In my parent’s garden, there lives The Beast, a 5 foot tall zucchini plant that puts out 2 full-sized zucchinis a day.
Even with all the great zucchini recipes we have, it’s hard for three people to consume 14 zucchini a week! (There’s also a pattypan squash plant.)
So around this time of year I’m always looking for ways to use up my overflowing vegetable drawer of zucchini.
This is an easy-to-make strata-like breakfast casserole with grated zucchini, tomatoes, basil, ricotta, and Parmesan. (The tomatoes and basil are growing like mad now too.)
Actually I’m not sure what to call it. Breakfast casserole seems to fit because of the eggs, though we ate this for lunch. You could also call it a strata.
It’s like a frittata but it’s baked, not made on the stovetop (though I’m sure you could make a frittata out of it). The inspiration for it comes from a “cuajado”, or a baked frittata popular in Sephardic cooking. This isn’t a cuajado, but the flavors are there, and they’re terrific together.
Zucchini Breakfast Casserole Recipe
PrintIngredients
- 6-8 eggs
- 1 cup ricotta cheese (about 245 g)
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (130 g)
- 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or other hot chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups grated zucchini (from 2-3 fresh zucchinis, about 390 g)
- 1 1/2 cups chopped plum tomatoes (from 4-5 fresh tomatoes, about 370 g),
- 1/2 cup sliced fresh basil (from about 20 leaves)*
- 4 cups cubed day-old bread (from about 4 slices, rustic French or Italian bread works best)
- Extra virgin olive oil
*Chiffonade basil by stacking a few leaves on top of each other, roll them up like a cigar, slice thin, starting at one end of the cigar and working your way down.
Method
1 Make the egg cheese base: In a large bowl beat the eggs. Add the ricotta and beat until smooth. Mix in the grated Parmesan cheese, Tabasco, salt and pepper.
2 Prep the vegetables and bread, add to egg mixture: Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Prepare the vegetables and bread. Once you chop the tomatoes, squeeze excess moisture out of them by pressing them in a sieve, or wrapping in paper towels and squeezing. Add the tomatoes, basil, and zucchini to the egg mixture.
Moisten the bread cubes with a little water then squeeze out any excess moisture using paper towels. Mix the bread cubes into the egg mixture.
3 Bake: Coat the bottom and sides of a 9x13 baking dish generously with olive oil. Pour the egg vegetable mixture into the baking pan and even it out in the pan. Place in the middle rack of the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C). The casserole should puff up and brown lightly. If it hasn't browned enough after 30 minutes at that temp, increase the heat to 425°F (220°C) and cook for 5-10 minutes further.
Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.
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- by Joyce Goldstein
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.
Zucchini Breakfast Casserole
Made this for my Sunday School class and it was a hit! I prepared it the night before with 12 eggs instead of 8 and cooked Italian sausage. Probably sprinkled a bit more cheese too!! Morning of, I pulled it out of fridge for 20 min to get the chill off and baked at 375 for around 40 min. Delicious! Keeper! Thanks!
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Love it! I didn’t have the right tomatoes (or enough) so I halved a pint of cherry tomatoes and put them in rows seed-side up on the top. Then dotted more ricotta in between the tomatoes. Looked gorgeous AND tasted great.
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I don’t think I have ever had a recipe from Simply Recipes that I would not make again but this is the one. Did not puff up, did not brown, bread was little tough chunks. Kept looking to see if I missed something…I don’t think so. Flavor was good but not the texture. As I keep looking I see the bread cubes needed to be wetted…so there will be a next time
Hi Melinda, so you didn’t moisten the bread cubes? That would explain the bread chunks being tough.
Delicious. Made it for a teacher appreciation breakfast. Was a hit! Many requests for the recipe.
I’m so glad you liked it Julie!
Hi Elise!
I’ve made this recipe in the past and absolutely loved it!
I’m wondering if it would be possible to make this in a crockpot? Would you add or change anything so you could throw this in a crockpot and have it ready in the morning (about 8 hours later)?
Thanks!
Hi, Sarah! Hmm… this is an interesting question! I haven’t done many casseroles baked in the slow cooker, so I’m not sure I can advise. If you’ve made other crockpot casseroles, you can probably use those same instructions for cooking this recipe. I feel more confident recommending that you make the casserole ahead of time as instructed and then reheat it in the morning — this casserole reheats very well! Enjoy!