Breakfast Frittata

Breakfast frittata, or really anytime frittata, is delicious for any meal of the day. Got company? This is perfect for your company breakfast menu, as most of it can be prepared in advance.

A Christmas family tradition when I was a child living at home included a Christmas morning “Breakfast Casserole”. It was perfect for the timing of a holiday breakfast as it was prepared the night before, put overnight in the refrigerator, and then in the morning it went into the oven to bake. By the time we finished opening stockings, breakfast was ready! As my eating habits have changed over the years and casseroles with bread and cheddar cheese don’t appear on the menu rotation, I have been on a journey to find a suitable replacement for this traditional Christmas morning breakfast. The original breakfast casserole included bread cubes that soaked up the egg mixture overnight, and lots of cheese 😬. My journey was complete recently when I found the perfect replacement for the Christmas morning casserole, a breakfast frittata!

You may already know this, but out of curiosity I had to look up what the difference was between a quiche and a frittata, and the answer is pretty simple. Quiche is mostly cream with some eggs, and a frittata is mostly eggs with some cream. Additionally, quiche is traditionally baked in a pastry shell of some variety.

I had a goal of wanting to keep this breakfast simple, as I love the Christmas morning to be relaxing and enjoyable! This recipe achieves that goal because you can prepare your filling ingredients the day before, then in the morning the only task remaining is to mix up the eggs and cook. The frittata ingredients are so versatile - breakfast meats, vegetables, cheese, or, got leftovers? - in they go!!

I selected small chunks of sweet potatoes and broccoli and on the day prior, roasted them for ten minutes, cooled, and then stored in the refrigerator until morning. The recipe includes one cup of grated cheese, which isn’t often on my ingredient list, but I wanted to include it in this recipe for others, it could be omitted if you are dairy free. I used a white sharp cheddar, grated it the day before, which made the morning assembling of breakfast even easier. Are you seeing the simplicity and flexibility of this recipe? 🤗

INGREDIENTS -

12 eggs
3 Tbsp heavy cream, or substitute coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup grated or crumbled cheese, optional
Approximately 3 cups vegetables and/or meat
2 Tbsp olive oil
Optional garnish - basil, parsley, cilantro

If you haven’t already prepared your vegetables and meats the day before, begin by doing that - saute, roast, or stir-fry, whichever method you prefer. Then set those aside.

Preheat your oven to 425 and prepare a cast iron skillet by coating it with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Whisk the eggs, cream, and salt together just until the egg yolks and whites are blended. Stir in the cheese and set aside.

Add the second tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and heat to medium high. Add your filling ingredients and stir just enough to coat with oil and spread around to fill the pan evenly. Give the eggs one last whisk as the ingredients will have separated while sitting, then gently pour eggs over the ingredients in the skillet. With the skillet on medium high heat, the eggs should quickly begin to bubble around the edges. Once the outside of the frittata has turned lighter in color, about one minute, transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake for 5 minutes at 425 and then reduce the heat to 375. Bake for another 15 minutes and then check for doneness, if it isn’t set in the middle, return to the oven for another 5 minutes and continue to monitor. Cook time will depend on the size of your pan and the thickness of the egg mixture.

When the frittata is baked through, remove from the oven and allow it to rest for at least 5 minutes before cutting into pie shaped wedges and serving.

Don’t let the name deceive you, this frittata is good for any meal of the day, whether you have company or not, whether it is a holiday or not, or whether it is breakfast or not! 😆 The leftovers are great even if you are only serving one!

Enjoy!