22 Make-Ahead Christmas Breakfast Ideas

These easy make-ahead Christmas breakfast ideas let you prep tonight and sit down with the family tomorrow! From a sausage strata and an eggnog French toast casserole to freezer breakfast sandwiches, gingerbread pancakes, and overnight cinnamon rolls, you can plan a Christmas morning breakfast for slow mornings and big crowds alike.

My Sausage Breakfast Strata is the easiest place to begin: it soaks in the fridge overnight and bakes while the stockings come down. Many of these are healthy make-ahead Christmas breakfast recipes with extra protein, like cottage cheese egg bites and Greek yogurt biscuits, so you can mix lighter picks with a pan of cinnamon rolls.

Make-Ahead Christmas Breakfast Casseroles

Sausage Breakfast Strata

I love that the oven does all the work on the one morning nobody wants to be at the stove! Bread cubes, crumbled sausage, ham and cheddar go into a greased 9×13 and soak overnight in a whisked mix of 8 eggs, milk, garlic powder and onion powder. In the morning, this Christmas strata bakes uncovered at 350°F, and one pan serves 6.

Blueberry Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bake

Want a protein-packed breakfast ready before anyone’s up? This blueberry cottage cheese breakfast bake with oats blends cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, eggs and honey until smooth, then oats, a bit of flour and blueberries go in, with sliced almonds on top. It makes 8 squares and reheats well, so bake it a day or two ahead and Christmas morning only needs a warm-up and a drizzle of honey.

Mixed Berry Oatmeal Bake

Need something to grab all holiday week? Rolled oats rest in milk, eggs, maple syrup and cinnamon for half an hour, then mixed berries get folded through before the pan goes in the oven. I love using Fairlife ultra-filtered milk in this oatmeal fruit bake for a protein boost. Store the cooled squares chilled or frozen, and warm a slice any morning.

Overnight Eggnog French Toast Casserole

Got a half-finished carton of eggnog in the fridge? This Overnight Eggnog French Toast Casserole turns leftover eggnog into the custard, poured over cubed brioche with cinnamon and nutmeg. The dish soaks in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight, then gets a streusel topping before baking. It serves 6.

Easy Cottage Cheese Egg Bake

Looking for an egg bake with extra protein? The Easy Cottage Cheese Egg Bake blends whole eggs, egg whites and cottage cheese into a smooth base, layered with spinach, sweet onions, smoked ham and cheddar. It bakes low and slow over a water bath, because that keeps the texture soft and even. It serves 6 and holds up in the fridge or freezer for reheating later.

5-Ingredient Hash Brown Casserole

Just five ingredients, and everything layers into one 9×13 dish! Hot breakfast sausage, thawed shredded hash browns, cheese, eggs and milk are the whole list for this 5-Ingredient Hash Brown Casserole. Bake it right away, or cover it and refrigerate it overnight. It feeds 8, which helps when the whole family stays over for Christmas.

Holiday Crescent Roll Breakfast Casserole

Leftovers from this one cover the week after Christmas. A layer of crescent dough forms the crust for the Holiday Crescent Roll Breakfast Casserole, topped with lean turkey sausage, a mix of eggs and egg whites, and reduced-fat cheddar plus Monterey Jack. Ranch seasoning flavors the egg mixture. It bakes in about 35 minutes, serves 8, and stays good chilled for several days.

Freezer Breakfast Sandwiches and Egg Bites

Freezer-Friendly Cottage Cheese Egg Bites

I like making this cottage cheese egg bites recipe on a Sunday so breakfast is handled for the week! Eggs and cottage cheese blend until fluffy, then bake low at 300°F in a muffin pan with chopped spinach, diced pepper and onion stirred in. For Christmas, freeze the 12 bites on a sheet pan, bag them, and reheat a few while the coffee brews.

Bell Pepper Egg Rings

Use one red and one green pepper and these look right at home on Christmas morning! Thick bell pepper rings get a sear in olive oil, then an egg cracks into the center of each one and cooks under a lid. Make the bell pepper eggs a day ahead, store them in an airtight container, and reheat them gently in a skillet.

Freezer-Friendly Bacon and Sausage Breakfast Sandwiches

Breakfast becomes a two-minute job with these make-ahead freezer breakfast sandwiches. Toasted English muffins hold a cooked egg, a slice of Gouda and either bacon or a sausage patty, then each one gets wrapped in parchment and frozen. The whole batch of 6 comes together in under an hour, and from there it’s a quick reheat whenever you need one.

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuits

Want a hot breakfast in about 45 seconds? I make a batch of these breakfast biscuit sandwiches and freeze them. The two-ingredient dough is just self-rising flour and Greek yogurt (I use Chobani nonfat plain), and each biscuit gets bacon, a round of scrambled egg and reduced-fat American cheese.

Baked Breakfast Taquitos

These are the grab-and-go breakfast everyone fights over! Eggs, egg whites and Greek yogurt scramble with pepper jack, red bell pepper, green onion and cilantro, then roll into 6-inch tortillas and bake at 425°F. The batch of 14 freezer breakfast taquitos reheats from frozen. I use Mission Carb Balance tortillas, and a minute or two under the broiler crisps them up before you dunk them in salsa.

