Brunch Ideas for a Large Group

Having a large group for a brunch requires prior planning for success of the event. Part of the problem lies in preparing enough food for everyone while ensuring that you have made something to suit the tastes of all of your guests. By serving a brunch, you open the possibilities for food to both traditional breakfast and lunch foods, giving you more options. Make large batches of food from which your guests can serve themselves in a buffet style to minimize your effort on the day of the event.

A Southern tradition anyone can enjoy, this combines fluffy buttermilk biscuits, split in half and topped with a creamy white gravy. Sometimes cooks mix ground sausage into the gravy for a more filling treat. Prepare enough canned biscuits to allow for one whole biscuit per person and ½ cup of gravy per person. Use packaged gravy mixes or gravy in a bottle to save time and effort. Stir ¼ lb. of cooked ground sausage per person into the finished gravy for a meat-lover's option.

Prepare enough pancakes for each guest to have three. Make French toast slices and cut in half diagonally. Expect three to four halves of French toast per guest. Keep either the cooked French toast or cooked pancakes warm in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven until ready to serve. Be sure to have enough maple syrup to allow ¼ c. per guest and 2 tbsp. butter per person. Set out powdered sugar in a shaker canister if serving French toast.

Instead of labor-intensive omelets, make a large batch of plain scrambled eggs and keep them in a catering serving tray. Allow for one whole egg per person, especially if you offer other entrees. Put bowls of chopped onions, cooked sausage and chopped, cooked ham and shredded cheese next to the hot, cooked eggs to let the guests add the toppings to their eggs themselves.

Bring brunch south of the border with breakfast tacos. Scramble one whole egg per person, and keep warm in a steam table. Arrange two warmed flour tortillas per guest next to a large bowls with ¼ c. of salsa and ¼ c. shredded cheese per person. Let the guests make their own breakfast tacos by putting the scrambled eggs, salsa and shredded cheese into the center of a flour tortilla, rolling it into a cylinder.