Spinach and Cheese Strata
The quickest, easiest (and cheapest, really), make-ahead savory bread pudding! Perfect for brunch get-togethers or even as a lazy dinner option. You can really have it for any time of the day!
I love a good savory bread pudding.
They’re amazing for a crowd when you have people over for brunch.
Which never really happens in our house.
But still. I’ll make this for just the two of us.
And for Butters – he’ll have the scraps and crumbs.
But what I really love about this is the garlicky spinach and the three types of cheese here.
Yes, three!
We have Swiss, Gruyere and Parmesan in which all three play important roles.
Simply soak the challah bread cubes overnight, let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes and bake until cooked through.
That’s it.
I also like to serve with a sprinkle of freshly grated Parm once it comes out of the oven.
Because we clearly don’t have enough cheese here.
Spinach and Cheese Strata
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk
- 5 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup sliced green onions
- 1 12-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 6 cups 1-inch cubed challah bread
- ¾ cup shredded Swiss cheese, divided
- ¾ cup shredded Gruyere cheese, divided
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, Dijon and nutmeg; season with salt and pepper, to taste; set aside.
- Melt butter in a 12-inch oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Stir garlic, green onions and spinach until heated through, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Stir in bread cubes and gently toss to combine. Pour milk mixture evenly over the top. Stir in 1/2 cup Swiss, 1/2 cup Gruyere, and 2 tablespoons Parmesan.
- Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove strata from the refrigerator, let sit for 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Swiss, 1/4 cup Gruyere and 2 tablespoons Parmesan.
- Place into oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until puffed, golden brown and cooked through.
- Serve immediately.
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Can I use 2% milk instead of whole milk?
For everyone’s info …
Nutrition Analysis
I’ve recently been baking, and had a couple of breads fail to rise. This is my second time using this as a base recipe to use over-dense bread, and it’s great! I do the butter, etc. in a pot on the stove, and put everything in a 9×13 baking dish overnight before baking. Works beautifully!
Different cheeses, meats are fine, too. Someone asked about loose sausage; I’d suggest cooking and draining it on paper towels first, to avoid introducing a lot of grease.
This was fantastic!
I was wondering if you have ever added loose sausage, and if so how much?
Can this recipe be made in a baking dish? If so, what size would you recommend?
It is amazing when made fresh, but do you think this is something that can be prepped the night before and just popped in the oven the next morning? I’m thinking of making for Christmas morning, but I really don’t want to be cooking on Christmas morning. Thanks!
Absolutely! This can be covered and place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight (after step 3).
Made it this past Sunday as I had relatives staying over. I was nervous since I haven’t made it before but they loved it!!! Husband approved too! I couldn’t find challah bread so I used sourdough. I also added some ham. Served it with Trader Joe’s hatch green salsa.. yum yum.. The house smelled sooo good after it baked! Will definitely make again! Thank you!
Easy to put together. Made the next morning ,e ergo e loved the taste and texture. Making again today for company tomorrow. Thank you.
Great!
Has anyone tried this with gluten free bread?
G/F bread is pretty bad bread, but with all the cheeses and spices it might be palatable.
This looks amazing!! I’m drooling just looking at it.
Why Challah bread? Do other breads work too?
I find that challah bread is best in a strata but yes, you can certainly use a bread of your choice.
I have used leftover french bread for strata and it always works great. This recipe is waiting to go in the oven with a very stale whole-grain baguette as the bread (that’s what I had in the house). It looks amazing. This is also a great way to use bread that would otherwise be thrown out.
Has anyone tried this using a whole wheat? I have a lot of frozen homemade bread cubes I’d like to use for this. Love to know if anyone has done this. Thanks in advance!
I really detest spinach what could I replace it with.?
Kale would be a great substitute!
I have never made a savory bread pudding! I’m so excited.
Made this yesterday in a cast-iron skillet for my family’s lunch and everyone really enjoyed it. The gruyere cheese added so much great flavor. There was a only small piece leftover and it, too, was delicious the next day. I’ll be making this again—thanks so much for the recipe.
Delicious. So it is easy to guarantee the domino lunch. Thanks for sharing.
tbh, the strata does look delicious. I love mixing different cheeses to get different textures/ flavor combinations. But what I’m really drooling over are those copper-tone forks! Is that bad? I guess its the food photographer in me. ;-D
Yum, yum, yum, yummy. I love this dish, it looks amazing.
Nice to see a different blend of cheeses with the spinach rather than ricotta for a change. Looking at this makes me super hungry! (: