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Looking for Easter or Mother’s Day Sunday brunch ideas? I love the convenience of a breakfast casserole because you can easily assemble it the night before and have it ready to bake in the morning.
Perfect hands-off cooking leaving you time for the important things, like Easter egg hunts, or Mother’s Day mimosas.
This breakfast casserole (the fancier term being “strata”) has asparagus (fresh) and artichoke hearts (canned), big cubes of rustic bread, bacon, onions, all held together with eggs, milk, and cheddar cheese.
It’s spring in an 8×13!
Asparagus Artichoke Breakfast Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cups of 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubed rustic bread (about half a loaf), or 6 slices of bread
- 2 ounces bacon (2 to 3 thick-cut slices), roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 pound of asparagus, trimmed of tough bottoms, spears sliced on the diagonal, in 1-inch long pieces
- 1 15-ounce can of artichoke hearts (packed in water), drained, chopped
- 2 Tbsp minced chives or green onion greens
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Method
1 Dry cubed bread in oven: Place cubed bread on a baking sheet, put in a 200°F for 10 to 15 minutes, until somewhat dry. OR you can use stale bread that is no longer soft. Drying the bread in the oven will help keep it from falling apart when you add the egg mixture later.
2 Cook the chopped bacon: Place bacon in medium skillet on medium high heat. Cook until bacon is lightly browned and much of the fat rendered. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon, place on a paper towel lined plate to drain. Pour off all but enough bacon fat to coat the bottom of the pan (do not put down the drain, it will clog your pipes).
3 Sauté onions: Add chopped onions to the pan with bacon fat. Cook on medium high heat until lightly browned, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the bacon back to the pan with the onions, stir, remove from heat.
4 Blanch the asparagus: While the onions are cooking, bring a small pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the asparagus and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain and shock the asparagus in ice water to stop the cooking.
5 Mix eggs, milk, cheese: In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a fork or whisk. Whisk in the milk. Stir in the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir in the grated cheddar cheese.
6 Preheat oven to 350°F.
7 Place bread in egg milk mixture, fold in bacon and vegetables: Place the cubed bread in the egg milk mixture and press down with your hands so that the bread cubes absorb most of the egg milk mixture. Gently fold in the onions, bacon, asparagus, chopped artichoke hearts, and chives. (Be gentle as to not break up the bread.)
8 Assemble the casserole: Generously butter the inside of a 2 1/2 to 3 quart (8 x 13 inch) casserole dish. Gently pour the bread egg milk vegetable mixture into the casserole dish and spread out in an even layer.
At this point you can make up to a day ahead. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.
9 Bake: Bake uncovered at 350°F for 4o minutes. If the casserole starts to get too browned while cooking, cover with foil. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Asparagus Artichoke Breakfast Casserole
The favor for this dish was excellent except for the bread that turned out soggy. I don’t like soggy bread so for me I will not be making this dish again. But if you don’t mind soggy bread then I give this dish a thumbs up for the excellent favor. :-)
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Hi Irene. I’m sorry to hear that happened with the bread. I’m wondering if it wasn’t dried out enough before baking it, or if your oven perhaps is off? I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor, though! Thanks for the feedback!
Hi Carrie, I don’t know. I thought of all that, but I did follow the directions exactly. I put the cubed bread in the 200 degree oven for 20 minutes to dry it out. I used Italian bread. And as far as my oven maybe it is off, but I don’t have any problems with any other recipes. I did have it for breakfast the whole week and was able to make it less soggy by re-heating it. Thanks for your reply, I was hoping for a solution, because like I said I do like the recipe except for that! :-)
Did the top get crispy at all, Irene? Is it possible it just was underbaked? Hmm….
The top did get crispy and I baked it at the 350 for 50 minutes. So no I don’t think it was under baked. Even when I re-heat it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes it’s still a bit soggy.
We love artichokes and asparagus, so this is a great casserole for Easter brunch—or any meal! I usually make it without meat because a couple of the kids are vegetarian, and it’s totally delicious.
By the way, just for fun, I did a search on this site for “asparagus” — and wow wow wow! The most incredible array of pastas, salads, a soufflé, and omg omg omg!!
I hardly know where to start
I’m so happy I found your site! Every recipe I’ve made so far has been amazing!
I’ve just put this casserole in the oven to take over to my sister’s for Easter lunch. I can’t wait to try it! If it’s anything like the other recipes I’ve made of yours, I’m sure it will be delicious. Thanks for the great tips and pictures along with the recipes. They have definitely elevated this home cook and given me a lot more confidence in the kitchen.
This may be good for brunch but I’m thinking also an excellent dinner with a salad. Yum!
Truly delicious! My guests so enjoyed this dish. I swapped 1/4 lb. of the asparagus for diced zucchini and scattered some sautéed mushrooms in the mix. Also added 1/2 tsp. freshly ground coriander seed to the custard for a light lemony spice. Looking forward to playing with flavors with different breads, veggies, cheeses and seasonings. Thanks for this flexible recipe!
I’m so glad you liked it Amy!