The Best Breakfast Strata

Article By Layla Khoury-Hanold

Breakfast strata is the ultimate feeds-a-crowd dish, whether you’re hosting a cozy weekend gathering or a festive holiday brunch. This easy breakfast casserole is made with bread, eggs, milk and cheese, plus add-ins like breakfast meats, herbs and veggies. Its versatility means the combinations and recipes for breakfast strata are endless, but our best breakfast strata recipe lives up to its billing with a perfect bread-to-custard ratio, gourmet add-ins and a custardy, creamy texture. Besides being a versatile, crowd-pleasing breakfast or brunch dish, our strata reheats like a dream, making it a great option for a quick and easy lunch or dinner. With our easy recipe, you’ll learn the best bread to use for strata, the ideal bread to custard ratio and the key step for achieving deep flavor and a creamy texture.

How to Make Breakfast Strata Like a Pro

Reach for croissants as your bread of choice. Food Network recipe developer Maya Ferrante tested baguette, brioche, sourdough and croissants, but croissants won out. “They crisped up beautifully when toasted and retained their shape well while still allowing for a custardy center after cooking,” Ferrante says. “They also added a lovely buttery, decadent note to the dish without being overpowering, both with a shorter soak and an overnight soak.”

Toast your bread for the best structure. Although toasting bread and using stale bread are both viable options for making strata, each impacts the final texture differently, Ferrante says. “If you prefer a slightly firmer, crispier texture, toasting the bread is a good option. If you want a softer, more custardy strata, day-old bread is a good choice,” she says. “Because croissants are buttery and naturally softer, we found that toasting the croissants provided a better texture for this recipe.”

Measure custard ingredients into nearly equal parts for the creamiest texture. Ferrante wanted to find a custard ratio that could fully soak and absorb into the bread, striking a balance between frittata (lower milk and heavy cream to egg ratio) and bread pudding (higher milk and heavy cream to egg ratio). Using almost equal ratios of egg, milk and heavy cream yielded a silky, creamy texture without overpowering the bread and add-ins and allowed for contrasting textures.

Choose flavorful cheeses with high meltability—and shred your own. Avoid using pre-shredded cheese since these products contain stabilizers and fillers to prevent caking, which affects flavor and won’t result in a creamy strata texture. “Some commonly used cheeses in strata are cheddar, havarti, gouda, gruyere, provolone and fontina because they all melt beautifully and complement so many different flavors,” Ferrante says. “We chose fontina because of its beautiful texture when melted and its buttery and nutty flavor nicely balanced the smokiness of the bacon and earthiness of the mushrooms.”

Pre-cook strata add-ins for optimal flavor and texture. Pre-cooking ingredients ensure that add-ins are evenly cooked, and that flavors have time to develop, resulting in a more flavorful and texturally appealing strata. “Cooking each ingredient with higher moisture content also helps with the final texture and helps avoid any soggy or rubbery results,” Ferrante says.

Allow the strata to soak overnight before baking. “Allowing the bread to soak up the egg mixture creates a rich, custardy texture when it bakes, so the longer the soak, the better,” Ferrante says. “We recommend the strata sit for a few hours or even overnight, to allow the bread to absorb more moisture and flavor.”

Strata v.s Bread Pudding

Both strata and bread pudding contain several of the same key ingredients, including bread, eggs, milk and cream, and both are prepared by soaking toasted or stale bread in a custard before baking. The main difference between strata and bread pudding is in their flavor profile—strata is essentially a savory version of bread pudding. “The ratio of egg to milk and cream is also slightly different, with strata having slightly more eggs compared to bread pudding, which helps create a custardy texture,” Ferrante says.

Strata Variations

Our best strata recipe features a combination of mushrooms, bacon, fontina and Parmesan, but the beauty of this easy breakfast bake is its versatility. Customize your strata using different types of cheeses (preferably flavorful ones with good meltability), proteins such as sausage, ham, hardy herbs like sage, rosemary or thyme or vegetables such as caramelized onions, slow-roasted tomatoes or sauteed greens. Strata are also a perfect canvas for using up whatever you have on hand, like leftover roasted veggies, specialty cheeses, chopped deli meat or cooked proteins.

Strata Serving Suggestions and Pairings

Strata goes well with a variety of breakfast and brunch dishes, including fruit salad, breakfast meats, baked goods such as banana bread or muffins, roasted veggies, a fresh salad and roast potatoes or hashbrowns. Pair strata with beverages like classic brunch cocktails, including mimosas or Bloody Marys, non-alcoholic sparkling cider, juice, coffee, tea or espresso drinks like lattes. For a light lunch or supper, try pairing reheated strata with a green salad and crusty bread.

How to Reheat Strata

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees and reheat strata in its pan until warm in the center when pierced with a cake tester, 35 to 45 minutes.