This Egg And Croissant Bake is the breakfast or brunch of champions. With chunks of salty ham, crispy buttery croissants and a flavor filled egg mixture the team will be coming back for seconds! Easy to make, perfect to feed a crowd and offering a tantalizing aroma to draw you in this delicious breakfast recipe is sure to score the winning goal.
Ever since I shared my Blueberry Croissant Bake recipe I have wanted to develop and share a savory croissant bake. This easy breakfast recipe is it my friend!
If you LOVE croissants, then you might also like the Brie Croissant, Mini Croissant Sandwiches or the Air Fryer Croissant recipes.
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🤍 Egg And Breakfast Croissant Bake
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:
- Simple ingredients: we only need simple ingredients to bring this casserole together. Some of which you may have on hand or in the pantry already.
- Minimal prep work: as you can see from the video there is minimal prep work needed to make the recipe. We simply chop the croissants into bite-sized pieces, roughly chop the spinach and then mix together the egg filling which binds everything together. This makes it a great go to when time is of the essence but you don't want to comprise on maximum flavor!
- Breakfast, brunch or other meal: an added bonus of this croissant bake is that it is versatile and lends itself to a wide variety of serving opportunities. You can whip it up the morning of Christmas eve, Christmas morning breakfast, Easter brunch or simply on the weekend!
- Crowd pleaser: this is a large breakfast casserole that is perfect to feed a crowd. So if you know that you need to feed the whole family then it is a great option.
- Leftover ham: if you have an abundance of leftover ham and want to repurpose it then this recipe is a great way to do that. We still get chunks of delicious salty ham but in a different flavor combination.
🥗 Ingredients
The two photos below are to show you everything you need to make the egg croissant bake recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Spinach.
- Ham.
- Croissants.
- Cheese: (not shown above): you can use cheddar cheese or a combination of your favorite melt worthy cheeses. Opps! 😂
The 3 above are the main substance for the breakfast bake. Then we have the ingredients for the egg mixture which are shown in the photo below.
- Salt and pepper.
- Horseradish cream.
- Mustard.
- Dried onion: this will be in the herbs and spices section of the supermarket. It is dried onion flakes. They save us peeling and chopping an onion yet still give us that unique onion flavor for the breakfast bake.
- Worcestershire sauce: for a little oomph.
- Thyme.
- Cream.
- Eggs: we always want to use free range eggs. We need 10 large ones for the egg mixture.
😉 Substitutions
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- Ham: alternatives for the chopped ham are deli ham, crispy cooked bacon, cooked breakfast sausage or making it vegetarian and using cooked sliced mushrooms.
- Dried onion: you can use onion powder (1 teaspoon) in place of the dried onion if you wish too. In which case you can also add 1 teaspoon garlic powder if that is your preference.
- Thyme: in place of the thyme other fresh herbs can be substituted. You can use parsley, chives, basil or thinly sliced green onions (not a herb but you know what I mean!).
- More vegetables: if you want more veggies in the casserole than simply using spinach add a punnet of cherry tomatoes. These can be poked into the spinach layer and will literally burst when pierced with a fork!
- Cheese: in place of the cheddar you can use a cup of gruyere cheese, or a combination of some of it and white cheddar.
👩🍳 How to Make Ham Egg And Croissant Bake
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by slicing or roughly tearing the croissants.
🍳 Instructions
- Slice the croissants (Photo 1)
- Chop the spinach (Photo 2)
- Gather the egg ingredients (Photo 3)
- Add them to a large bowl (Photo 4)
We prepare the croissants then chop the spinach before combining the egg mixture.
Crack each egg into a large mixing bowl then to that add the heavy cream, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish cream, dried onion, salt, black pepper and most of the thyme (save some leaves for garnish).
Use a stick blender, whisk or fork to combine these until the mixture is smooth and consistently mixed together. It will look like the 1st photo below at this point.
You will also want to use olive oil to generously grease the baking dish before adding any ingredients. A liberal spray will ensure less ingredients stick!
- Combine the egg mixture (Photo 5)
- Layer the croissants (Photo 6)
- Add the chopped spinach (Photo 7)
- Then add the ham (Photo 8)
Next do the steps above starting with layering the chopped croissant pieces into the prepared baking dish. Then add a layer of the chopped spinach and follow this with a layer of the chunky ham pieces.
- Pour egg mixture over the top (Photo 9)
- Oven bake (Photo 10)
- Add cheese layer (Photo 11)
- Oven bake (Photo 12)
When ready pour the combined egg mixture over the layers of ham, spinach and croissants then place the baking dish into the oven.
Let the dish cook for 20 minutes, then use oven mitts to remove from the oven, add the cheese and return it to the oven for a further 20 minutes.
The total cook time for the recipe is 40 minutes.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
When it comes time to serve your croissant bake the best way to do it is hot and fresh from the oven. I do let it rest for about 5 minutes once removed, garnish it with thyme leaves then gently portion and serve.
All of that cheesy goodness will be on display and it will have a structure about it that lets you pop glorious piles of it onto multiple plates.
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Store leftovers in a sealed, airtight container in the fridge. These need to be consumed within 2-3 days and are best reheated.
How to Reheat
Transfer leftovers to a plate and cover with cling wrap. Reheat using high temperature in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until warmed through.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- Baking dish: we want to liberally grease the baking dish with spray oil. This helps to ensure that the dish won't stick to the insides as well as making cleaning up the dish easy.
