Mother’s Day Brunch Recipes – NYT Cooking

Let her stay in her pajamas, and make one of these for her instead.

Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Published May 10, 2023Updated May 5, 2025

Many moms love the hustle and bustle of a fancy brunch place on Mother’s Day, which falls on Sunday. (We have plenty of suggestions for them.) But a lot of us just want a quiet, cozy morning at home, a hot cup of coffee we get to finish and a meal we don’t have to cook. If that’s you, click that share tool above, and send this list to your loved ones as a not-so-subtle hint. And if none of these dishes delight you, we have many more Mother’s Day breakfast and brunch ideas to choose from.

This crustless quiche from Sarah Copeland ditches the pastry completely and comes out of the oven custardy but firm. It’s delicious from a touch of nutmeg, heavy cream and plenty of grated cheese and button mushrooms. ALLISON JIANG

Recipe: Crustless Egg and Cheese Quiche

A side shot of three Champagne flutes filled with orange juice and Champagne. A sprig of mint is in one glass, and more fresh mint sits on a nearby wooden plate.

Cheers to Mom for, well, everything. This classic version from Rosie Schaap calls for just orange juice and Champagne, but if you’re feeling flush, drizzle in a little Cointreau and garnish with fresh mint sprigs.

Recipe: Mimosa

An overhead image of a brown oval casserole dish filled with browned bits of croissant covered in a layer of golden brown melted cheese and scattered with chopped green scallions.

If you’re having the whole crew over for Mother’s Day brunch, throw together Melissa Clark’s elevated — it has croissants! it has Gruyère! — version of a cheesy, eggy brunch casserole. Put it together the night before, and you can just slide it into the oven about an hour before you’re ready to eat.

Recipe: Buttery Breakfast Casserole

An overhead image of mochi cake topped with lemon wheels.

Jessica Wang sells a version of her mother’s nian gao at her Los Angeles pop-ups. Here, she uses a mix of honey and lemon to flavor it, rather than red bean as her mom traditionally does. The end result is a lightly sweet-tart, perfectly springy pastry that’s as simple as it is satisfying.

Recipe: Lemon-Honey Nian Gao (Mochi Cake)

A side image of two glasses filled with a tri-color beverage: strawberry red on the bottom, milky white in the middle and matcha green at the top.

Gabriella Lewis’s recipe is cheaper than going to Starbucks and easier to love. Just layer macerated strawberries and mom’s choice of milk, then add a matcha mixture to top it off. ALLISON JIANG

Recipe: Strawberry Matcha Latte

An overhead image of a puff pastry sheet cut into eight pieces and scattered with almonds.

You shouldn’t hold back when it comes to celebrating the moms in your life (biological and otherwise). This large-format almond croissant from Sohla El-Waylly makes it pleasurable, and even easy. It’s supremely shareable, made with store-bought puff pastry, and can be baked in advance for a stress-free morning. ALLISON JIANG

Recipe: Giant Almond Croissant

A side image of a large glass pitcher filled with ruby red sangria and apple chunks, strawberries, raspberries, pomegranate seeds and orange wedges.

Use whatever red, pink or purple fruits you like in this pretty punch from Rosie Schaap. Set a reminder on your phone to make it: The fruit needs to macerate for at least four hours for flavors to develop and for the fruit to soften and slump.

Recipe: Rosé Sangria

An overhead image of a dark brown plate filled with two tortillas topped with refried black beans, fried eggs, salsa, avocado wedges, cilantro leaves and crumbled queso fresco.

Kay Chun’s rendition of “rancher’s style” eggs is a hearty breakfast of tortillas, refried black beans, salsa and fried eggs that will sustain her all day long while she leads a family hike or binge-watches her favorite show from the couch.

Recipe: Huevos Rancheros

A side image of a floral-edged plate topped with a stack of pancakes dripping with syrup.

This is, by far, our most popular pancake recipe. Mark Bittman’s classic is reliably tender and fluffy whether you add blueberries or chocolate chips to the batter, or nothing at all.

