Recipe Roundup
25 Breakfasts for a House Full of Holiday Guests
Make-ahead and low-effort recipes that promise convenience and flavor.
Hosting big holiday gatherings filled with visiting relatives and friends often means putting up a few overnight guests, too. For the best results (read: no fights or political arguments) during an extended stay, you need to keep morale high—and there’s no better way to boost a group’s collective mood than by feeding them a well-made breakfast.
Don’t forget, though, that your mood will also impact the group’s morale. Tackle too much, too early, and most of us are liable to pout, shriek, or snarl. Our advice: Make everyone breakfast, but do it easily. Turn to some combination of make-ahead and low-effort recipes that deliver convenience and flavor.
Here are our 25 favorite recipes for easy, delicious, big group breakfasts.
If you’re scrambling or frying more than a dozen eggs at once, you’ll likely need to use at least two pans. Instead of dirtying two pieces of cookware—and occupying two of your stove’s burners—we recommend opting for more group-friendly egg techniques, like poaching or oven-scrambling.
With two burners freed up—and your eggs scrambling in the oven—you’ve got the time and stove space to build the foundations for egg sandwiches or breakfast tacos. The best part? When you wrap these handheld breakfasts in foil, they become better with time.
Perfect for brunch and easily customized to whatever is in your fridge, fried rice is a convenient way to repurpose leftovers and reduce your morning workload. Pro Tip: Let your rice sit uncovered in the refrigerator overnight, as the drier it becomes, the better it will fry.
When cooking for a group, the oven is your best friend: The more dishes you can bake, the easier your life becomes. Also, these baked egg recipes can easily be doubled—so long as you’ve got the skillets, pans, and multiple oven racks to handle the increased volume.
Making french toast or pancakes for a large group using only a four-burner stovetop takes forever. (There’s a reason diners have griddles larger than my apartment.) Instead of imprisoning your guests at the world’s slowest IHOP, turn to an oven-based alternative, like a French toast casserole or Dutch baby.
The oven strikes again. If you’re looking for a hands-off, crowd-pleasing treat, turn to any of our classic breakfast bread or muffin recipes. Here are some of our favorites.
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