Cheesy Breakfast Egg and Polenta Casserole Recipe (2024)

I did not have unprepared polenta on hand, but did have a roll of Trader Joe's polenta. I sliced it in the bottom of the pan, brushed it with butter and broiled it a bit to brown before adding the other ingredients. I also added scallions and more than doubled the cheese (applying in two separate layers on top of the polenta and over the veggies and meat). Used ten eggs. Cooking time was more like 22 minutes, but I dislike runny whites. Came out great, no texture issues.

Super good and simple. Used baby spinach (uncooked), sauteed mushrooms, chopped green onions, parsley, and leftover pieces of Smithfield ham (so I was sparing with salt).It took at least five - seven more minutes at 400 degrees to turn the eggs from see-through to white. Think next time I will cook it at 425 degrees. VERY tasty, and the polenta made a good base. And a little hot sauce was a good touch.

I've made this three times now, and I am doing it again for a celebration birthday brunch this weekend. I made the polenta a little richer (more milk than water) and made sure the eggs were at room temperature. I'm adding chopped roasted red peppers to it this weekend. This is the one great meal!!I'm serving it with the caramelized citrus with yogurt recipe also from the NYT.

Is there a way to make this the day before and without the runny eggs? We are traveling with the dish...

I just made this with whatever leftovers I had in the fridge (bacon, mushrooms, black pudding, broccoli - all fried in the bacon fat before adding to the polenta) and it was delicious!

I always cook my polenta is skim milk instead of water when it’s finished I add 8oz marscapone and 3 Tbs butter. Never use instant (Learned from Cookbook author Perla Meyers ) the creamiest ever)

Wonder if you could cook the polenta the day before and hold it in the fridge for the next morning? Anybody tried that?

Made this as per instructions the first time. It was tasty but soupy. Thanks to all the notes, I reduced water by 1 c. For the polenta and reduced the milk by half. This made a solid base for the rest of the ingredients and was delicious.

It cracks me up when I read notes like, "I changed X to Y, and didn't have Z, so I added D, E, and left out F... and wow, what a great recipe!" But here I go: I only had cooked polenta, so I cubed it, fried it, then made nests of the cubes in a pan. Cooked down a can of diced tomatoes with S&P and a ton of fresh oregano, and spooned that into the nest bottom. Cracked eggs into each nest, then topped with fontina, prosciutto, and more fresh oreg. Someone asked for the recipe... I laughed!

We Southernized this dish. Cooked Geechee Boy Grits - Edisto SC, instead of polenta. Had bought beets, used the greens because they were in good shape. Sautéed with some onion. Fried 5 slices of bacon, chopped it up. Used 1 cup cheddar we had in the fridge. Cooked the grits while doing all the above. Added the eggs as directed. Ate big, was delicious!

In my experience, adding dairy doesn't reduce cooking time. It just makes the finished dish richer and more indulgent. While dairy-free is traditional, adding cream, milk and/or cheese can be impressively delish, esp in dishes we make for entertaining. Is it traditional? Nope. Is it health conscious? Of course not; but then, even made with water, cornmeal isn't exactly a kale and blueberry salad. Is it yummy? Sure is!

I made this for breakfast on Christmas morning to excellent results. However, based on the notes of others and my preferences, I made a few tweaks: i added a little more salt to the polenta and a bunch more cheese (including some parmesan). I also sauteed the meat (smoked pancetta & sweet and hot capicolla, closer to 8 ounces in total) along with an onion and some baby spinach (a 5 ounce box; next time I’d use at least twice the amount of spinach) before layering it atop the polenta. Delicious!

Cooked last night. Headed to the pantry for my polenta, and saw it was not quick cooking and would take 30 minutes. Ugh! I'm hungry. So, many thanks to the poster who referenced the roll of Trader Joe's polenta in her pantry - we had one as well.Base: thin slices of polenta. Then layer of marinara sauce from the fridge. Layer of sharp cheddar. Eggs on top (wells a little challenging with the sliced polenta, but wemade it work.) Salt, pepper, basil. 17 min @ 425. Delicious!

Worked well, very tasty with pepperoni as the meat. Don’t leave it in longer than 15 minutes or the egg yolks will be too hard.

Made it with sauteed spinach and zucchini with some red chile flake, and left out the butter and mozz and instead sprinkled some goat cheese on top. Amazing! good with fresh herbs too. lots of pepper :)

This was really good! I found the polenta was a bit loose, so would cut back on the milk a little the next time. Very versatile and delicious!

This popped up in my email yesterday and made it today for Easter! Really great! I reduced the water by half per comments but left the milk and cheese as is, and it was a nice firmness. Used mozzarella, spinach, bacon, and some peppers and tomatoes, with basil on top. It was excellent! Cooked for 15 min and in my oven that worked, but I’d reduce next time for the eggs to still be runny. Mine were more jammy-hard. Really comes together quick for a standout dish!

Are you supposed to add the egg before the toppings?

This is a great "clean out your fridge" base recipe.I used ready-made polenta placed rounds (some whole, some chopped) to cover the bottom of the baking pan. Following someone else's advice, I brushed with melted butter and warmed it a bit.For the "filling", I used a mix of arugula, chopped spinach, shredded cheddar and burrata, capers, diced ham, diced tomatoes and some garlic. Had to increase oven temp and cooking time, and did let it set up for 10 min before serving.

Well I must have done it wrong, from the very beginning. I’m newer at cooking things that aren’t very basic and I’m guessing my polenta was too watery. Should have looked at the other notes first and reduced the water in the recipe. I’ll definitely try again soon though, because the example photo looks delicious!

I enjoyed this concept! Putting the polenta in runny is really great. I think any breakfast recipe with eggs though is not complete without tomatoes, so I add a layer of crushed tomato sauce on top--so tasty!

Bake for 18 minutes to keep a runny yolk

Start with 3 cups of water to cook the polenta rather than 4 to make it a bit less runny.

Great idea for GF brunch! Sounds amazing with sausage and spinach, maybe mushrooms and onions too! Yum!

I used coarse-grained cornmeal and cooked it for ~ 20 min. Worked great and it has more body than polenta.Wonderful, fast dish for a holiday brunch.

I wanted to love this, and I didn't. It was fine, but with the milk and cheese I found it too rich. My husband loved it though

Fantastic flavor and very filling! We used 4 cups of milk instead of water for the polenta, and a splash of heavy cream, then cheese. We did NOT use the extra cup of fluid. We made this twice and appears the cooking time is off a little, even for runny eggs. But don’t have timing figured out, knowing that eggs will continue to cook during the 5 minutes at rest.

wow! great, going to try the base under my shrimp in my shrimp and grits recipe had to cook it longer than 15 minutes

Where is the fontina/ mozzarella in the prep description?

Very easy and yummy meal that entire family (including picky teenagers) enjoyed. Agree with other comments--only used 3C of water and cooked it for closer to 25 min so whites weren't runny (but unfortunately yolks cooked thru). We ate it with a salad and only a small portion left, so I'd say feeds 5 max.