Recipe: Everyday Pancakes

An overhead image of a white enamel skillet filled with asparagus chunks, fried eggs, browned halloumi cubes, squares of pita and drizzled with yogurt sauce.

In medieval Arab cookbooks, narjissiya, which means “like narcissus,” referred to several dishes made with sunny-side-up eggs (probably because the yellow and white colors evoked the narcissus, or daffodil, flower.) This springy take from Reem Kassis features asparagus, halloumi, tangy yogurt sauce and bright sumac oil. Crunchy pita chips are scattered across the top for added texture.

Recipe: Narjissiya With Asparagus, Halloumi and Sumac

A chocolate waffle is topped with whipped cream and raspberries; a quarter of it has been cut away with a knife and fork. It sits on a rustic ceramic plate on a blue marbled tablecloth.

Chocolate is great. Waffles are great. Yewande Komolafe’s chocolate waffles are the greatest.

Recipe: Chocolate Waffles

A side image of two croque-monsieurs cut into triangles and stacked to reveal their hammy cheesy insides.

This recipe from Lidey Heuck brings the diner to her. It’s basically a croque-monsieur, sans béchamel sauce, that’s griddled in a thin layer of beaten egg. A dusting of powdered sugar and side of raspberry jam make it perfect for salty-sweet lovers. ALLISON JIANG

Recipe: Monte Cristo

An overhead image of a baking dish with pieces of French toast stacked against one another. To the left is a white plate holding a single serving and a small maple syrup container just below.

Samantha Seneviratne’s make-ahead French toast is as convenient as it is rich and delicious. Challah and brioche work beautifully here, but take it from me, stale hot dog and hamburger buns work just fine, too.

Recipe: Overnight French Toast

A runny egg tops a piece of toast on a blue plate. A few slices of jalapeño are scattered on top.

This fiery open-faced sandwich originated in Mumbai, but it has found love and adoration around the world. Tejal Rao’s updated version calls for topping toasted bread with shredded Cheddar that’s been tossed with green chiles, red onion and cilantro leaves. It’s all broiled until bubbly, then crowned with a fried egg.

Recipe: Eggs Kejriwal

An overhead image of two rows of tea sandwiches. The top row is on dark brown bread and filled with smoked salmon. The row below is on white bread and filled with cucumbers.

These simple but delicious sandwiches make any day fancy, and they are easy to scale up or down as you need. Priya Krishna opts for classic cucumber and smoked salmon, but what’s important is that you use soft white bread and plenty of butter. ALLISON JIANG

Recipe: Tea Sandwiches

An overhead image of a charcoal gray plate topped with a stack of crepes with parchment paper layered between each.

Maybe you can’t afford to take her to Paris yet, but you can make Nigella Lawson’s crepes and play Edith Piaf while she dines. Serve with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, a pile of fresh fruit or a pitcher full of orange syrup for a lovely Crêpes Suzette.

Recipe: Crepes

An overhead image of a black plate filled with golden biscuits with bits of kimchi and Cheddar poking through.

Bryan Washington’s biscuits include Cheddar, kimchi and a touch of brown sugar for a well-balanced and unexpectedly complex treat.

Recipe: Kimchi Cheddar Biscuits

An overhead image of coffee cake pieces on a marble slab.

Lidey Heuck’s classic coffee cake is chock-full of cinnamon-sugar crumble, which runs through the middle and along the top. Feel free to amp it up with chopped nuts, or whatever fillings you like. ALLISON JIANG

Recipe: Coffee Cake

An overhead image of a quiche speckled with herbs and topped with dollops of goat cheese on a brown surface. To the left of the quiche there is a cloth napkin with two forks on it.

This remarkable quiche from David Tanis is loaded with fresh herbs and creamy disks of goat cheese. It tastes fancy, but its prep is not — and if you’re in a rush, there is no shame in the store-bought pie crust game.

Recipe: Quiche With Herbs and Goat Cheese

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