I used to have an interactive book that my son had when he was two – it was a book that asked questions, and you had to use a stylus to touch the correct picture, which the book told you of a word answer. Toddlers were asked in one category to say if a particular food was provided for breakfast or dinner. When he figured out pancakes were a dinner food, he would get really mad and would blow up because we would get to pancakes. The book would buzz, which meant he had selected the wrong answer, and I would have to explain a befuddled toddler that though the book wasn't wrong, both the book and he weren't either.
I have always been pro breakfast for dinner. I mean trust, brinner as they sometimes call it. Traditional breakfast foods are quick to cook up and sometimes I choose to make them for dinner. I choose to do this at times because I just want to mix it up with our regular dinner schedule.
Super quick omelets, easy casseroles that feed two dinners (enough to dine on tonight and the rest for another night) are these 18 breakfast recipes. And some of them are even make ahead so you can just heat up brinner, fill up and get on with your busy night.
1. Breakfast Pizza With Cheddar, Bacon, and Eggs
Makes for a quick dinner, the base for this pizza is store bought dough or crust (or make your own if you'd rather), topped with cheddar, bacon and eggs. Cook the pizza partially before adding the eggs and then finish off until you do the eggs properly.
2. Sheet Pan English Breakfast
You may have had a full English breakfast and know just how filling they can be. It's a plate with sausage, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs. Make 4 servings of this sheet pan version with little cleanup.
3. Sweet Potato Waffles with Fried Eggs
This is a waffle recipe perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Mashed sweet potatoes are used to make the waffles. After, top with eggs, bacon and scallions. Then drizzle with honey.
4. Easy Breakfast Casserole
This is your best friend adaptable casserole recipe. You won't have eggs, milk, cheese or bread but you can fill it with any meats such as bacon or crumbled sausage and whatever veggies you have on hand. If you already have the time in the morning, make it, put it in the fridge without baking, and pop it in the oven when you get home.
5. Chorizo and Egg Tacos
Chorizo and scrambled eggs are great dinner kitchen ingredients. Put them in a taco, and top them with the usual taco toppings, and these breakfast tacos may become your go to dinner tacos.
6. Corned Beef Hash
Leftover from making homemade corned beef or deli corned beef and potatoes, chop up corned beef and pan fry to add to an onion mixture. The fried eggs serve themselves well on the side and you can ladle any extra yum right out of the egg into the hash.
7. Breakfast Wraps With Spinach And Feta
Make ahead spinach and feta wraps are an excellent idea. But as I said, these are intended to be breakfast wraps—or breakfast wrappers—but this recipe for scrambled egg wraps with wrap thus with wrap works quite well for dinner, also. Reheat in a microwave from the fridge or freezer.
8. Savory Dutch Baby Pancake with Salmon and Fried Egg
A Dutch baby is a pancake that's baked in a hot skillet. This version becomes a complete meal when you add salmon and an egg on top. It comes together in just 30 minutes, making it a quick, unexpected dinner.
9. Zucchini Breakfast Casserole
It's sort of a casserole, sort of a strata, kind of a frittata but it's baked instead of cooked on the stove. Bread, cheese (Parm and cottage), eggs, zucchini, tomato, and basil go into a 9x13-inch baking dish for dinner (or breakfast or lunch) for a crowd.
10. Shakshuka with Feta, Olives, and Peppers
This one-skillet dish of eggs and bell peppers simmer on the stovetop in a cumin and smoked paprika infused tomato sauce. Sprinkle feta and pitted olives to top it off. Serve with crusty bread to soak up all the goodness.
11. Buttermilk Pancakes
No breakfast for dinner list would be complete without pancakes. Buttermilk gives these pancakes a tangy note, but otherwise, these are straight forward pancakes waiting for you to top with whatever you want such as blueberries or go salty and top with bacon or proscuitto before adding the maple syrup.
12. Spiced Pumpkin Waffles
Spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, these waffles are made with pumpkin purée. Top with toasted pecans and whipped ricotta to make them savory. Or go ahead and do them up breakfast style with apple sauce and maple syrup.
13. Breakfast Quesadilla with Black Beans and Eggs
It's ready in twenty minutes and dinner. You can freeze the extras from this batch of scrambled eggs, black bean, green chile, red onion, and cheese quesadillas stuffed into flour tortillas, making a batch ahead of time so you can enjoy them later on nights where you only have 20 minutes to put dinner on the table.
14. Easy Breakfast Casserole With Prosciutto
This savory breakfast casserole is easy to make and also make a great dinner. Then mix eggs and torn bread pieces together, and throw in asparagus and greens, proscuitto, milk, cottage cheese and cheddar. If you don't include the poscuitto, it's vegetarian. Serve with a fresh salad.
15. Denver Omelet
This omelet uses leftover ham, but if you have that, too, and some bell peppers, great! A classic Denver Omelet is easily whipped up adding cheddar cheese. Enjoy with your favorite hot sauce.
16. German Farmer's Breakfast
Interested in a bit of Bauernfruheustuck for dinner? In German, it is this meal made of potatoes, eggs, green onion, bell peppers, parsley and chopped ham — that's the German word for the meal. Top with ketchup.
17. Huevos Rancheros
You need three simple ingredients — eggs, salsa, tortillas — and it takes 20 minutes to make one delicious meal! Saute olive oil in pan and heat corn tortillas. Cover salsa and fried eggs atop the tortillas. Sprinkle with cilantro. Chow down.
18. Zucchini Tomato Quiche
This quiche has a lot of vegetables, cream, Parm, and herbs and is a great breakfast, lunch, brunch, or dinner make ahead. This can be kept in the fridge for 3 days or in the freezer for about 3 months, allowing you to eat it one night, and then have slices for other nights when you're in a hurry.
