Brunch
939 recipes found
The Best Scrambled Eggs
For silky, outrageously good scrambled eggs, cook them low and slow. This method, which Mark Bittman learned from James Beard, is very low and very slow: you place the eggs over very low heat, stirring frequently, breaking up the curds as they form. The results are without compare. Make them for breakfast on the weekend, while the coffee brews and the bacon fries.
Buttery Breakfast Casserole
The word “buttery” in the title refers to croissants, which make an especially rich foundation for this golden-topped baked breakfast classic. Toasting the croissants before building the casserole adds caramelized notes that can stand up to the bits of browned sausage, sage and melted Gruyère strewn throughout. Make this the night before a special breakfast or brunch, then pop it in the oven an hour before you plan to serve it.
Japanese Soufflé Pancakes
Japanese soufflé pancakes start with the same ingredients as American varieties — namely, eggs, flour and milk — but they tower above traditional diner versions thanks to the addition of extra egg whites. A meringue mixture is beaten to stiff peaks, then folded into the batter, which cooks directly in metal pastry rings to help the pancakes attain their distinctive height. The key is to cook the batter at a very low temperature. If your stove has a small burner, or an especially low heat setting, use it here to create these custardy pancakes, worthy of breakfast, an afternoon snack or even dessert.
Banana Pancakes
For the fluffiest results, be sure to mix this banana-and-buttermilk pancake batter as minimally as possible. Fold it just until streaks of flour have disappeared but not enough to smooth out the lumps. As they sizzle in plenty of melted butter, they will puff up and develop crisp edges and fluffy, tender interiors. Keep the cooked pancakes warm on a rack in a 200-degree oven while cooking off the rest of the batter and they will all stay hot and ready for serving.
Sausage and Egg Tater Tot Casserole
There are few things better for breakfast than fried potatoes swimming in a velvety pool of eggy custard, Cheddar cheese, seared bits of sage sausage and scallions. This recipe is inspired by hot dish, the Midwestern classic that gained popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Traditionally a mixture of protein, vegetables, creamed soup and a starch, it still often dwells in church halls, or is covered in foil and brought to potluck suppers. This version is perfect for a hearty breakfast or brunch, something you can throw together when you want to feed a gang of loved ones or just two very hungry people. A simple green salad tossed in a vinaigrette would be a perfect pairing.
Baked French Toast With Oat Crumble Topping
The beauty of a baked French toast casserole is that you can prepare it entirely in advance, usually the night before you want to serve it, then pop it into the oven about 45 minutes before you’re ready to eat. This version combines toasted challah with a nutmeg-flavored custard, which is then topped with a crunchy oat crumble. Pears add a ripe and juicy note to the dish, but if you’d rather go fruitless, you can leave them out. The finished dish is sublime served with vanilla-honey syrup drizzled on top, but it is also excellent with maple syrup.
Pumpkin-Ginger Oat Scones
Pumpkin purée softens oats in this hearty mix. Together, they give scones a lasting richness that doesn’t dry out, while more oats sprinkled on top give the crust a nutty crunch. Bits of candied ginger dot the scones, each delivering a hit of chewy heat that livens up pumpkin’s mild sweetness.
Potato-Kale Casserole and Eggs
Inspired by a classic colcannon (potatoes mashed with kale or cabbage), this recipe turns those elements into a heartier meatless meal by cracking eggs into the mixture and baking it until the yolks are as runny or jammy as you like. Cheddar adds nuttiness and richness, and browned shallots round out the flavors and offer sweetness. You can make the potato-kale mixture a few hours — or even a day — before serving. Reheat it in the skillet on the stove until piping hot before adding in the eggs as directed in Step 7. This makes a substantial brunch or light dinner, maybe accompanied by a salad.
