Leftover Cornbread Strata

Thank you all for your feedback on my last post. It sounds like a lot of you can relate - in some ways, at least - to what I said, so I appreciate your feedback!

Now, onto today's post, which involves cheese and bread - two of my favorite things!

On Super Bowl Sunday, Z and I hosted a potluck at our house. For our dish, we made my Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili and Ina's Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread. Fortunately/Unfortunately, so many of our friends brought food that the cornbread was almost unnecessary, so we were left with a ton of leftovers. A few days later, I knew I had to put them to good use and this strata was born.

Leftover Cornbread Strata
Yields: 4 servings
Adapted from Snappy Gourmet
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-1/2 yellow onion, diced
-3 cups cornbread, chopped
-1/2 cup frozen corn
-1/2 cup thick salsa, plus extra for serving
-Nonstick cooking spray
-4 eggs
-2 cups whole milk
-Salt and black pepper
-1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
-1 cup shredded Mexican Blend cheese

Directions:
1.) Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onion, and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Take pan off the heat and add cornbread, corn, and salsa. Stir, ensuring everything is mixed together well.
2.) Spray an 8x8 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour cornbread mixture into the prepared dish.
3.) In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Pour over the cornbread mixture, ensuring everything is well coated. Cover the pan with saran wrap, and place in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours, or overnight.
4.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove strata from refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature while oven is preheating. When oven is ready, bake strata for 45 minutes. Remove strata from oven, top with shredded Mexican Blend cheese, and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Serve with an extra dollop of salsa, if desired.

[Print this recipe]

The cheesy cornbread combined with the chunks of corn, savory onions, and spicy salsa was a fabulous combination. Despite all of the milk, cheese, and eggs, this dish was also surprisingly on the lighter side (we served ours with a spinach salad, which helped to lighten up the meal as a whole). I definitely plan to make a strata like this the next time we have leftover bread on hand, but I really think the cornbread was what made this dish.

How do you use up leftover bread? I love making croutons and bread crumbs, but am always looking for new ideas/recipes!

Pin It