High Protein Breakfast Casserole for Pregnancy and Beyond

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and I like to prioritize a healthy, high protein breakfast to fuel me up and keep me going. This veggie-filled, vegetarian-friendly, gluten-free high protein breakfast casserole egg bake (with a dairy-free option) contains a whopping 30 grams of protein per serving, which means that just eating one serving of this casserole gets you well on the way toward the daily protein intake recommendations for pregnant women. Additionally, it’s a make-ahead-and-reheat kind of breakfast, which is my favorite kind, so I don’t have to cook a hot breakfast every morning!

Why is a high protein breakfast important in pregnancy?

I haven’t always been as committed to packing protein into breakfast. I LOVE oatmeal and could probably eat it a different way every morning of the week and be happy. But, I’m currently 24 weeks pregnant with my fourth baby, and with each pregnancy, I’ve refined how I approach nutrition. After Inter-uterine Growth Restriction diagnoses with my first two pregnancies, I tried to find ways to help fuel my body to build babies more effectively. Although I’m not someone who is a big “meat eater,” I do think that when it comes to building a healthy baby, my body needs more protein than usual. I made sure to eat more protein in my 3rd pregnancy, and I had no problems with IUGR. So that’s the strategy I’m using with this pregnancy as well. Including regular consumption of this high protein breakfast casserole!

This idea is backed up by a lot of evidence: the American Pregnancy Association sites 75-100 grams of protein per day as the optimal intake for pregnant women. The Mayo Clinic advocates 71 grams of protein per day. And this article using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys upholds the 71-grams-of-protein-per-day estimation (for 2nd and 3rd trimester). Interestingly, the survey also concluded that about one in eight women have inadequate protein intake during 2nd and 3rd trimester.

So, I’ve dialed in my breakfast to get about 1/3 of the total protein intake needed for the day. I take a temporary break from oatmeal for breakfast, and look forward to treating myself to it regularly once I start breastfeeding.

What You Need For Healthy, High Protein Egg Bake Casserole Breakfast:

The ingredients for this egg bake are pretty basic. However, sometimes Nutritional Yeast can be a bit difficult to find. Check the health food/natural food section of your local grocery store. I include the Nutritional Yeast for several reasons: it adds a bit of extra protein, and it also adds an extra cheesy-type flavor I enjoy. Additionally, it is high in B-vitamins. Vitamin B12 has been connected to healthy spinal cord development in the baby, increased energy for the Mama during pregnancy, and Vitamin B6 has been effective in reducing morning sickness symptoms. The rest of the ingredients for this high protein breakfast casserole should definitely be available in a standard grocery store:

• Eggs
• Low-Fat Cottage Cheese
• Nutritional Yeast Flakes
• Colby or Edam Cheese
• Feta Cheese
• Mushrooms
• Broccoli
• Kale
• Bell Peppers
• Onions
• Zucchini
• Tomatoes
• Salt and Pepper
• Other seasoning or herbs of choice

Method for Making the Egg Bake:

It usually takes me about 35 minutes to get the breakfast casserole ready to bake. And then I need another 35-45 minutes to bake. Having pre-grated cheese or being very efficient with chopping veggies might cut a few minutes off of your time! The basic steps are as follows:

• Preheat the oven to 200 C fan bake (390 F convection)
• Wash and chop all the veggies
• Sauté all the veggies in a little bit of olive or avocado oil, add nutritional yeast and seasoning once veggies are soft
• Grate or cube the Colby/Edam cheese
• Grease a 9×13 inch casserole dish
• Dump the sautéed veggies with seasonings into the casserole dish
• Spoon cottage cheese and crumble feta cheese evenly over the top
• Sprinkle grated cheese over the top
• Crack all the eggs into a mixing bowl, whisk until smooth
• Pour eggs over the top of the grated cheese
• Bake for 35-45 minutes
• Let cool, slice into 8 even pieces, and store in fridge

I tend to make this on Sunday evening so I have breakfast all sorted for the whole week. It fits in a 9×13 inch casserole dish, and then I cut it into 8 even pieces, which gives me 8 servings. I usually eat about 5 servings of this high protein breakfast casserole during the week. The other servings get consumed by my husband or the kiddos!

I don’t like my egg bakes to be really watery. So I chop all the veggies up and sauté them to get excess moisture out. The eggs, cheese, and cottage cheese work well to bind everything together once the extra water content has come out in the sautéing process.

Variations to the Ingredients:

Dairy-Free Option: About 10 grams of protein per serving come from dairy. If you are sensitive to dairy, there are options! You could eliminate the cheeses, and instead add 4 cups of cooked lentils to the sautéed veggies. The lentils would replace about 8 of the 10 grams of protein per serving. In addition, you could toss a cup of cashews into a blender along with a tablespoon of garlic powder and 2 tsp salt. Blend until it is a smooth “flour.” Sprinkle the cashews on top of the casserole before you bake it. It won’t quite be a cheese substitute, but it’ll help make up some of the flavor. And it’ll make up the last 2 grams of protein per serving, creating a dairy-free high protein breakfast casserole.

Vegetable Options: The beauty of an egg bake like this is that you can use almost any vegetables! I’ve thrown in asparagus, eggplant, watercress, and silverbeet at different times. Sometimes I don’t have tomatoes on hand, or zucchini, or bell peppers, and it still tastes great. Feel free to work with what is in season for the cheapest cost. During the winter, it would probably be nice to put some butternut squash or pumpkin in, too. However, the nutritional info is based on the recipe as written.

Cheese Options: I really like to have the cottage cheese in the casserole for the extra kick of protein. You could whisk greek yogurt into the eggs instead of putting the cottage cheese into the casserole, though. I’m sure different varieties of cheese would be delicious – mozzarella, cheddar, gouda, havarti, etc. Maybe even blue cheese or spoonfuls of cream cheese.

Serving, Storage, and Reheating Instructions:

This recipe makes 8 servings for me. The servings are pretty generous sized, but most of the time, this is the only thing I’m eating for breakfast. And I’m usually very hungry for breakfast! (Did I mention that I REALLY like breakfast?!) I consider 1/8 of the casserole about the equivalent of a nice, 2-egg veggie omelette. You could make the casserole into more servings and maintain a decent amount of protein for breakfast if you added some whole grain bread with nut butter, or greek yogurt with fruit to your meal. Of course, as far as delicious tastes, I have been crazy about adding a slice of my sourdough cinnamon swirl bread slathered thickly with butter to accompany these egg bake slices this Christmas season. I realize, that might not be the healthiest, but it sure is good!

I keep the individual-servings of casserole in the fridge for up to 5 days. The United States Department of Agriculture website states that egg stratas (similar to this) can be refrigerated for 3-4 days. Alternatively, stratas can be frozen up to a few months. So it might be wise to put a couple of the slices in the freezer and pull them out later in the week when you need them. I haven’t had any experience with this particular recipe going bad in the fridge, but I do urge you to take empowered responsibility for yourself around food-borne illness possibilities!

To reheat, I simply place a slice of the egg bake into a bowl, cut it into fourths with a knife, cover with a plate, and cook in the microwave for 2 minutes. Every microwave’s settings are different, so you’ll just want to make sure that it is piping hot all the way through!