Christmas Pancakes, Muffins and Oatmeal

Gingerbread Pancakes

Make these ahead and nobody has to stand at the griddle on Christmas morning. Brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and allspice turn plain pancakes into Christmas gingerbread pancakes. Cook the batch ahead, freeze them flat on a baking sheet for up to 2 months, then warm them straight from frozen in the toaster. Whipped cream and gingerbread man sprinkles make Christmas morning feel special without much extra work.

Protein Mini Muffins

Bake these in early December and pull out a handful for the kids on Christmas morning! Kodiak Cakes Buttermilk Power Cakes mix, ground flax and mini chocolate chips bake into 24 bite-size flapjack mini muffins in under 25 minutes. I suggest the mini chips so every bite gets some chocolate.

Greek Yogurt Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Bright lemon is a nice break from all the holiday cinnamon. Greek yogurt keeps these lemon yogurt muffins tender, with zest from 2 lemons and a spoonful of poppy seeds in the batter. Freeze the extra muffins unglazed, then thaw them and add the powdered sugar and lemon juice glaze the morning you serve them so they taste fresh from the bakery.

Christmas Muffin Tops

Green, red and white, with a surprise ingredient! Spinach blended into almond milk gives these Christmas Muffin Tops their green color, with cranberries and white chocolate chips for red and white. Ginger and cardamom season the thick batter, which bakes into rough mounds in about 30 minutes. Wrap each one in plastic and stash them in the freezer until Christmas morning.

Spinach and Cheese Scones

Want something savory next to the cinnamon rolls? The Spinach and Cheese Scones mix sharp cheddar and fresh spinach pureed with milk into the dough, with an optional swirl of cream cheese. You can shape the triangles ahead and bake them while everyone opens presents. The recipe makes 10 savory scones for a Christmas brunch table.

Slow Cooker Overnight Pecan Pie Oatmeal

Wake up to breakfast already made! Steel cut oats, water, evaporated skim milk, brown sugar and maple flavoring go into a small slow cooker before bed for the Slow Cooker Overnight Pecan Pie Oatmeal. It cooks on low for 6 to 8 hours, so it’s ready when everyone wakes up. Top each bowl with chopped pecans, extra brown sugar and real maple syrup.

Overnight and Make-Ahead Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze

Feeding a crowd on Christmas morning? These make-ahead cinnamon rolls get shaped the night before. Soft yeast dough gets brushed with butter, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and sliced into 12 rolls that rest covered in the fridge overnight. Bake them fresh in the morning and spread on the tangy cream cheese glaze while they’re warm.

Carrot Cake Cruffins

Learning how to make cruffins is simpler than it looks! Grated carrots cooked with brown sugar, walnuts, raisins and cardamom fill strips of rich yeast dough that bake in a muffin pan. After the first rise, the dough can sit covered in the fridge overnight, so you can make it on Christmas Eve and finish them in the morning. A lemony cream cheese topping finishes all 12.

Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls

Eggnog in both the dough and the icing makes these extra festive! The Eggnog Cinnamon Rolls get a browned butter, brown sugar and cinnamon filling and a pinch of nutmeg, and the batch makes 12. Bake them early in the week, then keep them in the refrigerator for about 5 days or in the freezer, and warm each one in the microwave.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Nobody has to wake up early to start the dough for these. The second rise for the Overnight Cinnamon Rolls happens in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, let the pan come to room temperature, bake, and spread on the cream cheese frosting. Splitting the work over two days keeps Christmas morning calm.

How to Plan a Make-Ahead Christmas Breakfast

The trick to a calm make-ahead Christmas morning breakfast is spreading the work out over the week. Here’s the order I follow:

• Early December: bake and freeze the egg bites, breakfast sandwiches, biscuits, taquitos, gingerbread pancakes and muffins. Freeze them in a single layer first, then bag them.
• 1 to 2 days before: bake the blueberry cottage cheese bake or the oatmeal bake, and cook the bell pepper egg rings. They reheat in minutes.
• Christmas Eve: assemble the strata, French toast casserole, hash brown casserole or another overnight Christmas breakfast casserole, shape the cinnamon rolls, and start the slow cooker oatmeal before bed.
• Christmas morning: let the cold casserole sit on the counter while the oven heats, then bake it, checking the center before you pull it out.

Pull frozen items into the fridge the night before so they reheat evenly. The same plan works if you’d rather turn these make-ahead Christmas brunch ideas into a late-morning spread.

Lighter Swaps for a Healthy Make-Ahead Christmas Breakfast

A few simple changes keep the holiday morning feeling special without a heavy start to a big food day:

• Use turkey sausage: I’d grab a lean turkey sausage roll for my strata, and the crescent roll casserole uses lean turkey sausage too.
• Add cottage cheese or Greek yogurt: blending cottage cheese into eggs, or using Greek yogurt in biscuit dough, adds protein without changing the flavor much.
• Mix whole eggs with egg whites: the taquitos and the cottage cheese egg bake both do this.
• Balance the table: set out one savory pan, one baked treat, and a bowl of fresh fruit, so everyone can build a plate they like.

Frequently Asked Questions