10 Crowd-pleasing Holiday Brunch Recipes

It seems mildly surreal that Christmas is in FIVE days, people.

Truth be told, I’m extremely behind on my Christmas Activities list, but I plan to remedy that over the next few days. The time crunch means that I will now have to do many of the activities simultaneously, but that’s okay. Wrapping presents drunk on mulled wine and stuffed with three different types of cookies while watching Elf, singing carols, and opening 20+ days on an advent calendar in my Christmas onesie will be super fun. I was born to multitask!

How are you doing on your Holiday activities/to-dos? More importantly, have you decided on your festive menus yet?? If not (no judgment), I’ve got some ideas for fun apps and drinks, and I always recommend working a slow-roasted beef tenderloin in somewhere. (The Thanksgiving Guide can also be helpful in pulling off an epic Christmas feast.) And today, I thought we’d cover some of my favorite recipes for an stress-free holiday brunch. They’re all relatively low-maintenance, and most have prep-ahead options, so you can spend less time cooking and more time elf-ing about with your family/friends on Christmas morning. Hallelujah!

Domesticate ME!’s Best Holiday Brunch Recipes:

Morning Glory Bread. If you’ve never had morning glory bread, it’s a warmly spiced carrot-apple quick bread that practically screams, “COZY.” I love the idea of serving this with an array of spreads and toppings (cream cheese! butter! almond butter! honey! cinnamon sugar!) as part of a larger bfast feast with fresh fruit, yogurt, etc. Oh, and you can easily bake this bread as muffins if that’s more your speed. Start checking them around the 15-minute mark.

Steak and Egg Sliders with Herbed Avocado Spread. These breakfast sandos may seem intimidating (they do look fancy as shit, I know), but they’re actually pretty easy to pull off. Especially when you employ the most magical technique for poaching a dozen eggs at once! I recommend cooking the steak and prepping the avocado spread the night before (just make sure to press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the spread to prevent browning), so all you’ll have to do the morning of is poach the eggs and assemble.

Blueberry-Banana Oatmeal Pancakes. Personally, pancakes are a must-have for holiday brunching. I love these ones because a.) they’re made in the blender, and b.) they happen to be extremely good for you, which helps to balance out excess bacon and mimosa consumption.

Baked Oatmeal with Orange and Almonds. This is such a great (and pretty!) recipe for Christmas morning, peeps. It’s great warm or at room temperature, and you can serve it on its own (you can actually pick up slices with your hands at room temp), topped with yogurt or whipped cream, or drowned  in your favorite milk. And if citrus isn’t your jam, feel free to experiment with any fruits you like!

Sun-dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Egg Sandwiches with Crispy Prosciutto. With a little planning, these flavor-blasted sandwiches come together in a snap. You can crisp the prosciutto ahead of time, and then you’re really just toasting some English muffins and scrambling eggs come brunch. And heaven and nature sing…

Ricotta Pancakes with Bourbon Whipped Cream. These are just so FLUFFY, and they make people so HAPPY.

Sour Cream Pumpkin Muffins. If you’re not pumpkined out by now, I beg you to consider incorporating these delightful little muffins into your holiday spread. They’re simple, incredibly moist (muahaha), and perfect on their own or toasted and spread with a lil bit of butter.

Slow Cooker Apple Pie Oatmeal. Everyone can appreciate a “set it and forget it” holiday breakfast (especially those with small children that like to attack rise at 6 a.m.), and this one’s a winner. Plus, you’ll wake up to a house that smells like warm apple pie. Please make sure to use steel-cut oats NOT rolled oats!!! 

Cinnamon French Toast Bake with Bacon. This badass bake was one of the first recipes I ever posted on this site (hence the beautiful iPhone photo), but it remains one of my favorite brunch recipes to date. It’s bread pudding-esque and has crispy bacon baked in, people. DO IT.

Chicken Sausage Breakfast Tacos. For those who appreciate a non-traditional holiday brunch, I highly recommend going the breakfast taco route. If you prep the chicken sausage mixture and onions the night before, you’ll only need to scramble the eggs and warm tortillas in the a.m. I like to set up a little taco bar with sausage, eggs, and toppings and let people assemble their own. Fiesta, fiesta.

Merry Everything, people of the Internet!! Your weird blog lady loves you and hopes you’re surrounded by lots of love, laughter, and delicious things for the remainder of 2017! (And should things go south at any point, remember to breathe. And chug calcium-magnesium…)