This hearty, healthy brunch dish is filled with gluten-free croutons, spinach, mushrooms, onions, and lots of melty cheese. It’s been renovated to be egg and dairy-free.
If you’re looking for regular strata made with eggs and cheese, click here. After going on a plant-based diet last year, I’ve tried many, many new foods. And sometimes I miss my old standbys. I was hoping to come up with a magical substitute for custard and be able to tell you that this is exactly like the original and no one would be able to tell it’s vegan. Um, not exactly. But it’s healthy and gluten-free.
I made it four times, playing with the faux custard. Some were gluey, some were dry, one was just plain icky. What I’m sharing is a nice hearty casserole that is great for brunch. You can pre-cook the mushroom and onion mixture and mince the tempeh bacon the night before. If using frozen spinach, thaw in the refrigerator in a sieve over a bowl.
Suitable for:
vegan, gluten-free, reduced-sugar diets
Not for:
low-sodium or migraine diets
- 4-8 ounces tempeh bacon optional
- 8 ounces mushrooms cremini
- 6 ounces onions yellow, 1 small or 1/2 large
- 10 ounces spinach fresh or frozen
- 3 cups milk soy, rice, almond, hemp
- 6 ounces tofu silken
- 3 tbsp ground flax seeds
- 1/2 tsp dried nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 8 ounces Daiya shredded cheddar vegan cheese mozzarella flavor, or other vegan cheese
- 12 slices gluten-free bread cubed
- Oil an oven-proof casserole dish.
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C/gas mark 4.
- Mince the tempeh bacon and set aside.
- Clean and thinly slice the mushrooms. Peel and mince the onions. Sauté onions and mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat until golden brown.
- Squeeze the spinach dry if using frozen spinach.
- Put the milk, tofu, flax seeds, nutmeg, and pepper in a blender or food processor and pulse just until blended.
- In a large bowl, gently stir all ingredients until evenly mixed. Spread into the casserole dish.
- Bake until golden and puffy, about 35-45 minutes. Let sit about ten minutes before cutting.
Per serving:
- 132 calories
- 5 g fat
- 1 g saturated fat
- 2 g monounsaturated fat
- 1 g polyunsaturated fat
- 0 g trans fat
- 0 g cholesterol
- 264 mg sodium (with tempeh)
- 264 mg potassium
- 20 g carbohydrate
- 3 g fiber
- 5 g sugars
- 5 g protein
- 4 Weight Watchers Points Plus
Use Daiya cheese if you can. It's absolutely the best vegan cheese sold in the U.S. and Canada. I used Udi's gluten-free whole grain bread for this, as it's the most like ciabatta, which is perfect for this recipe. Don't use more tofu, or less milk, or any of the substitutions I'd normally encourage. Trust me on this one.
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I tried this strata and found that 3 cups of milk is TOO MUCH! After 75 minutes of baking it was still soupy (and I used bread that was cut and left to stale for one week). Cut the milk in half.
Hi Steven, I’m sorry you had a poor result from this recipe, which others have tried with success. It really helps if the vegetables are super dry, otherwise they will leak moisture out and it won’t set up. I would suggest cutting back on your non-dairy milk next time and see how it goes. Thanks for the feedback!
Udi’s definitely has egg whites…any other suggestions? Trying to find GF bread without eggs is really difficult…
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Just a heads up, that I tried this and loved it. It reminded me of the dish my mom used to make for us on Xmas morning. And going vegan I was crushed knowing I’d never have that meal again. But this was so so very close. I love it. Thank you. 🙂
StarFire, thank you so much for taking the time to write! Comments like yours are why I write this blog. I’m so happy it gave you that wonderful memory back!
Hi!
Your recipe looks great, but I don’t see any instructions after the list of ingredients. Can you email me them? I’d love to try this since my husband has gone Vegan in the recent past and I always made something similar to this for Christmas Day breakfast.
Thanks!
Sue Falk
TwoObsessed@hotmail.com
Thanks for catching this Sue! Instructions restored. We had some glitches when we updated the site last spring. Enjoy!
About to make this again for Xmas morning this year… I’ve added it to my Vegan Comfort food staples..
Again, just wanna give praise 🙂
A BIG hit at my Easter brunch! DELICIOUS!!!
Yay!! So happy to hear this, and thanks for taking the time to let me know.