If feeding mom is part of your breakfast or brunch plans this Mother's Day, bake her this golden, bubbling Vegan Cheesy Croissant Casserole and watch her swell with pride at what an amazing cook you turned out to be.
Even better, you don't really have to be an amazing cook (although I am certain you are). If you can lay your hands on vegan croissants, you can mix this one up in less than 20 minutes. Promise. Then let the oven do all the work.
If you can't find vegan croissants, you can use something like Pilsbury crescent rolls, which are accidentally vegan, although you will need to bake them up first.
I also added some vegan Italian sausage into this casserole for texture and protein, and some veggies -- zucchini and a bell pepper. Over all of the goodness went a cheesy cashew milk sauce (you can use a nut-free milk for a nut-free dish).
This casserole is simply, incredibly delicious. The croissants and the sauce and the veggies and the vegan sausage and the herbs melt into each other as they bake and what you get in each forkful is an explosion of flavors and textures. There's gooey and creamy and cheesy and chewy, and there's just that little hit of spice from the black pepper and garlic.
I couldn't stop eating it straight out of the baking dish. In fact, that reminds me I need to warn you: this is so good, you might not want to make it too early, or mom will probably have to go hungry.
Happy Mother's Day!
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- Vegan Hash Brown Casserole
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- Vegan French Toast
- Easy, Cheesy Vegan Dinner Bake
- Vegan French Fry Casserole
- Spiced Potatoes and "Eggs"
- Vegan Sausage Rolls
Vegan Cheesy Croissant Casserole Recipe
Vegan Cheesy Croissant Casserole
Ingredients
- 10 small croissants (10 ounces, cut in halves)
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large cloves garlic
- 7 oz vegan Italian sausage (two links)
- 1 large bell pepper (finely diced)
- 1 large zucchini (finely diced)
- 2 tablespoon oregano (thyme, or a mixture of both, works too)
- 4 oz vegan mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup raw cashews (or 4 cups of any nondairy milk)
- 1 teaspoon dry onion flakes
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake the croissants, cut side down, for five minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Heat the oil. Add the garlic and saute for a few seconds, then add the vegan sausage. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes until the sausage starts to brown. Add the zucchini and bell peppers and the oregano or thyme. Season with pepper and salt and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until they soften a little. Turn off the heat.
- Place the cashews in a blender with 4 cups of water and process into a very smooth milk. If you are using a nondairy milk, you can add the milk directly to the blender. Add the onion flakes, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, nutmeg, and salt and ground black pepper. Mix.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Butter or oil a baking dish (I used an oval baking dish that's roughly 12 X 9 inches and 3 inches deep and it was the perfect size for this dish).
- Place the croissants in the baking dish. I lay some down and make the others stand. It may be a little crowded but that's okay. Scatter on the vegan cheese, reserving some to sprinkle on the top.
- Spread the cooked sausage and veggies evenly over the croissants and cheese.
- Now pour in the cheesy cashew milk evenly. Press down on the croissants with a ladle to submerge them so they soak up all that cheesy milk. You can either bake this rightaway, or, for the best results, let it stand at least 15 minutes before baking. I like to slide a baking sheet under the dish to make it easy to take it in and out of the oven.
- Bake 45 minutes until the casserole is golden and bubbly.
- Let stand 5-10 minutes, then serve!
Nina
We made this for breakfast today, got the kids to help. It was fantastic. They had fun and they polished it all off. Thank you for a delicious keeper recipe.