Cream Cheese

Chrissy Teigen's Everything Bagel Cream Cheese Breakfast Bake

by:
September 21, 2018
4
29 Ratings
Photo by Aubrie Pick
  • Prep time 1 hour 40 minutes
  • Cook time 1 hour
  • Serves a crowd
Author Notes

Reprinted from Cravings: Hungry for More. Copyright © 2018 by Chrissy Teigen. Photographs copyright © 2018 by Aubrie Pick. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.

I have felt for a long time that everything bagel spice is the bomb. But I’ve never been that into eating an entire bagel—it’s just too much dough at one time. Cutting them up into pieces and baking them with sausage and eggs though . . . That, folks, is everything. —Food52

Test Kitchen Notes

Featured in: I Made Chrissy Teigen's Everything Bagel Casserole & Nearly Set My Kitchen on Fire. —The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 1 pound breakfast sausage links* (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons butter, plus more for the baking dish
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed
  • 3 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
  1. *If you want to keep this 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.
  2. Heat a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat. Add the sausage, if using, and cook, turning occasionally, until cooked through, about 12 minutes (or according to the directions on the package). Remove the sausage from the skillet, cut into 1-inch lengths, place in a large bowl, and set aside.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.)
  5. Transfer the spinach to the bowl with the sausage and add the onion, bagel chunks, tomatoes, basil, Parm, 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 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
  6. Grease a 9 × 13-inch baking dish with butter and arrange the bagel mixture in the dish. 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.)
  7. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  8. Uncover the dish and sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup each Gruyère and cheddar. Bake for 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350°F, and bake until the top is golden and the center is set, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

10 Reviews

JP June 21, 2020
Definitely use a 10x15 pan; I used an even mix of hot italian & breakfast sausage; I did not add any salt or pepper; I used fresh spinach; 2 handfuls with the onion sauté and 2 handfuls in the bowl mix of all hot/warm ingredients; followed 15 min at 400 deg; then did only 20 min at 350; added topping cheese during last 15 min.; this is a huge, dense recipe & delicious; for sure let it rest 15 min before serving. We all loved it! I used 3 sesame bakery bagels & added one light sprinkle of Trader Joe’s Everything Bagel Seasoning...however, not really necessary as there are so many flavors going on in this recipe...also, used one 8 oz can of petite diced tomato (drained) instead of two fresh. I consider what I changed was a mini-tweet to this awesome recipe!
meme S. June 14, 2020
Like other reviews I used my large 10x15 pyrex casserole instead of my 9x13. For extra taste I used good quality 'Everything Bagels', and added crushed garlic, kosher sausage au lieu of breakfast sausage links. And best not to overcook. I have been using this recipe for years. Served for breakfast crowd or light diner with mixed green salad, and a glass of wine. Great to take to Pot Luck. Absolutely delish and always a hit!

I'm rating it 5*!
Jennifer B. August 29, 2019
Would fresh spinach work with this recipe? Sounds delish!
Wbsc092201 December 20, 2019
did you end up trying with fresh spinach? going to make this for pre-ski breakfast this weekend but not a fan of frozen spinach
Heather H. January 26, 2019
Delicious! After reading the accompanying article, I decided to use my 4.8qt 10x15 pyrex instead of my 9x13, and it's a good thing too... it settles down and deflates a bit after it comes out of the oven, but while baking it topped the rim of the pan. It DEFINITELY would have overflowed in a 9x13. Bonus, with the bigger pan you get more crispy top bits. I used some really good quality everything bagels, and the "everything bagel" flavor was a little lost. I think next time I may buy some of the seasoning and some pretzel salt, and sprinkle over the top before baking. Otherwise, very tasty!
Tricia R. April 1, 2020
I had the same idea of adding the seasoning on top. I agree that flavor was lost. Could have used any other bagel.
Cynthia A. April 10, 2020
I thought the same thing - the everything bagel was somewhat pointless because there was nothing resembling the bagel in the finished product. i also only cooked it for 40 minutes at 350 instead of 50 to 60 minutes and it was good thing I pulled it out because it would have been overdone.
John K. October 5, 2018
Instead of twisting your thawed spinach in a clean towel, try using a stainless potato ricer. At least twice the amount of liquid is removed with half the strain. A trick I learned from my sister.
Heather H. January 26, 2019
I use this method often. If I don't feel like getting out the ricer, I've also had great results pressing the spinach into a single thin layer in a stainless colander (go up the sides to get it very thin) then pressing down on it with paper towels.
tastysweet August 27, 2023
Only way to get spinach dry is by using the St St ricer. Learned that many years ago from Rachael Rae’s show. Easy enough to clean w/o ruining a dish towel.