37 Christmas Brunch Recipes to Add to Your Menu

By Food & Wine
Updated November 17, 2020
Credit: Photo by Caitlin Bensel / Prop Styling by Christina Daley / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall

Christmas morning can be filled with anticipation and excitement, and what better way to kick it off than with an impressive brunch spread? Think baked French toast, all kinds of egg strata, and fluffy pancakes—whether you prefer your breakfast sweet or savory, we’ve got you covered. That includes brunch cocktails too, in case you want accompanying drinks. Read on for those recipes, and more dishes you can add to your Christmas brunch menu.

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Christmas-Morning Casserole

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Chef Bryan Voltaggio loves this make-ahead dish: a classic baked bread-and-egg casserole with bites of pepperoni, mushrooms and gooey cheese. It’s as good for dinner as it is for breakfast.

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Open-Face Egg and Griddled Ham Breakfast Sandwiches

Credit: © Nicole Franzen
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F&W’s Justin Chapple poaches a dozen eggs at once in a muffin pan in the oven, making his tasty breakfast sliders extraordinarily easy to prepare for entertaining.

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Coconut Pancakes

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For brunch chef Adam Schop sprinkles shredded coconut onto his pancake batter; when the pancakes cook on the griddle, the coconut gets nicely toasted. The finished pancakes get a layer of extra coconut before serving.

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Glazed Cinnamon Rolls with Pecan Swirls

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Baking these cinnamon rolls in big batches makes the effort worth it—they take time but are so satisfying.

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Blueberry-Banana Pancakes

Credit: © John Kernick
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Tyler Florence made these pancakes at home one weekend morning with his son Hayden. They’re a slight variation on a recipe from his book, Tyler Florence Family Meal.

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Light and Fluffy Baked Apple Pancake

Credit: © Michael Turek
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Maple-glazed sautéed apples topped with an egg-white-lightened pancake batter become a deliciously satisfying brunch dish.

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Eggs Benedict Salad

Credit: Abby Hocking
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To mimic hollandaise, Justin Chapple makes a richly flavored yogurt dressing, and he tosses that with greens, torn ham and crunchy English muffin croutons. It’s a deeply satisfying and healthy alternative to heavier brunch options.

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Homefries with Jalapeños

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
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Kick breakfast up a notch with this delicious take on a classic morning dish.

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Broccoli-Rabe and Ricotta Frittata

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Though frittatas are often served cooled as a first course, they make an equally good main dish, either warm or at room temperature. Here ricotta mellows the bite of broccoli rabe.

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Brioche French Toast Stuffed with Apple, Raisins and Pecans

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The home version of Bluestem’s French toast has just pecans, applesauce and raisins in the filling.

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Orange-Scented Buttermilk Cake Loaves

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The solution to baking for a crowd is to stick with easy recipes like this moist buttermilk cake, which can be made a day in advance.

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Two-Bite Parmesan Biscuits

Credit: Caitlin Bensel
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These biscuits are baked on a bed of grated Parmesan cheese, resulting in a crispy, cheesy crust around the bottom of each biscuit. Perfect on their own, try them drizzled with a bit of honey, or improvise by tossing a few handfuls of fresh thyme or chives into the dough to take them over the top.

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English Muffins

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Billy Allin serves his airy, chewy homemade English muffins all day long. In the morning, he offers them with butter and jams, such as house-made peach preserves; later in the day, he might use them for BLTs and other sandwiches.

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Potato Rösti with Pastrami

Credit: Victor Protasio
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After you’ve finished making this potato rösti, “you can blanket it in smoked salmon and crème fraîche, or layer it with pastrami and whole-grain mustard,” Gail Simmons writes. “Or even simpler: enjoy it under a gently fried egg for breakfast. It doesn’t get much cozier than that.”

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Apple Crumb Coffee Cakes

Credit: © Con Poulos
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Spike Gjerde’s apple crumb coffee cakes feature Granny Smith apple, and come together in an hour.

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Rocking Orange

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This terrific brunch mocktail combines multiple forms of citrus fruit: orange, lemon and mandarin orange juices, plus orange syrup and orange peel.

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Rye and Crème Fraîche Strata with Smoked Salmon

Credit: John Kernick
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In this playful riff on a bagel with cream cheese and lox, Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple makes a custardy rye bread pudding with capers, then tops it with smoked salmon and red onion. It’s warm, comforting and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

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Christmas Morning Biscotti

Credit: John Kernick
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“These biscotti spiced with cocoa nibs and anise seeds are my Italian interpretation of biskotso, a Filipino twice-baked cookie I grew up eating with hot cocoa,” Merrin Mae Gray says. 

