spices. Yumm!

This is a must try recipe.

Use Vegetables of Choice

Being a vegetarian casserole, you can swap any or all veggies in this as per your preference.

Any day, I would love some diced zucchini, cauliflower, beans and even veggie sausage for some meaty texture. Only key is to cut veggies in same size which level well within layers of bread.

Key to Making Perfect Breakfast Casserole:

True test of perfectly cooked bread casserole is baking dish sparkling clean when strata is lifted. To achieve that, I make sure to:

1) Butter/oil the dish before adding prepared ingredients.
2) Use correct proportion of egg to milk ratio. (in short follow the recipe)
3) Layer the bread in one even layer and cover all nooks and crannies in casserole dish. This helps bread absorb milk-egg mixture evenly.
4) It is also important to let casserole rest after baking, say for 10-12 minutes. During this time, bread sets-in, soaks in any remaining liquid.

It is perfect served it with hot chai tea or coffee (optionally or a dollop of thick Greek yogurt or Sour Cream)

Above pictures show my favorite way to eat egg casserole (topped with Greek yogurt) and cup of hot tea. You can also serve this savory egg casserole with some hot sauce, sour cream or cheese sauce. 

I hope this warm breakfast will warm-up your family on a beautiful weekend morning. Since it is so easy to put together.. bake a grand breakfast at home this weekend. Happy holidays.