This everything bagel breakfast casserole combines bagels, everything bagel seasoning, bacon, eggs, and cream cheese to make the ultimate satisfying breakfast. You can prepare it the night before so it’s ready for a fresh & warm breakfast the next morning!
An egg breakfast casserole is the ultimate breakfast or brunch for entertaining because it feeds a crowd, is super satisfying, and you can prep it the night before. Last year we made this biscuit breakfast casserole with a side of fruit, bacon, and homemade cinnamon rolls, so this year let’s make something equally crowd-pleasing.
Let’s all make everything bagel breakfast casserole! This recipe is inspired by the breakfast bake in Chrissy Teigen’s cookbook Cravings: Hungry for More. Hers uses a slightly different ratio of ingredients, frozen spinach, and delicious Gruyère cheese.
This Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole:
- Uses leftover everything bagels as the base
- Has extra everything bagel seasoning
- Combines bacon, eggs, & extra cheese
- Includes peppers & tomatoes for a fresh element
- And is topped with cream cheese before baking
And best part of all: This isn’t soft and runny like some egg casseroles– it has texture!
Video Tutorial: How to make Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole
Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole Ingredients
- Everything Bagels: You can use homemade everything bagels, but store-bought is the easiest route. Cut 3 bagels into big bite-size pieces, then let them sit out overnight so they become a little stale. Day-old bagels have more texture and won’t become soggy and squishy in the egg mixture. If you’re in a time crunch, cut up fresh bagels and bake for 10 minutes so they firm up a bit.
- Everything Bagel Seasoning: You can purchase everything bagel seasoning from some stores, but it’s really easy to make it at home. Remember my everything bagel pull apart bread? We’re making the same stuff here. You need poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried minced onion, dried garlic flakes, and coarse salt. If you don’t have these ingredients, don’t worry– there’s enough seasoning on the bagels themselves.
- Salt, Pepper, & Ground Mustard: 3 key flavors to spice up this breakfast.
- Eggs: Eggs are the base of this egg casserole dish.
- Milk: Milk thins out the eggs. For best taste and texture, I recommend whole milk.
- Cheese: What cheese do you like best with these flavors? Use it here! I used a mix of smoked gouda and mozzarella. White cheddar cheese would be excellent too!
- Cream Cheese: What’s a bagel without cream cheese? Cut a block of cream cheese into chunks and arrange it all over the top of the casserole right before baking. It adds the BEST flavor.
And Some Extras
- Cooked Bacon: Salty/savory bacon adds flavor to this dish. You can, of course, leave it meat-free or replace the bacon with cooked crumbled sausage. So it’s one less thing to do, you can cook and chop the bacon ahead of time.
- Tomatoes & Peppers: For a fresh element, add some peppers and tomatoes. Both work really well with the other ingredients in this dish. No need to pre-cook the peppers!
- Scallions: If desired, sprinkle the top of the baked casserole with chopped scallion.
Place the bagels, bacon, peppers, and tomatoes on the bottom:
Pour the egg, milk, and cheese mixture on top:
Top with everything bagel seasoning and cream cheese before baking:
Like I mention above, I love that this dish has texture. The bagels become a little crisp on top, while the bottom is a mixture of softer bagels and a scrambled egg texture. We also have those fresh vegetables, crisp bacon, creamy cream cheese topping, and crunchy seasoning. Before they even mentioned the flavor, my friends (trusty taste testers!) commented on the satisfying texture.
And, of course, the everything bagel flavor can’t be beat either.
After 1 taste, you’re going to immediately wonder where this breakfast has been all your life. It has everything (literally) and the leftovers taste equally amazing!
More Breakfast Recipes for a Crowd
- Homemade Monkey Bread
- Blueberry French Toast Casserole
- Quiche (a timeless favorite)
- Banana Muffins
- Sour Cream Coffee Cake
- Slow Cooker Cinnamon Rolls
- New York-style Crumb Cake
- Ham and Potato Casserole
- Easy Frittata Recipe
Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You can assemble this breakfast casserole the night before or quickly throw it together in the morning. Feel free to substitute the extras like bacon for sausage and use your favorite cheese!
