Having a delicious Easter brunch buffet menu is a fun way to enjoy the Easter celebration. But you need recipes that you can make ahead of time… because who wants to miss the egg hunt?
Easter is such a joyous time!
It’s one of our family’s favorite days. After our church celebration, we always come home to have a special brunch together.
It used to be that I would spend most of my Easter morning in the kitchen cooking up everyone’s favorite foods. And you know, that tends to flat out suck the fun out of the day for mom.
(Because even if you love to cook like I do…getting a big meal together, especially in a time crunch when everyone is “Huuuuuuungry…is it done yeeeeeet???” is I’m-not-raising-my-voice-you-are kind of stressful.)
But who wants to miss out on the joy of your kids enjoying their Easter treats and hunting for eggs while you slave over a stove?
I needed a way to spend less time in the kitchen and more time soaking up some childhood joy.
So I began my search for foods that were still super yummy…but not so fussy that I had to spend the morning slaving over them.
It took some years for all of the right foods to come together. But now we have what I think is the perfect Easter brunch menu.
The rules for these Easter recipes are simple: the food be easy to make ahead, special for Easter, and (obviously) they must taste delicious!
The Perfect Easter Brunch Menu
Check out this fantastic Mom resource. It changed everything for me.
But back to the menu…
Hot Cross Buns
The highlight of the meal is Hot Cross Buns. These have an obvious tie in for Easter, which is important to us.
It always opens conversation with the kids about the sacrifice that Jesus made and his triumph over the cross.
It also meets my criteria of being amazingly delicious and easy to make ahead.
You MUST try The Pioneer Woman’s Hot Cross Buns recipe. It’s incredible.
If you want to make them the day before (and you will want to do that if you have a busy Easter morning planned!), just stop the recipe after the individual rolls have risen once on a cookie sheet.
THEN…instead of brushing the rolls with egg white, pop them in the freezer to flash freeze over night.
(That means leave them on a cookie sheet and let them freeze.)
I’ve also had success just putting them in the fridge over night.
Once they’re in the freezer, mix up your frosting and put it in a pastry bag or Ziploc bag so that it’s ready to go in the morning.
On Easter morning, stick them in the oven while the kids hunt eggs, dig through candy, or read Bible verses.
Farmer’s Breakfast Casserole
It’s taken me a long time to convince hubby to like casseroles, but this is one of the recipes that did the trick!
And of course you can put the whole thing together the day before Easter.
The next morning, simply take it from the fridge and pop it into the oven so that it’s nice and hot for brunch time.
If you prefer, bake it the day before and just warm it up for breakfast. But I’ve never had any trouble using my method.
This recipe from Love Grows Wild is very close to the one I use, except that I usually just rip up bread into chunks for the bottom of mine. Croutons would be an interesting variation!
Fruit and Dip
After eating enough chocolate to fill an Easter basket, even a kid’s palate is ready for something a little more healthy when brunch rolls around.
The key to this fruit and dip tray is to choose fruits that will hold up overnight.
Berries, grapes, and melons are fantastic choices. Simply wash them, sort them, and cut them up the night before. Then I drop them in ziploc bags so they are ready to go in the morning.
If you want to add apples and pears, you’ll have time to slice a couple of them in the morning. After all, the rest of the meal is already ready to go!
As for the fruit dip…I wanted a recipe that didn’t have marshmallow cream.
Cream cheese has to be one of the best ingredients God ever created, right? So I knew that this fruit dip recipe would be amazing.
And it is.
Everyone asks for the recipe once they try it. You can get it here.
And I know, I know…when you put that sugary dip on your fruit you can forget about anything healthy going on the plate.
But hey…it’s Easter!
More Easter Brunch Menu Ideas
Since it’s brunch, we don’t need much more than these menu items. But if you’re looking for more options, try these:
- hard boiled eggs (you probably have plenty!)
- Strawberries and Cream Scones
- French Toast Bake
- Make Ahead Breakfast Sliders
- Easter Bunny Donuts
- Cheesy Tater Tot Breakfast Bake
These recipes for your Easter brunch buffet menu will be loved by all!
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What Easter tradition does your family enjoy?
I really like the idea of the Farmer’s Breakfast Casserole.
Prepping the night before and then just putting it in the oven leaves more time to move leisurely in the morning and spend more time with the kiddos. Great idea! Thanks for sharing 🙂 #FFBH
Yum…this looks fantastic! Pinning the whole thing for future reference! Have a joyous Easter weekend, Jamie…stopping by from Friday Funday! 😉
These are great time-saving tips and those hot cross buns look so yummy 🙂
The breakfast casserole sounds great – and those hot cross buns look gorgeous!
Thanks so much for sharing at #FridayFrivolity! 🙂
What a great idea, your menu makes it possible for you to enjoy the day with the kids, rather than be stuck in the kitchen. And I love making traditions with the kids, holidays are so much more enjoyable when you have a memory of the past years as you’re experiencing the current one.
I have never made hot cross buns, but you’ve intrigued me, I’m going to check this out. I also love how you tied it in to the meaning of Easter. Your kids will always remember this each time they have the pastry!
I hope Easter was wonderful for you!