Flaky Folded Biscuits
These biscuits rely on frozen grated butter to create an extra light and crispy texture. The dough can be gently kneaded together, rolled and cut into biscuits using a biscuit cutter or knife before baking, but this method of folding and rolling produces more flaky layers. The final step of rolling the dough like a jellyroll, flattening it, and cutting it into triangles results in triangular biscuits that gently fan apart in layers that are perfect for catching extra butter and jam, or for pulling apart with your fingertips. If the dough or butter feels like it is getting warm or greasy at any point, transfer the dough to a rimmed baking sheet and place in the freezer for five minutes before proceeding.
Triple-Ginger Muffins
A baked good for the true ginger fanatic, these muffins pack some serious spice thanks to the addition of grated fresh ginger, ground ginger and minced crystallized ginger. Molasses, a key ingredient in traditional gingerbread, gives the muffins a beautiful golden hue and helps keep them moist for days — if they last that long. (Any variety of molasses will work here, but there may be some color variation depending on the brand used.) For larger, bakery-style muffins, use a jumbo muffin pan and bake the muffins for a few extra minutes.
Green Smoothie With Cucumber and Cumin
This smoothie, the only savory drink in this week’s Recipes for Health, is a bit like an Indian lassi, with a little heat from the pinch of cayenne, and some lovely spice. I used a mix of baby greens – chard, baby kale and spinach, as well as parsley and mint. It makes for a filling lunch.
Sausage, Egg and Kale Casserole
Finding a brunch dish that feeds a crowd can be a challenge, but this large-scale frittata does just that by layering sausage, kale and fontina with cream-thickened eggs. Use any fresh sausage you like (chorizo, merguez, or hot pork sausage work well), and swap in mild Swiss chard or peppery mustard greens in place of the kale. You can prepare this dish the night before serving by cooking through Step 5 and layering the sausage, vegetables and cheese in the baking dish. Let it warm up slightly at room temperature before adding the eggs, then bake as directed. Baking times will vary depending on how cold or warm the dish is, as well as its depth and ingredients, so keep an eye on the eggs; they should be just set in the center.
Seeded Pecan Granola
Maple-glazed pecans, coconut oil and a hint of spice bring big flavor to this crunchy, cluster-packed granola, adapted from the restaurant Jon & Vinny's in Los Angeles. If you don't have flaky sea salt, kosher salt is fine; just use slightly less (about 3/4 teaspoon, give or take).
Indian-Spiced Tomato and Egg Casserole
This dish, inspired by a traditional recipe from the Parsis (a group of Zoroastrians from Persia who settled in India sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries), is possibly one of the most fragrant and vivid casseroles you’ll ever see. It starts with a highly spiced tomato sauce flavored with mint, green chiles and ginger. The sauce is then poured over a layer of sliced cooked fingerling potatoes and baked. At the end of the cooking time, wells are made in the sauce and eggs cracked into them to finish baking. The result is a tomato-rich casserole with runny yolk over each pungent bite. Serve it for dinner or for brunch.
Cinnamon Toast
The ingredients for cinnamon toast — bread, cinnamon, sugar and butter — have remained largely unchanged since the recipe first appeared in 15th century Europe, where it was introduced as a less expensive version of French toast. Some variations call for adding the cinnamon and sugar before toasting, others after. The secret to achieving a cinnamon toast that’s both gooey and crunchy? A combination of both methods. Toast the bread in butter in a skillet, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, flip so the sugar caramelizes, then sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar when it’s done. Toasting the bread in a skillet (like French toast) produces browned butter, which adds nutty warmth.
Strawberry, Millet and Banana Smoothie
Whenever you find sweet, ripe strawberries buy twice what you need and hull and freeze half of them. I freeze them in small freezer bags, one smoothie portion per bag. You can also use commercial frozen strawberries for this nourishing mix of fruit, millet, cashews and kefir. I have gotten into the habit of soaking a small amount of cashews and almonds in water and keeping them in the refrigerator to use in smoothies. For a vegan version substitute almond milk for the kefir, and if you can’t find plain kefir, use yogurt or buttermilk.