- Oven temperature: it really doesn't take that long to bring everything together for this one. So turn the oven on as a starting point so that it has had a chance to pre heat and will be at the right temperature when you are ready to pop the dish into the oven.
- Covered versus uncovered: I like to bake this dish without aluminum foil as I find that is turns perfectly golden brown with a thoroughly cooked through centre without the need to be covered. However, all ovens are different! In which case if at any point you find that the top of your bake is looking done before the eggs are cooked through, you can remove it from the oven, cover it with foil and return it to finish cooking with the foil on top.
🤓 Egg and Croissant Bake FAQ's
Some savory ideas to pair with croissants are ham, bacon, sausage, cheese, tomato and spinach.
You can freeze separate elements of this dish. For example you can freeze the croissants and or ham then remove them, thaw and use as needed. Or you can portion leftovers into containers and stack these in the freezer for a quick homemade breakfast that only needs to be thaw and heated through.
Yes you can. You can do all of the steps up to pouring the egg mixture into the baking dish (no cheese yet). Then the next morning remove the baking dish from the fridge and let it come to room temperature whilst the oven heats. Then simply pop it in the oven and continue following the steps to add the cheese layer and do a final bake to melt this before serving.
😍 More Easy Breakfast And Brunch Recipes
If leaping out of bed and heading to the kitchen to whip up a feast to start your day is your favorite thing to do then I hear you! Here are some more ideas to start the day off right:
- Pancakes: Crispy Pancakes, Raspberry Pancakes, Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Mini Pancakes, Lemon Pancakes, Sprinkles Pancakes.
- Fritters: Tuna And Corn Fritters, Prawn Fritters, Bacon And Corn Fritters, Easy Zucchini And Carrot Fritters.
- Muffins and bread: Raspberry Oatmeal Muffins, Slow Cooker Cheese And Bacon Bread.
- Lunch ideas: Cheeseburger Sausage Rolls, Savoury Mince Pies, Caramelised Onion Sausage Rolls.
- Condiments: Chilli Tomato Jam, Tomato Bacon Jam.
It is time to get our egg and croissant bake on my friend! You can also find all of my breakfast recipes or lunch recipes in the one spot.
Adrianne
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📖 Recipe
Egg And Croissant Bake
Ingredients
Egg Mixture
- 10 large eggs free range, Note 1
- 1 cup heavy cream Note 2
- 2 tablespoons dried onion Note 3
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon horseradish cream Note 4
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves sprigs removed
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Croissant Bake
- 4 large croissants roughly chopped into pieces, Note 5
- 1 ½ cups baby spinach leaves roughly chopped into smaller pieces, Note 6
- 1 ½ cups ham chopped, Note 7
- 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese
To serve
- fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven: preheat the oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5.
- Cooking spray: liberally grease a large baking dish with cooking oil.
- Egg mixture: add each of the eggs, the heavy cream, dried onion, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish cream, mustard, salt and pepper to a large mixing bowl and whisk till consistently combined. Then set aside.
- Layers: spread the chopped croissants across the base of the baking dish then add a layer of the chopped spinach. Next spread the ham in and across the top to form its own layer.
- Combine: next pour the egg mixture across the top of the ham, spinach and croissant layers. Place the baking dish into the oven (middle shelf) and let the dish cook for 20 minutes. Once the initial cook time is up, use oven mitts to remove the baking dish and set it onto a heatproof surface.
- Cheese layer: sprinkle the cheese across the top of the dish then use the oven mitts to return the baking dish to the oven (middle shelf) and let it cook for a further 20 minutes.
- To serve: use oven mitts to remove the baking dish from the oven when the cook time is up. Let the dish sit for 5 minutes and garnish it with fresh thyme leaves. Then cut into portions and serve.
Video
Notes
- Note 1 - Eggs: if you crack these one by one into a large mixing bowl to begin with you can fish out any excess egg shell that may find its way in there. This is much harder to do if you add the eggs to the bowl as the last step in the process.
- Note 2 - Heavy cream: recipe states 1 cup which is 250ml in Australia. If you have purchased a small 300 ml bottle of cream you can use that whole amount as it will make minimal difference as opposed to tipping out 50 ml.
- Note 3 - Dried onion: this will be in the herbs and spices section of the supermarket. It saves time peeling and chopping an onion (and crying) and gives great onion flavor.
- Note 4 - Horseradish cream: you can omit for a more basic flavor profile.
- Note 5 - Croissants: these don't have to be freshly baked! In fact they are better if they are on the stale side. This is because we want them to be crispy and flaky texture wise.
- Note 6 - Spinach: you can use a food processor to chop this if you wish too. I take the lazier route and chop with a knife and cutting board to save time and washing up.
- Note 7 - Ham: the perfect way to use up leftover ham! Or you can use ham steaks and dice them yourself, save the chopping and use shredded ham or substitute this with crispy bacon, cooked sausage or cooked sliced mushrooms.
- Note 8 - Covered versus uncovered: if at any point you feel the croissant bake is becoming 'too brown' you can use a sheet of loose aluminum foil over the top. I don't use it for the recipe but I know each oven is different and I want to the recipe to be a success for you!
Bettina Smith says
This recipe turned out perfectly for us! Apart from the delicious smell as it was cooking it tastes so, ao good. Definately will make it again.
Adrianne Jamieson says
Thanks Bettina for your feedback 😊.
Kara says
So delicious, cheesy and good!
Adrianne Jamieson says
Thanks Kara 😊.