Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole With Hollandaise Sauce

Start your holiday celebration with this Christmas morning breakfast casserole! The classic egg bake is upgraded with toasted English muffin bread and topped with a deliciously creamy hollandaise sauce!

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I could listen to Christmas music year-round, and I love looking and trees, lights, ornaments and decorations. Every year around this time I just want to bask in the holiday glory and enjoy every moment. 

As much as I wish I could just sit back and enjoy Christmas, it's also a super busy time of year. I don't know about you, but my to-do list is especially crazy right now! I have cards to order and send. There are concerts and holiday programs to attend, shopping to do and gifts to wrap. 

Even though I have my list and my schedule, it seems I'm always busy right up until Christmas Eve. When it's all done, I'm ready to relax and watch my kids take in the magic of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

At that point, the last thing I want to do is spend precious time in the kitchen cooking instead of spending time with my family on my favorite holiday.

Because of this, I love to make a Christmas morning casserole that can be fully prepared a day, or even two days before it's served. 

This Christmas morning casserole recipe is a traditional egg bake, but it's made special because it's inspired by the ingredients and flavors of eggs benedict.

It starts with Canadian bacon and specially toasted English muffin bread. Adding in eggs and cheese turns it into a classic egg casserole.

When it's done baking, it's topped with a smooth and creamy microwave hollandaise sauce that you can easily make in under two minutes.

All in all, this casserole is a delicious way to start Christmas morning, and everyone in my family loves it! 

How to Make Christmas Morning Casserole

This casserole uses canola oil, which you can find in the cooking oil aisle, because it's the perfect cooking oil for favorite holiday dishes.

Canola oil is known as the world's healthiest cooking oil, and it has the least amount of saturated fat out of any common edible oils available. You can use it for grilling, frying, baking, and more. Its delicate taste makes it an ideal oil to use in any recipe that calls for vegetable oil.

My Christmas morning casserole uses canola oil in both the egg bake and the microwave hollandaise sauce.

Making hollandaise sauce with oil instead of butter gives you the same delicious sauce with less saturated fat. That's a big win!

Here's how I make my Christmas morning casserole:

First, I melt two tablespoons of butter in the microwave, then mix 2 tablespoons of oil into the butter. Then I brush both sides of English muffin toasting bread with the butter and oil mixture.

The bread gets broiled for a few minutes, then flipped and broiled until both sides are toasted. After it's done, I cut the bread into one-inch cubes.

I put chopped Canadian bacon into the bottom of a greased casserole dish, then top with about half the bread cubes, some shredded cheese (I like cheddar or cojack) and the rest of the bread.

The next step is just pouring a mixture of eggs, milk and seasonings over the bread mixture and refrigerating overnight. 

In the morning, I preheat my oven and bake the casserole for about an hour. I'm always unsure about how to tell when egg bake is cooked enough, so I use a food thermometer. I know my egg bake is done and cooked through when the thermometer reads at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the Christmas morning egg bake is baking, I make the hollandaise sauce to pour over slices of the casserole when it's cooked. 

When it's all done, my family can take a break and eat a delicious breakfast, while I can sit back and just be thankful that we're all together and happy. 

Christmas morning casserole recipe ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 6 ounces Canadian bacon, chopped
• 10 slices English muffin toasting bread
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste

Christmas morning casserole recipe instructions:

1. Mix the butter and oil together. Arrange bread on a baking sheet and brush both sides with the butter/oil mixture. Broil the bread for 1-2 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Cut the toasted bread into cubes and set aside. 
2. Place the Canadian bacon in a greased 2-quart or 13×9 inch baking dish. Top with half the bread, the cheese, and the rest of the bread. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper and pour over the top.
3. Cover the dish with foil and refrigerate overnight. 
4. In the morning, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the foil on the casserole and bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Take the foil off and bake for 15 minutes until the top is brown.
5. Make the microwave hollandaise sauce (recipe below) in the last few minutes. Drizzle the sauce over slices of the Christmas morning egg bake and serve.

Microwave hollandaise sauce recipe ingredients:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper

Microwave hollandaise sauce recipe instructions:

1. Warm oil in microwave for 20 seconds
2. Whisk egg yolks, lemon juice, salt in a microwave safe bowl until smooth. Slowly pour warmed oil into the egg yolk mixture while whisking. 
3. Microwave the mixture for 15 seconds on high. It will be lumpy, so whisk all the lumps out. Microwave for 15 seconds on high and whisk lumps out again. Microwave for 15 more seconds, whisk and serve.