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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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One of our best family traditions is our pre-presents Christmas morning strata and coffee. I’ve been vegan for about nine years and have made various alternatives that while good, didn’t have the same punch as our beloved strata. For the first year, my sister is also vegan so we decided that we had to step up our game. We made this and it was fantastic! It looked beautiful, it tasted spot-on, and everyone tried it and agreed that it was delicious. Thank you for sharing this recipe! I’m going to make it again next week (even though it is isn’t Christmas, just because I loved it so much!)
I’ve made this twice now and it’s delicious! I change it up a bit since I wasn’t a fan of how the celery and “egg” sounded.. I double the mushrooms and add bell peppers! Super tasty! I also used vegan breakfast sausage links sliced instead of the “beef” crumbles. So happy to have found this recipe as this is the type of egg bake my in laws make for Christmas morning! Us 4 vegans didn’t have to feel “left out”!
Yay we are so happy to hear that! 🙂
Breakfast casserole after opening gifts was always one of my favorite Christmas traditions. As the only vegan in my family, I finally feel like I’ve found something that looks and tastes good enough to make me stop drooling while all my other family members eat the traditional non-vegan casserole. While the flavor is not the same as the typical breakfast casserole I’m used to (it tasted a bit like Thanksgiving dressing to me), it was tasty and so much fun to make! And since the prep/cook time is essentially the same, I got to prep the strata while my mom prepped her casserole. Plus, the make-ahead option was ideal for Christmas morning. Thank you!
How far in advance can you make it?
We recommend making it the night before!
Hi- have you ever frozen this casserole? I’m making some dishes now, to free up time later.
We have not frozen this casserole so I am not sure how that would turn out, sorry!!
Thank you for this recipe! It sounds delicious! Do you serve and eat this cold or can it be warm?
We like it warm but both work! 🙂
Hi! Could I use regular or Dijon mustard instead of German mustard?
Yes!
Made it! and it was yummy. I didn’t have all the ingredients e.g. almond milk. Next time I want to make it with yogurt to sub for almond milk, I basically need a vegetarian recipe. and to make it heathy I will skip the bread. I highly recommend this as a snack to take to work or when out and about instead of grabbing something unhealthy from a vending machine.
Why must this be cooled completely before serving?
It firms up much better once it cools!
Did you use beef crumbles or did you crumble vegan sausage patties & if patties which ones (maple flavored or original)?
Hi Shirley! We used the beef that comes in a log that can easily be crumbled. I’m not sure if that makes sense so here is the link! https://lightlife.com/products/gimme-lean-beef 🙂 Let us know if this helps.
To make ahead… do we prepare the night before and only bake in the morning? Or bake ahead of time and reheat in the morning?
We had an error in the recipe, my apologies! One step was missing: set in the refrigerator overnight then bake in the morning! 🙂
I do not have any black salt (I accidentally sent it to my school address instead of my home address. I will be trying it out without it I guess!
It will still taste great! 🙂
Tested a half batch of this for breakfast today. So good!! We loved it!
Yay, so glad that you like it! 🙂
I love this recipe. It sounds and looks absolutely delicious! I need to try it soon!
I love this idea! And anything I can make ahead is perfect!
I have been looking for a recipe like this! It looks amazing!
This looks delicious! I bet this is the perfect way to use up any leftover bread and veggies from the night before! Also, I adore how Caitlin’s recipe is more sweet and yours is more savory. Adds a great mix to different kinds of palettes!
I love the idea of preparing this ahead and then just warming it up the following morning! Such a time saver especially on Christmas morning!
This recipe looks stunning. I’m more of a sweet breakfast kind of girl (that’s the habit in many European countries) but I will definitely make this during the holidays as a meal ♥ thank you for the discovery!
Yay, I hope you love it! 🙂
Sounds tasty! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful recipes ans videos!