Ingredients
- 3 day-old everything bagels*, cut into bite-size pieces (about 6 cups)
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 3/4 cup quartered cherry tomatoes (or chopped regular tomato)
- 6 slices cooked bacon, chopped
- 9 large eggs
- 1 and 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 and 1/2 cups shredded cheese*
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard*
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 6 ounces block cream cheese, cut into bite-size pieces
- optional for garnish: everything bagel seasoning and scallions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (191°C). Generously grease a 9×13 inch baking pan or similar size (about 3 quart) casserole dish.
- Layer the bagel pieces, chopped pepper, tomatoes, and bacon into the dish. Whisk the eggs, milk, cheese, ground mustard, salt, and pepper together in a large bowl. Pour evenly over bagel mixture.
- Top evenly with pieces of cream cheese and sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning, if using.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes or until center is set and edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before topping with scallions (if using), slicing, and serving.
- Cover leftover casserole tightly and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Assemble the casserole through step 3, then cover tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Remove from the refrigerator, preheat the oven, then continue with step 4. You can also freeze the assembled uncooked casserole. Cover the casserole with plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, preheat the oven, then continue with step 4. You can also freeze the baked and cooled casserole. Cover the casserole with plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter or at room temperature and reheat to your liking.
- Bagels: So the bagels don’t become soggy, it’s best to use slightly stale bagels. Cut up the bagels the day before and let them sit out overnight. Or, if needed, use fresh bagels, cut them into the bite-size pieces needed for this recipe, and bake them on a baking sheet in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 10 minutes. They’ll be slightly crisp and ready to use in this recipe. No need to wait for them to cool before layering into the baking dish.
- Cheese: Use your favorite cheese here. I used a combination of freshly shredded mozzarella and smoked gouda. White cheddar, regular cheddar, or even pepper jack cheese. If using a strong cheese like feta cheese, I recommend combining it with another so the flavor isn’t overpowering.
- Ground Mustard: A common ingredient in cheesy egg dishes, this spice adds a sharp kick and depth of flavor. I don’t recommend skipping it.
- Everything Bagel Seasoning: Use everything bagel seasoning as garnish on top of the dish. You can purchase it at some grocery stores or make it at home. If you don’t have any, don’t worry about it. Or if you only have poppy seeds, garlic flakes, and/or sesame seeds, just sprinkle the dish with one or all of those. To make it yourself, combine 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds, 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons dried minced onion, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons dried garlic flakes, and 1 teaspoon coarse salt. You will have plenty leftover and it tastes great on pizza, potatoes, avocado toast, scrambled eggs, and focaccia.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese used for cooking and baking are sold in 8 ounce blocks. You need 6 ounces for this recipe. If you don’t feel like having 2 ounces leftover, just cut up the whole block for this dish. You won’t regret a little extra cream cheese!
Recipe inspired by the bagel breakfast bake in Chrissy Teigen’s cookbook Cravings: Hungry for More
Keywords: holiday breakfast, casserole, bagels
I made this for Christmas morning along with the French Toast Casserole and this one was a huge hit. Everyone liked this savory one better than the sweet one. It was absolutely delicious. I used mini sweet bell peppers instead of green peppers and turkey bacon instead of regular bacon.
★★★★★
I made this recently for a brunch and my guests loved it. I did loosely place a piece of foil on top after about 30 minutes, as the bagel pieces on top got rather toasty. Didn’t realize until after we cut into it that the bottom was still a bit runny. No one seemed to mind it :). I saw a few questions about reheating leftovers. I found the bagels tough when I warmed it in the microwave. I used my oven the next time and the consistency was much better. I think an air fryer would work as well.
★★★★
Quick question, I am wondering if anyone’s tried this with gluten free bagels – my 22 year old daughter has a moderate gluten intolerance (diagnosed just about a year ago) and we are always trying to find good breakfast casserole recipes that work for the whole family. Would love to hear if this has worked out, thanks!
Replying to myself – I cut the recipe down to 1/3, used 1 gluten free bagel for my daughter, she said it was phenomenal! Made the regular casserole for the rest of us and we loved it!
★★★★★
Hi Kathy, thank you so much for sharing how the gluten free recipe turned out. I am gluten free as well. I can’t wait to make this!
