Brunch Ideas: 13 Classic Brunch Recipes

Brunch is a meal usually served from late morning to early afternoon. The word “brunch” is a portmanteau of “breakfast” and “lunch.” Typically, you eat brunch in lieu of both breakfast and lunch.

Brunch menus feature a wide range of sweet and savory breakfast and lunch foods. Some of the most common brunch menu items include:

1. 1. Eggs: You can serve fried eggs, eggs Benedict, omelets, and even breakfast burritos at brunch.
2. 2. Bread: French toast, pancakes, waffles, and other bread-based dishes, like burgers and sandwiches, are popular brunch foods.
   
3. 3. Fruit: Berries, apples, melons, and citrus fruits are popular sides to have with brunch. Fruit can also be a topper for pancakes, waffles, french toast, and yogurt.
4. 4. Pastries: Baked goods such as donuts, banana bread, cinnamon rolls, carrot cake, coffee cake, or scones add some sweetness to brunch.
5. 5. Alcohol: Alcoholic beverages, such as Mimosas and Bloody Marys, are popular brunch-time drinks.

If you need some brunch ideas for your next at-home gathering, consult the brunch recipes below.

1. 1. Breakfast burrito: A breakfast burrito consists of a flour tortilla tightly wrapped around a filling of various American breakfast ingredients. Breakfast burritos typically feature bacon or sausage, potatoes, eggs, veggies, jalapeño, and salsa, but you can also make them with vegetarian or vegan ingredients. You can also make breakfast tacos by putting the ingredients of the breakfast burrito in a corn tortilla. Top breakfast burritos and breakfast tacos with sour cream, salsa, and avocado.
2. 2. Cinnamon rolls: A cinnamon roll is a sweet rolled pastry made with a yeasted dough, gooey cinnamon-sugar filling, and topped with cream cheese icing. There are many variations of cinnamon roll recipes, including rolls with pistachio or salted caramel apple.
3. 3. Dutch baby: A Dutch baby is a large popover baked in a cast-iron skillet. This billowy popover is sometimes called a German pancake, a Dutch baby pancake, or an oven pancake. A Dutch baby is baked in the oven, whereas pancakes and crepes cook on the stovetop. Dutch babies have an eggy flavor, fluffy texture, and tend to swell around the edges and dip in the middle. You can fill the center of a Dutch baby with toppings such as fresh fruit, maple syrup, and powdered sugar.
4. 4. Eggs Benedict: Eggs Benedict is a classic breakfast dish made of a bread base (such as an English muffin, toast, or even a crab cake) and stacked high with a soft poached egg. It’s topped off with hollandaise sauce, an emulsion of egg yolks, melted butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper and spice.
5. 5. French toast: French toast, known as pain perdu ("lost bread") in France, is a breakfast and brunch dish made with old bread slices that are soaked in a milk and egg mixture and fried until golden brown and crispy. Often served with fresh fruit and a glass of orange juice, French toast is one of America's favorite breakfast foods.
6. 6. Frittata: Frittata is an Italian open-faced omelet that features a mixture of eggs and dairy and highlights a variety of other ingredients like meat, cheese, and vegetables. Think of frittata as a crustless, low-carb quiche. A frittata can be served at room temperature. The name “frittata” roughly translates to “fried” in Italian, due to the dish being prepared in a skillet. Popular frittata toppings include feta cheese, zucchini, and artichoke.
   
7. 7. Granola: Granola is a breakfast and snack food made with a base mixture of rolled, old-fashioned oats and sweetener (such as honey or brown sugar), then baked on a sheet pan. Granola can have a wide range of mix-ins added to the oats, but common ones include dried fruit, chocolate, and nuts. You can serve granola with yogurt and fruit. Set up a yogurt parfait bar at home for an easy brunch, and let your guests make their own parfait creation.
   
8. 8. Omelet: Omelets are beaten eggs fried in fat in a pan. They can be folded, rolled, or cooked flat like a pancake. You can serve omelets stuffed with toppings or plain. The word comes from the Latin lamella (“thin plate”), and as such, most omelets should be cooked in a thin layer—about a quarter of an inch thick.
9. 9. Pancakes: Pancakes are a light, flat cake made from flour, eggs, milk or buttermilk, and butter, often prepared on a frying pan or a griddle. Pancakes can be made with regular flour or gluten-free flour. You can top pancakes with maple syrup, blueberries, chocolate chips, cinnamon apples, ricotta, peanut butter, and any topping you want.
10. 10. Quiche: A quiche is made of eggs, an indulgent amount of dairy, and any number of filling combinations, from ham and cheddar cheese to garlicky mushrooms and sauteed spinach—all nestled in a basic pastry crust. A quiche is a make-ahead dish, which you can prepare ahead of time and reheat when it's ready to serve.
11. 11. Scones: Scones are a biscuit-like quick bread, usually made of wheat or oatmeal flour, and baking powder for leavening. The dough is rolled into a disc, from which wedges are cut and baked until golden brown with a flaky, soft interior. Scones can be sweet or savory, and popular mix-ins include chocolate chips, dried fruits and nuts, and cheddar cheese. You can serve scones with clotted cream, jams and jellies, lemon curd, and infused butter.
12. 12. Scrambled eggs: Scrambled eggs is a dish made from the whisked together yolks and whites of eggs, sometimes combined with butter, cream, or cheese, and cooked over low or medium heat (never high heat) to achieve varying textures. You’ll find variations on creamy scrambled eggs with chives or other fresh herbs on almost every brunch menu. A classic breakfast dish is scrambled eggs served with hash browns and bacon.
13. 13. Shakshuka: Shakshuka is a North African dish of eggs poached in a flavorful harissa-spiked sauce that has become a popular breakfast and lunch throughout the Middle East. The most famous version of shakshuka is made with red bell peppers and tomatoes, but shakshuka can be made with nearly any vegetable. Try adding potatoes in winter or eggplants in spring, or make a green shakshuka with spinach, tomatillos, or green bell peppers. Shakshuka is almost always served with crusty bread to sop up the combination of tart sauce and rich egg yolk.

Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Alice Waters, Gabriela Cámara, Niki Nakayama, Chef Thomas Keller, Gordon Ramsay, Yotam Ottolenghi, Dominique Ansel, and more.