Hi friends! This dish doesn’t have too much of a backstory except that we love breakfast sandwiches in this house, especially when that breakfast sandwich is on an everything bagel. And I must say I can make a damn good one. I usually pile on a crispy fried egg, ham, cheese, and chives. And sometimes I personalize…like my hubby likes 2 fried eggs plus a little avocado. My son loves tomato and even ‘salad’ sometimes by which he means lettuce. The only problem with personalized bagel breakfast sandwiches is that I’m usually making mine last. And let’s not pretend my fam can wait for me to make mine before they start theirs. And honestly, how can I blame them?!
ENTER…Everything Bagel Breakfast Bake…the very easy fix to my lil’ problem. This breakfast bake is one of those dishes that I can’t believe I haven’t been making for years. In the last couple weeks, I’ve already made it three times!
I’ll give you a quick run down on this recipe because it’s easy and because it’s 10:47pm on Thursday night and because I want you to have this for Easter, or Passover, or just BRUNCH this weekend.
So first, get the cutting of your bagels out of the way. You don’t want to slice your bagel in half like you normally would. Just take the whole bagel and cut into about 1 inch pieces. They won’t and don’t have to be perfect.
Then in a pretty dish that you’ve already coated with butter, you sprinkle ham. I prefer using ham because as much as I love bacon, I don’t have to worry about cooking the ham first. There are times for adding another step but if I’m prepping this the night before, the last thing I want to do is make the whole kitchen smell like bacon. Then nobody would leave the kitchen.
Follow the ham with shredded white cheddar and chopped chives.
Then top with your bagel pieces in one fairly even layer. It’s a little bit of a puzzle and again doesn’t have to be perfect. But I do have one recommendation. In the picture below, I layered the bagel pieces a bit haphazardly. After making it three times now, I recommend lining up the crust sides of the bagel along the edges of the pan as much as possible. Then you get to see all that errythang bagel goodness on the edges after it’s baked.
Now for the egg…whisk together egg, milk, ground mustard, salt, pepper.
Then pour over the bagels and press down to coat.
After the eggy mixture comes one more sprinkling of ham, shredded white cheddar, and chopped chives. And lastly, I like to top with sliced tomatoes. I just love tomatoes with breakfast and they add an additional pop of color.
You’re done. Ok not actually done, you still have to bake it. But if you’re prepping the night before, you’re done for now. Place in the refrigerator.
Then in the morning, mosy on into the kitchen, PJ’s , crazy bedhead and all and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When I preheat the oven, I also take the dish out of the fridge to bring to room temperature.
Then place it in the oven, let it bake while you fix yourself up or catch your favorite morning show or make your matcha latte. And then revel in all its glory! And finally enjoy eating breakfast with your family all together and all at once.
This dish is so great for a lazy weekend breakfast for your fam, a casual brunch at the neighbors, or even for a more formal gathering.
I hope you love it as much as I do! And thanks as always for reading!
Valerie
- 2 Everything Bagels, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup chopped ham
- 1½ cups shredded white cheddar
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ½ teaspoon ground mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 4 cherry tomatoes, sliced
- Coat a 9x9 baking dish with butter or non-stick spray.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, ground mustard, salt and pepper. Set aside
- In the coated baking dish, start by adding ½ of the chopped ham, then ½ of the shredded white cheddar, and ½ of the chives.
- Top with the bagel pieces. You want the bagel pieces in one layer.
- Pour in the egg mixture and press down lightly to coat the bagels.
- Top with the remaining ham, shredded white cheddar, and chives. Then top with the sliced tomatoes.
- If prepping the night before, place in the refrigerator overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. If the dish was in the refrigerator, take it out while the oven is preheating to bring it to room temperature.
- Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes until cooked through and until the cheese is melted and a little browned on top.
- Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes and enjoy!
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