Cream Cheese

How to Turn Bagels and Cream Cheese into a Strata

December 25, 2014

Sometime during the course of my childhood, my family acquired the tradition of eating strata for Christmas morning breakfast along with cold leftover meatballs from the night before (sliced and piled on toast—it’s a good way to eat meatballs). My mother got the strata recipe from a book group friend of hers, so the original recipe was probably from Ina Garten or someone similar. Anyway, we claimed it as our own, and for unknown reasons we always called it a frittata instead of a strata, which meant that for years I thought frittatas had bread in them (they don’t). Frittata or strata, it's very non-seasonal at Christmas time, filled as it is with tangles of sautéed summer squash and bell peppers. But it’s also very good, and nicely rich with cubes of cream cheese and caramelized onions.

My husband’s family, on the other hand, has a tradition of eating bagels with cream cheese and lox for Christmas morning breakfast. I like to goad my husband on by telling him that this is weird and inadequately festive, but secretly I love it because, well, a good bagel with cream cheese and lox is pretty hard to beat; I pretty much never eat bagels any other way.

Shop the Story

This year we are making the party come to us—the prerogative of anyone with a young child—and I thought I’d experiment with combining the two breakfast traditions by making a strata with bagels, cream cheese, and salmon. Who says you can’t have it all?

The unique texture of bagels makes this a very sturdy strata, which is nice and hearty, but you can also use regular bread if you prefer a softer, eggier texture. From there, eggs, cream cheese, and salmon were really all made specifically for each other. Capers and dill—if you wish to use them—brighten things up. You could add in some sautéed vegetables beyond the onion too, if you want. We’re in new tradition territory—we can do whatever we like!

Bagel and Cream Cheese Strata

Serves 8

1 tablespoon butter
1 red onion, thinly sliced
5 cups cubed stale bagels
8 ounces thinly sliced lox or crumbled smoked salmon
2 tablespoons capers (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped dill (optional) 
8 ounces cream cheese, cut into half-inch cubes (as much as it's possible to
cut cream cheese into cubes)
8 large eggs
2 cups half and half
1 teaspoon each salt and ground pepper

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photos by Emily Vikre

Food52's Automagic Holiday Menu Maker
View Maker
Food52's Automagic Holiday Menu Maker

Choose your holiday adventure! Our Automagic Menu Maker is here to help.

View Maker

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

I like to say I'm a lazy iron chef (I just cook with what I have around), renegade nutritionist, food policy wonk, and inveterate butter and cream enthusiast! My husband and I own a craft distillery in Northern Minnesota called Vikre Distillery (www.vikredistillery.com), where I claimed the title, "arbiter of taste." I also have a doctorate in food policy, for which I studied the changes in diet and health of new immigrants after they come to the United States. I myself am a Norwegian-American dual citizen. So I have a lot of Scandinavian pride, which especially shines through in my cooking on special holidays. Beyond loving all facets of food, I'm a Renaissance woman (translation: bad at focusing), dabbling in a variety of artistic and scientific endeavors.

1 Comment

morgan April 8, 2015
This was DELICIOUS! I assembled mine the night before and put it into the oven the next morning cold from the fridge. Even still, it was done in 25ish minutes so keep en eye on it. Next time I'll use 4 cups of bagel, add an extra egg, cut down on the salt, and add maybe another 4 oz of salmon. just some minor tweaks because it was a tiny bit bready in some areas and lacked substance. Such an innovative recipe, great for entertaining. Will make again!