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Christmas Salad

Credit: © Eva Kolenko
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Natasha Phan of L.A.’s Kogi restaurant empire craves this crisp, fresh salad during the holidays, when there’s always an abundance of rich dishes at the table.

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Cheddar-Scallion Biscuits

Credit: Greg DuPree
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“The buttermilk dough bakes atop a pile of grated cheddar, bringing not just a wonderfully caramelized flavor, but a clever textural element in the form of crisp, lacy ‘feet’ that form around the bottom or each biscuit,” Kat Kinsman writes of this recipe from Megan Scott. “Add a hefty amount of chopped scallion into the mix and it's a savory, joyous match for the ages.”

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Cranberry Gingerbread

Credit: © John Kernick
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When Kay Chun makes a gingerbread loaf like the one here, she adds plenty of tart and tangy fresh cranberries. The loaf is perfect sliced, spread with sweet butter and served alongside a cup of hot tea.

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Vanilla Sponge Cake with Blackberry-Tarragon Jam

Credit: Marcus Nilsson
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Pastry genius Dominique Ansel bakes a delicate sponge, the foundation of France’s intricate layer cakes, in a homey loaf pan like an English quick bread to create a new Anglo-French baking tradition. It’s ethereal served with his easy, licorice-y jam.

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Poached Eggs with Red Wine Sauce

Credit: Greg DuPree
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Traditionally the eggs for this dish are poached in red wine; it adds a bit of flavor, but the eggs take on a grayish-purple color. This version calls for eggs that have been poached in water, then assembled with the red wine sauce at the end.

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Cardamom Baked French Toast

Credit: Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Food Styling by Rishon Hanners
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To make this twist on baked French toast, inspired by the Swedish cardamom-infused buns called kardemummabullar, you’ll spread slices of tender, eggy challah with a sugary cardamom butter, then toast them until light gold. Next, the spiced toasts get soaked in a peppercorn-spiked custard that enhances the cardamom flavor even more before it’s topped with melted butter and Swedish pearl sugar and baked.

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Sausage-and-Apple Frittata with Dill

Credit: © Eva Kolenko
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Instead of serving the breakfast sausages on the side of her eggs, Kay Chun bakes them right into her delicious egg frittata. To give the baked eggs more flavor, she includes sweet bites of apple and sharp cheddar cheese. This is the perfect brunch or lunch dish, but it’s also great for dinner with a simple salad and sparking Cava.

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Savory Bread Pudding

Credit: © Abby Hocking
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This bread pudding can be prepared up to a day in advance and then baked the day you serve it. You can sub in any good-quality bread for this recipe.

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Oaxacan Coffee

Credit: Victor Protasio
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With a float of whipped cream and just enough sweetness to temper the bitter coffee and herbal notes in the mezcal, this spiked coffee cocktail is well-balanced and fortifying.

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Lemony Crêpe Casserole

Credit: Jennifer Causey
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Reminiscent of a classic bread pudding, this sweet-tart crêpe casserole has a beautiful lacy top and tender-but-sliceable center.

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Sparkling Cranberry-Ginger Punch with Toasted Spices

Credit: Photo by Greg DuPree / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
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This low-alcohol punch leans on tart cranberry juice and spicy ginger ale for a big punch of flavor, allowing the booze to take a back seat.

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Caramelized Apple Bread With Candied Ginger and Almond

Credit: Photo by Caitlin Bensel / Prop Styling by Christina Daley / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall
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This treat might remind you of a tarte Tatin, since it’s also topped with gorgeously caramelized apples. But the similarities end there. Instead of cake, the base is a buttery yeasted bread with a creamy almond-paste filling tucked inside. Even better, the apples sizzle in caramel before they’re arranged in a baking pan that’s been sprinkled with crystallized ginger, ensuring gently spiced flavor in every bite.

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Country Ham Breakfast Strata

Credit: © Abby Hocking
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This pillowy, satisfying strata is a great make-ahead brunch dish—serve it with a crisp green salad on the side.

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Babbo Natale Spritz

Credit: Justin Walker
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A wintry take on a classic spritz, this cocktail is dry and tart from the cranberry liqueur, with a layer of warming spice from the Contratto Aperitif.

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Double-Lemon Scones