It’s an excuse to eat cheesy broccoli dip for breakfast. What more do you need in life? One note – please buy a block of cheddar and shred it yourself. It has so much more flavor and melts so much better than the preshredded stuff.

You can easily halve the recipe depending on how many people you’re feeding. If it’s just me and my husband, I’ll cut the recipe in half. Or even better, I’ll make the full amount of the cheddar broccoli dip, save half of it for snacking, and prep the recipe with the remaining half of the dip (and 4 eggs).

If you’re making the full recipe, I’d recommend using something close to an 8″ x 12″ baking dish. For the half recipe, I use a 9″ x 7″ or 9″ x 6″ dish. It’s flexible.

Ingredients

• Large head of broccoli, stems discarded, cut into small florets
• Olive oil
• Fine sea salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• 3 tbsp butter
• Large shallot, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp hot sauce (optional, to taste)
• 8 oz sharp cheddar, shredded
• Cooking spray
• 8 large eggs
• 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
• Grilled bread, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and place the rack in the center of the oven.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the broccoli on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to combine and spread the broccoli out in an even layer. Roast until the edges are crispy, approximately 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool slightly, and chop up the broccoli (chop it up as finely as you’d like, I don’t like big chunks of broccoli in my dips).
3. Add butter to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallot is translucent and softened, approx 2-3 minutes. Add the flour and whisk, stirring constantly, for another 3 minutes (we want to cook the raw taste out of the flour). Slowly whisk in the milk, stirring constantly. Once the milk is fully incorporated, whisk in the dijon mustard and hot sauce. Bring to a simmer and whisk until slightly thickened.
4. Reduce the heat to low and whisk in the cheddar cheese. Once the cheese is fully melted, season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the broccoli. Remove the cheddar broccoli mixture from the heat and let cool slightly.
5. Reduce the oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon the cheddar broccoli mixture into the baking dish.
6. Use the back of a spoon to create divets/wells to hold each of the eggs.  Gently crack each of the eggs into the wells.  Sprinkle the eggs with a bit of salt and pepper. 
7. Toss the breadcrumbs with a tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the cheddar broccoli mixture (generally trying to avoid where the eggs are).
8. Bake until the egg whites are just set, approximately 12-15 minutes. Enjoy with grilled bread (and preferably mimosas).