Ham and Cheese Strata

This ham and cheese strata contains layers of ham, cheese, and mushrooms with bread, eggs, and milk for a fabulous weekend or special occasion breakfast.

We all have recipes in our files that we fall back on time and time again, don't we? The ones that we know will always come out perfect and everyone requests over and over again. This Ham and Cheese Strata is one of my old reliables.

This strata is essentially a breakfast casserole, but it's so much more. I could, without much effort, even think of this as a savory bread pudding. Its layers of bread, cheese, ham, and mushrooms combine with the eggs and milk overnight into a glorious dish best enjoyed on a lazy weekend morning.

It's also the perfect centerpiece for a brunch. Everything, including the strata, can be prepared the night before providing you a delicious breakfast or brunch with very little to do in the morning.

Serve the strata with some mixed fresh fruit, buttery croissants, and nice, strong coffee alongside. Take it all out on the deck with some friends or just your sweetheart and the Sunday paper and simply relax. This old reliable recipe is good for any time of the year and often makes an appearance in our home on Christmas morning.

This ham and cheese strata contains layers of ham, cheese, and mushrooms with bread, eggs, and milk for a fabulous weekend or special occasion breakfast. Click To Tweet

How to Make Ham and Cheese Strata

Trim the crusts from five slices of bread, reserving crusts. Cut in half diagonally. Set aside.

Generously butter a 9-inch square baking dish.

Tear the remaining three slices of bread into pieces and place them in the baking dish along with the reserved crusts. Over the bread, layer the cheese, ham, mushrooms, and parsley. To make the recipe really easy, I use packaged grated cheese, an 8-ounce package of chopped baked ham and canned mushrooms. If you want to hand grate the cheese, cook up some ham and use fresh mushrooms please do so! However, I've found that the difference in taste is minuscule.

Arrange the bread triangles in two rows over the layers.

Combine the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread. Try to make sure that each bread triangle gets nicely saturated with milk. Cover the baking dish and chill for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

Bake at 325 degrees for 60 to 75 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

More Breakfast and Brunch Recipes on Never Enough Thyme:

• Sausage Balls with Two Dipping Sauces
• Alpine Eggs
• Creamed Mushrooms with Poached Eggs
• Easy Weekend Breakfast Strata

Strata Recipes from Other Bloggers:

• We Are Not Martha's Spinach, Sausage, and Cheese Strata
• Gale Gand's recipe for Strata on House Beautiful's web site
• Ham and Cheese Strata on Food and Wine
• Smitten Kitchen's Spinach and Cheese Strata

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Ham and Cheese Strata

This ham and cheese strata contains layers of ham, cheese and mushrooms with bread, eggs and milk for a fabulous weekend or special occasion breakfast.

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Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 421kcal

Author: Lana Stuart

Ingredients

• 8 slices sandwich bread
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese grated
• 8 oz. baked ham chopped
• 4 oz. canned sliced mushrooms drained
• ¼ cup chopped parsley or 2 tblsp. dried
• 2 ¼ cups milk
• 4 eggs slightly beaten
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. dry mustard
• ⅛ tsp. paprika
• Dash of pepper

Instructions

• Trim the crusts from five slices of bread, reserving crusts. Cut in half diagonally. Set aside.
• Generously butter a 9-inch square baking dish. Tear the remaining three slices of bread into pieces and place them in the baking dish along with the reserved crusts.
• Over the bread, layer the cheese, ham, mushrooms and parsley. Arrange the bread triangles in two rows over the layers.
• Combine the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover and chill at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 60 to 75 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1g | Calories: 421kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 190mg | Sodium: 1365mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g

Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your health care provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.

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Lana Stuart

Lana Stuart is the cook and occasional traveler here at Never Enough Thyme. Lana has been cooking since she was tall enough to reach the stove and started this blog in 2009 to share her delicious home cooking recipes. You'll find about 700 recipes here so there's sure to be something your family will like!
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