Grain Frittata With Chile, Lime and Fresh Herbs
You may think of frittatas as leftovers’ idea of heaven, but is it yours? For a frittata to look forward to, throw in leftover grains: The result is something like a Spanish tortilla, pleasingly dense, but with more bounce. Add an acid, like lime, and umami, like fish sauce, which melts into an underlying savoriness when warmed. Whatever you do, don’t turn on the oven for this. Instead, stir the frittata on the stove and all but the top will set — nothing a few minutes covered can't fix (no precarious flip!). Finally, put a salad on top. The herby one here adds pep to the substantial frittata, as does a final squeeze of lime.
Pineapple and Millet Smoothie
I played around with this smoothie, toying with adding this ingredient (banana) or that (coconut); but in the end what I love about it is the pure flavor of pineapple, softened by the grain that also thickens and bulks up the drink.
Matzo Frittata
This savory matzo brei, loaded with caramelized onions and mushrooms, is made like a frittata that you cut into wedges. While commonly eaten for breakfast during Passover, this one serves as a substantial side dish. Leftovers make a nice brunch or lunch, especially with a green salad. The key to a good matzo brei is soaking the matzo just enough to retain a little bit of chew, but not so much that it becomes soggy. Here, the matzo is submerged in boiling water for one minute to soften. If keeping kosher and making this for a dairy meal, use a tablespoon of butter instead of oil for extra flavor.
Deep Purple Blueberry Smoothie With Black Quinoa
My idea for this week’s Recipes for Health was to match grains and fruit by color and make nourishing smoothies. For this one I could have also used any of the black or purple rices on the market, such as Alter Eco’s purple jasmine rice, Lotus Food’s Forbidden Rice or Lundberg Black Japonica. I happened to have a full bag of black quinoa in the pantry, so that’s what I went for and it worked beautifully. You can also use fresh blueberries for this, but when they are not in season, frozen will do fine and will eliminate the need for ice cubes.
Granola Bites
These chewy-crunchy, salty-sweet breakfast balls are great for eating on the go because they don’t crumble and leave a mess. They take minutes to blend and a few more to roll, but if you make them a friends-and-family cooking project, the process can go even faster. Feel free to experiment here. You can swap out the almonds for cashews, the cherries for other dried fruits, and the sunflower seeds for shelled pumpkin seeds. Just keep the dates and make sure they're Medjool, which are softer and more thin-skinned than other varieties. The dates are the glue that hold the other ingredients together.
Cheesy Eggs on Toast
You don’t even need a toaster to make perfect toast. Crisping bread in a skillet — in melted butter, of course — gives it a tasty brown crunch and leaves you with a hot pan ready to scramble eggs. Be sure to swipe up all the butter and crumbs with the toasted bread when you take it out to keep the eggs nice and golden. Because more butter is added to the pan at the same time as the eggs, it melts slowly into the eggs while you stir them, leaving you with a creamy mix that ends up even creamier when cheese is melted in at the very end.
Pimento Cheese Frittata
The South likes to claim pimento cheese as its own, but its origins can actually be traced back to New York, the home of cream cheese, which makes up the spread’s foundation. Cheddar and mayonnaise were later additions. This frittata is a hodgepodge of creamy and spicy, celebrating the flavors and textures of pimento cheese. The fresh herbs add vibrance, and the sharp Cheddar can stand up to the spiciness of the various peppers. The chunks of cream cheese add velvety bits to each bite.
Pineapple-Basil Smoothie
I’m not sure that I would order this just based on the name. But believe me, you’ll be pleased by this herbal concoction. Pineapple has so much sweetness and flavor on its own, and it marries well with the peppery, anisy basil. Very little else is required (no banana in this smoothie). I like to use kefir, but yogurt will work too. Pistachios and chia seeds bulk up the drink nicely, and the pistachios contribute to the pale green color.