The internet has been ablaze with this yummy recipe from Chrissy Teigen (model, mom, Twitter queen and, oh, yeah, John Legend’s wife), but the consensus seems to be that it’s too much work.
So, I tried it for myself.
Would I make it on a busy weekday? No. But would I make it for a weekend meal for the fam? You friggin’ bet!
It’s sausage, bagels, cheese and eggs – YUM! It would be the perfect holiday morning brunch.
Here’s the recipe with my changes noted.
Important: This makes a lot more than can fit in a 9×13-inch pan. I filled both a 9×13-inch and an 8×8-inch pan and froze one for later. Proceed with caution if you try to fit it all in one pan.
Ingredients
- 1 pound breakfast sausage links (optional – cooked and drained of fat)
- 2 tablespoons butter, plus more for the baking dish
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed
- 3 one-day-old everything bagels, halved and cut into big chunks
- 2 large tomatoes, cut into chunks
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 1 1/2 cups grated Gruyère or Swiss cheese
- 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 8 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 8-ounce brick cream cheese, cold, cut into 14 cubes
Directions
- Melt the butter in the skillet over medium-low heat, then add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden and translucent, about 9 minutes.
- While the onion is cooking, pile the thawed spinach into the center of a big clean kitchen towel and roll up the towel.
- Over a bowl or the sink, twist the ends toward each other and keep twisting until you wring out as much liquid as humanly possible. (Or make someone else do this.)
- Transfer the spinach to the bowl with the sausage and add the onion, bagel chunks, tomatoes, basil, Parmesan, 1 cup each of the Gruyère and cheddar, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and ½ teaspoon of the pepper. Toss it all together with your hands or a spoon.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, half-and-half, mustard, cayenne, and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper.
- Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with butter (plus another smaller pan) and arrange the bagel mixture in the dishes. Pour the egg mixture over the top, pressing down on the bagels so they soak up the liquid.
- Nestle the cream cheese chunks in all around the pan (they can be peeking out). Cover and refrigerate for at least 1½ hours and up to 12 hours. (The longer you soak, the moister the inside will be.)
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Uncover the dish and sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup each Gruyère and cheddar.
- Bake for 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake until the top is golden and the center is set, 50 minutes to 1 hour.
Make it veggie
Omit the sausage, increase the butter for sautéing the onions by 1 tablespoon, and add another half of a 10-ounce package of thawed frozen spinach.
Get the book
Title: Cravings: Hungry for More
Authors: Chrissy Teigen, Adeena Sussman
Publisher: Clarkson Potter, 2018
Cost: $29.99 at Barnes & Noble
Get even more kid-friendly recipes – including a kids holiday menu and vegan holiday meal ideas – at MetroParent.com.
This post was originally published in 2018 and is updated regularly.
