Christmas morning is the perfect time to enjoy an indulgent, relaxingย breakfast or brunch — without any hassle in the kitchen. This easy recipe for Overnight Ham, Egg and Cheese Monkey Breadย takes only a few minutes to prep and can be baked right away or chilled until the morning. The savory breakfast casserole is special enough to celebrateย the holidays or serve to guests.

Does your family sit down to a special brunch on Christmas morning? It’s definitely a tradition in our house, and I spend a lot of time planning the perfect menu! In addition to muffins, pastries, and fruit, I always like to include a savory breakfast casserole as well. My only requirement? Everything has to be ready the night before!
In a house full of little boys, there’s NO CHANCE that I’ll have any spare moments on Christmas morning to stand in the kitchen making a fancy meal.
Fortunately, this savory monkey bread meets all of my criteria. The family thinks it’s delicious, it’s easy {heck, it uses refrigerated biscuit dough!}, and I can make it ahead of time.
These three factors also mean that it’s a perfect weeknight dinner! No need to wait until the holidays — you can serve this any night of the week when you’re too busy to spend more than a few minutes in the kitchen (isn’t that every night? Hah.).
HOW TO MAKE HAM, EGG AND CHEESE MONKEY BREAD BREAKFAST CASSEROLE:
This ham, egg and cheese breakfast casserole only requires about 10 minutes of prep, thanks to help from some shortcut ingredients. To start, you’ll need eggs, milk, and refrigerated biscuit dough.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk.
Chop the biscuit dough into quarters,
and then toss the dough in your egg mixture.
Next up: the grated cheese, diced ham, and green onions. I use an 8 ounce package of pre-diced ham for a shortcut, but this recipe is also a great way to use up leftovers from your holiday ham!
Stir the cheese, ham and onions into the egg mixture. That’s it!
At this point, you can cover the bowl and keep it in the refrigerator overnight OR you can bake it right away.
If you choose to refrigerate the mixture overnight, just make sure that you give it all a good stir in the morning before transferring it to your baking dish.
After about 30 minutes in a 350 degree F oven, you’ll be greeted by the most beautiful puffy, golden brown breakfast casserole. I honestly can’t think of a better way to start the day!
COOK’S TIPS AND RECIPE VARIATIONS:
- I like it with ham, but you can substitute with your favorite cooked meat such as sausage or bacon!
- Mix up the cheeses! I used sharp cheddar, but you can pick your favorite grated cheese instead. American, Swiss, or Gouda would all be great.
- You need a total of about 20 ounces of refrigerated biscuit dough. If you can’t find two of the small (10.2 ounce) cans, then just use one full can and part of an additional can to total 20 ounces of dough.
- If your biscuits start to get too brown on top while the egg finishes baking, simply cover loosely with foil.
- I used a small, deep 2-quart dish, so my casserole took a bit longer to cook through. You want to bake it until it’s no longer jiggly and the eggs are set. My deep casserole dish took about 30-33 minutes to set. If you’re using a shallow 2-quart dish, your casserole may be done in as little as 25 minutes.
- You do NOT have to prepare the monkey bread the night before! If the prep-ahead option is most convenient, great. Otherwise, bake it right away! Either method works.
- If you choose to prep the mixture in advance, make sure that you give the mixture a good stir in the morning before transferring it to your baking dish.
What to serve withHam, Egg and Cheese Savory Monkey Bread:
There are so many other easy recipes to add to your holiday brunch! Here are a few options that pair nicely with the savory breakfast casserole:
- 2-Ingredient Pumpkin Gingerbread
- 5-Minute Cranberry Fluff Salad
- Cranberry Baked Oatmeal
- Overnight Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread
- Mom’s Cranberry Bread
- Dump-and-Bake French Toast Casserole

Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
This post was originally published in December, 2014. It was updated in November, 2018.




















If using another meat, would you cook it before hand? I have some bacon to use up.
Hi, Briana! Yes, if you’re using bacon, you’ll want to cook it first. ๐
My son doesnโt like onions. Any suggestions for a substitute? One person mentioned broccoli-I wonder if you would need to cook ahead of time?
Hi, Louise! I would just omit the onions altogether! If you do decide to use broccoli, I would steam it first. ๐
Is a 9×13 dish going to be too big for the regular recipe?
Hi, Louise! Yes, if you use a 9 x 13 dish, I would suggest doubling the recipe (using twice as many ingredients). Otherwise I worry that the casserole will be too thin and spread out.
Can you make this in a crockpot??
Hey, Sarah! I’ve never tried! I’m sure that you could do that, but the texture would be very different because the Crock Pot holds in the moisture and condensation, so the monkey bread would be really damp (and not browned and crispy on top). It would probably still taste good, it would just be a different dish. ๐
Hi Blair
This recipe looks delicious and easy. I want to make it ahead of time and am wondering if 12 hours is the maximum of time it can sit in the refrigerator before baking. My schedule would allow me to prep approximately 20 hours before baking. Do you foresee a problem with that?
I just made it and o.m.g I whish I could post a pic of it
Yay! So glad that you like it!
I’m slowly writing the ingredients down for making your breakfast casseroles into a notebook for when I go to the grocery. This sounds good for me. I make a lot of sandwiches since I’m single but that gets old after a while. This would be a good way to use similar ingredients but in a different configuration. Thanks!
We hope you enjoy, Marion!
Very well explained. I liked how you addressed possible errors and offered solutions too. That shows you really know the topic. Itโs hard to find content this good. Keep it coming!