Yesterday, I was gifted with a few dozen “everything’ bagels. Some are in the freezer but others will go bad even if leave these in the fridge. If I use my everything bagels in this recipe, do I need to add the additional ‘everything’ seasoning? Don’t want to make it too salty!
Hi Karen, no need to add more everything bagel seasoning unless desired. You can always leave it on the side and allow people to sprinkle on their individual pieces. Hope you enjoy this one!
Hi Sally – I am substituting crumbled sausage. How much would you recommend? I’m thinking 1/2 a pound? Does that sound right to you?
Hi Charlotte, that should be just about perfect!
My family loved this recipe! And it was so simple to prepare. I made it the night before and popped it into the oven the morning of. Love this recipe!
★★★★★
This was the perfect way to use up ingredients I had laying around. I used stale cheddar bagels and the end of a tub of cream cheese. I had to improvise, I used garlic salt, onion powder and sesame seeds. Thanks for a great throw together dish!
Okay, I took liberties with the recipe but it was still great. I used the basic ingredients, bagel, eggs, cream cheese and I used half and half. I used prepared mustard because I already had it and added sausage, roasted red peppers and spinach. Topped with colby jack and it was the hit of a great birthday weekend. I also made sausage gravy as an add on and that worked great with it.
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
I was wondering if there was another way to incorporate the cream cheese into the recipe. I have a fussy eater who doesn’t like to eat cream cheese when you can see it. Any suggestions?
Hi Lynn, We haven’t tested it but you can try mixing cream cheese into the egg mixture. Or when you add it to the top you can simply leave it off of half of the casserole.
Made this for dinner tonight and included diced green pepper and cherry tomatoes. It was delicious and my family is looking forward to leftovers tomorrow morning. Great way to use up some not-so-fresh bagels and incorporate some veggies and protein. I used a mixture of aged and medium cheddar cheese, and I did reduce the amount of cream cheese, probably by half at least. Even my picky 16 year old daughter grudgingly admitted it was tasty. I made this the night before, so it sat in my fridge for nearly 24 hours before baking . Easy prep and cleanup. I will definitely be making this again, and will probably experiment by adding some diced jalapeño pepper and white onion, and some fresh garlic.
★★★★★
This is the best breakfast casserole ever!!!! You cannot stop eating it!!! Try it, you’ll love it!
★★★★★
I made this for my birthday “offering” at the office and since my day fell on Fat Tuesday this year, I also added chopped andouille sausage to the mix. This went over very well and the recipe was requested by several co-workers. Delicious change of pace from other boring breakfast casseroles! Thanks for sharing!
I made this for company this morning and it was so delicious! Definitely did not disappoint! A couple people commented that the chewiness and texture of the bagels was their favorite part. Will be making again!
★★★★★
This came out so good! Everyone loved it. I assembled the night before and mixed most of the cream cheese in with the rest of the casserole since reviewers on other similar recipes suggested it. Put about 1/3 of the cream cheese on top. Excellent! An afterthought was that it would have also been good with some sliced green olives (I love olives and cream cheese) but it was delicious without too. Thanks for a great recipe!
★★★★★
I didn’t have any everything bagel seasoning made up, and I thought well Sally says it’s optional so I didn’t bother to make any. I wish I had. Maybe my bagels weren’t seasoned very well, but I found this dish to be lacking seasoning. Definitely use the everything bagel seasoning on top with the scallions. Otherwise, this dish was great!
★★★★
Super easy to make and it’s absolutely delicious! I only used shredded sharp cheddar and cream cheese but next time I make it, I’m going to add a combo of shredded cheeses…can’t have enough cheese! I am not a big bacon eater so I substituted cooked bacon for bacon bits and it still worked totally fine. I love that this dish is so easy to customize and add/subtract what you want/don’t want. Thanks so much for this recipe 🙂
★★★★★
Is this “bagel heavy”? I am looking to serve an egg dish with a side of bagels for brunch. This looks good, but I am not sure I’ve I should go with your strata or quiche instead.
It is bagel heavy, yes. If serving with bagels, I recommend my regular breakfast casserole, quiche, or strata.
Took this out of the oven at 6:30 AM, wrapped it in heavy duty foil and then a thick bath towel, and it was still warm enough to eat without reheating at 9:30 AM (took it to work for a Christmas breakfast). HUGE HIT!
