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There is something special about waking up on Christmas morning and enjoying a delicious meal with your family and loved ones. Breakfast on Christmas morning has always been such a wonderful memory from my childhood. My brother and I would wake up super early, peek at the gifts, then wake our parents up to open them. Afterward, we’d sit down for the best meal of the year.
Ever since I was a little kid, we would enjoy breakfast strata on Christmas morning. Not only is strata super delicious, but it’s also designed to be prepped the night before and popped in the oven for an hour in the morning (while we opened gifts), and then it’s ready to enjoy! After all, who wants to prepare a huge breakfast on Christmas morning? As you’ll see below, the batter for our vegan strata needs to soak into the bread for 8-12 hours to set fully, so it’s perfect for making on Christmas Eve.
If you’re unfamiliar with strata, it’s a layered casserole dish, similar to quiche, traditionally made with eggs, meat, cheese, and bread. For our veganized version, we replaced the eggs with a chickpea flour batter, the cheese with dairy-free vegan cheese, and the meat with vegan beef crumbles. We also added some veggies to make it a little “healthier” ?. The key is getting a nice absorbent loaf of Italian bread to soak up all the batter. We are so excited for you to try this vegan strata– it’s very close to my heart, and the final product is incredibly tasty. Enjoy!
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
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Vegan Strata | Make-Ahead Holiday Breakfast Casserole
- Total Time: 9 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
Description
The perfect breakfast for Christmas morning? This vegan strata aka a make-ahead breakfast casserole that is easy to make and incredibly tasty!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 cup finely chopped celery
- 4 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
- 14 oz. vegan sausage (we use Impossible sausage grounds)
- 1 tablespoon German mustard
- 2 cups spinach
- ~2 cups vegan mozzarella shreds
- ~5 cups diced sourdough bread
Egg batter*
- 1 1/2 cups chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour
- 3 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon black salt
- A few dashes of nutmeg
OR
- 24 oz Just Egg or similar liquid egg substitute
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon kala namak or black salt (optional but adds more eggy flavor)
- fresh chives (optional)
- fresh parsley (optional)
Garnish with:
- Green onion, thinly sliced
- Fresh parsley, roughly small
Instructions
- Grease a deep 9″ baking dish and set it aside.
- In a medium pan over medium heat, add in the oil. Once heated, add the onions, celery, and mushrooms and sauté until the onions are translucent and fragrant, or about 3-4 minutes. Once cooked, add in the vegan sausage and crumble it in with a wooden spoon or fork. Sauté for about 3 minutes or until the sausage is cooked through, being sure to add more oil as needed to prevent burning. Once cooked, remove from heat and add in the mustard and spinach. Mix until uniform and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the egg mixture until smooth. (skip this step if using Just Egg or similar)
- Into the greased baking dish, layer in the sausage mixture, bread cubes, egg mixture, and cheese into the baking dish. Mix the layers together as you go so that they are uniform throughout the dish and continue until all of the ingredients have been used. Cover and set in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 8 hours).
- Remove from the refrigerator and place into the oven at 350°F for 1 hour.
- Cool completely before serving and garnish with fresh parsley and green onions
Notes
- You can substitute the egg batter with 24oz of Just Egg or any other liquid egg substitute.
- Prep Time: 8 Hours 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
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I’ve just tucked my second one of these into the fridge so that we can have it for NYE breakfast! My first attempt was on Christmas Eve and I was too tired to sauté anything so I left out the veg and chopped up some vegan sausage that was on hand. The result was still delicious! I’m thinking the properly followed recipe will be a bit less dry than my first one, though 😊. My husband (omni), my sister (vegetarian), and my son(omni) all enjoyed it…my tween daughter declined to try, but she has texture requirements lol, so she is very hesitant about most “casserole” type things.
Thanks for the brilliant recipe…it’ll be on the breakfast table all year long!
Simply delicious! Love this recipe and the tradition 🎄🥰♥️♥️♥️
Have a couple of vegan family members and they said this was so good and satisfied their cravings for biscuits, sausage and gravy. Even the non-Vegans ate it and loved it.
HAS ANYONE MADE THIS WITH THE CHICKPEA FLOUR IN PLACE OF EGGS. i AM CURIOUS HOW THAT TURNED OUT, AND WHAT THE FLAVOR WAS LIKE.
This recipe is a keeper! Served Christmas morning with a side of fruit and everyone loved it! I didn’t mention that is was vegan and no one seemed to care. Seconds and thirds by all. I used the spicey Impossible sausage, Just Egg and left out the celery. It was sooo good!
Delicious! Just finished eating it on Christmas morning and it was perfect. Will make it a tradition 🙂
Yum! This is so delicious (I am eating it right now and couldn’t wait to comment, haha)! I made the Just Egg version but added a bit of black salt for extra eggy flavour, as well as some garlic and black pepper. I’d love to try the other version, too. Definitely adding it to my collection of “keeper” recipes 🙂 Thank you!!
I have been making this for years – before there was Just Egg. Can you please share again how to make the chickpea flour/egg substitute? I love the original recipe so much, I don’t want to change a thing! Thank you 🙂
Hey! We just updated the recipe back to the original 🙂
When printing the recipe, the ingredients that are listed are very different that what is listed here – for example, an Egg Batter section, vegetable broth..? Maybe you simplified it but it hasn’t carried over?
We just updated the recipe back to the original! If you want the JustEgg version you can refer to the Instagram post here for the full recipe: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CXg11qdAIFK/?utm_medium=copy_link
Did you change this recipe? We’ve made this for the past 2 years without using a liquid egg and it has been a family favorite. What did it used to call for? I don’t like using a “fake” egg product
The previous recipe has been updated and is now back in the post!
I make this every Christmas, even now that I’m not vegan, and I recommend it to everyone. So delicious!
Can I sub the garbanzo flour for almond or coconut flour? If not, where can I find garbanzo flour?
We have not tried either of those so we can’t guarantee results! The garbanzo flour turns into an egg like batter whereas the other two wouldn’t react the same. The brand we use is Bob’s Red Mill! We find it at our local grocery store in the flour area.