I brought this into the office today for a girl who is getting married. I put this together last night when I got home from work. Really easy to assemble. I used the whole slab of cream cheese. Used 1 sesame, 1 plain and 1 poppyseed bagle since they didn’t have the everything bagle. I had purchased the seasoning a week ago so I just incorporated it into the casserole. Took a little longer to cook because I have an electric stove but I anticipated it would take longer. This recipe is a keeper. Will make this for my daughter’s office also. Thank you for this wonderful breakfast casserole. I also brought in scallions and additional everything seasoning in little containers in case people wanted to add more.
How would you scale this recipe for a 9×9 pan?
Hi Christina! You can halve this recipe for a 9×9 inch pan.
I made this last weekend for a family Christmas. OH my GOSH. This is DELICIOUS! Definitely making again!! I used half extra sharp cheddar and half regular gouda. SO good!
This was amazing! I made it Thanksgiving night and put it in the fridge overnight. Baked up beautifully for our Black Friday brunch! No shopping for us, just delicious food with his beauty as the star! I added sautéed mushrooms and the full 8 oz of cream cheese (2 more yummy ounces couldn’t hurt). This will be my go to breakfast casserole! Thanks Sally!
★★★★★
Looking to make a double batch and work smarter, not harder by reheating the leftovers for the following day’s meal. Any recommendations (double everything in 1 dish and adjust bake time/temp or make 2 separate…thoughts)?
Best to make 2 separate dishes so each casserole bakes properly and evenly.
Thank you Sally! This was fresh, easy and delicious ❤
★★★★★
I always make a breakfast casserole Christmas morning. So much easier to throw it together when we get home Christmas Eve night and then let it cook Christmas morning while we are opening gifts. I made this today to see if this could replace my usual casserole…wellll let me tell you this was amazing! I had never thought to replace the plane white bread I usually use with bagels. I did use everything bagels today and next time I will use (there is definitely going to be a next time) Asiago cheese and everything bagels. These casseroles are wonderfully full proof and you can add or take away whatever you like. Thank you Sally
★★★★★
Have you tried making this with just egg whites? How would you recommend adjusting the recipe for that?
I personally haven’t, no. I would try at least 1 dozen egg whites, maybe even up to 14-15. (A lot to make up for the missing yolks!)
Hi NK,
Have you tried with just egg white? I’m interested to hear how it turns out and how many you used.
Thanks!
Made it!
Looks very pretty to serve, and if you do the tomato/scallion/pepper thing, you’ve got great color for the holidays!
Served with a church crew and was well received. I was worried about the extra ‘everything’ seasoning being too much, and went light, but I could have def added more! I like the flavor/salt! 🙂
I added a little bit extra pretty bagel pieces into the dish before putting in the oven. Mostly for aesthetics.
Yum! Making again soon; it’s been added to my breakfast casserole/bake rotation!
★★★★★
Hi Sally!
Excited to try this recipe! I’ve tried so many of yours and love them all!
I was wondering – I’m not a fan of bacon. Would it be OK to substitute with ham? If so, how much should I use? Thank you!
Absolutely. Anywhere around 1 cup of cooked and cubed ham is great!
I made this for my MOPs group this morning and I have NEVER had so many compliments and requests for a recipe before! Your recipes never steer me wrong. Thank you for yet another fabulous dish. This one is definitely has a permanent spot on my list of breakfast dishes for a crowd.
This looks really good and I am going to make it Christmas morning. There are only 3 of us so how would you recommend heating up the leftovers and how long would it last in the fridge after it’s baked?
Hi Kristen! Up to 1 week. I usually reheat in the microwave, but you can reheat in a 300°F (149°C) oven until warm throughout.
Could you make this with smoked salmon / lox as the meat?
Hi Heidi, we haven’t tried this with lox, but can’t see why not. Let us know how it turns out if you give it a try!
Hi Sally,
In your recipe instructions, you mention letting the cut up bagel pieces “sit out overnight”. Should I leave the bagel pieces covered or uncovered while they sit? I’m assuming covered…but maybe not! Thank you!
Hi Jamie! Either way is fine– I leave them covered lightly with just a piece of foil on top. The more they’re covered up (tightly sealed) the less stale they’ll become. And we want them a bit stale!