PANERA BREAD 4 CHEESE SOUFFLE RECIPE
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Deliciously light and fluffy, Panera Bread 4 Cheese Souffle Recipe is surprisingly easy to make and makes for a beautiful breakfast for special occasions any time of year!
PANERA BREAD 4 CHEESE SOUFFLE RECIPE
Panera Bread’s egg souffle are one of my very favorite foods! For me, that’s odd, because most of my favorite foods are desserts!
Before I made Copycat Panera Bread Ham and Swiss Egg Souffle’ I was intimidated by the process. Souffle has a bad rap as being finicky and difficult to make. I researched other Panera Bread Copycat recipes and almost all of them microwaved the eggs for a few seconds. (The recipes were also all VERY similar. 🧐) Anywho, microwaving eggs then baking them just sounded weird to me. I went in a different direction with my recipe and created more of a traditional egg souffle adding extra ingredients to make it more like Panera Bread.
The Ham and Swiss Egg Souffle was a hit with the family. As well, it was NOT difficult to make. Of course, I used a premade puffed pastry as the crust. I have no desire to make puffed pastry from scratch. You can use refrigerated crescent roll dough for the crust but it won’t be as flaky and it won’t be as close to the Panera Bread’s souffle.
HOW TO MAKE 4 CHEESE EGG SOUFFLE
Egg souffle really isn’t any harder to make than biscuits or waffles and once you get the hang of it you’ll make whipping them up on the regular.
- Pastry – Evenly cut one sheet of thawed puff pastry into six large ramekins or tart pans.
- Make a roux – Melt the
butter then add the flour and cook on low. Slowly add milk. Cook and allow it to thicken. Season with salt and pepper. - Eggs – Whisk the eggs until they are fluffy and pale yellow. In a large bowl, slowly add the eggs, the cooled milk mixture, and the shredded cheeses
- Pour the egg mixture into the pastry and cook.
- It’s just that simple!
WHILE YOU’RE HERE, CHECK OUT THESE RECIPES
- Cream Cheese Sausage Rotel Dip Quiche
- Fluffy Cottage Egg Casserole
- Bacon Havarti Quiche Recipe
- On-the-go Breakfasts
- Crock Pot Crack Chicken
- Panera Bread Ham and Swiss Souffle
- You can find more recipes at my Recipe Index
PANERA BREAD 4 CHEESE SOUFFLE RECIPE
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter salted or unsalted
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup cottage cheese
- 2 and ½ tablespoons Parmesan cheese shredded
- ⅓ cup Manchego cheese shredded, you can also use Colby or Havarti
- ⅓ cup Monterey shredded
- 1 sheet puff pastry thawed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Place six 5-inch ramekins or six 5-inch tart pans on a sheet pan to catch any drips.
- Place a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter.
- Once the butter is melted, whisk in the flour. Cook, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds.
- Next, whisk in the milk and cook until it has thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the pan from the heat and cool slightly.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cooled milk sauce, and cheeses until well combined.
- Unwrap the puff pastry and cut into 6 equal squares. Press each square into your ramekin or tart pan. Press it down in the bottom and up the sides really good.
- Divide the egg mixture between the ramekins.
- Bake until they are puffed up and golden brown. It should take 25 to 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool slightly before serving.
Just reading through the recipe, will there be extra flaps of the puff pastry that hang over the edges of the ramekins? Should the pastry cover the dish or just line the bottom and side? Thanks!
It realy depends on the pan. I used the tart pans for this recipe> https://www.callmepmc.com/panera-bread-ham-and-swiss-souffle-recipe/
and because the pans are more narrow at the bottom there was more dough to fold over the top.
For this 4 cheese souffle in the ramekins there wasn’t much dough to fold over.
Either way, you don’t want to leave any dough hanging over the edge because it’ll cook faster and probably brown too quickly before the inside is cooked.
I’m trying this recipe now? So excited! Have you ever added sautéed onions or bacon or spinach to these? Just thinking of ways to have this over and over again 🤣
I have this ham version > https://www.callmepmc.com/panera-bread-ham-and-swiss-souffle-recipe/ It’s wonderful. I haven’t added those ingredients but they would be delicious!
Well, I haven’t made it yet, so those stars don’t mean anything except to question why the eggs are not separated. All other souffle recipes separate yolks from whites and beat the whites to stiff peaks first.
Because that’s just how I made it and it worked – it’s not a true souffle, neither is Panera’s – it’s more of a quiche. You can seperate the eggs if you wish.
I don’t own any ramekins or anything that size, so can this be made in a sheet pan or 9×13” pan?
Yes, you can make a large one. YOu’ll have to watch and test for doneness.
Do you separate each individual sheet and use just one of those, or the whole stack. I’m not sure what constitutes a sheet, i guess
I get Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets. They come in 2 individually wrapped sheets in one box. So use one of those sheets. One sheet is folded into 3rds so unfold it and cut it into 6 equal parts to fit into your ramekins or tart pans.
Do these freeze and reheat well?
I haven’t reheated from frozen but reheating from refrigerated was like freshly baked.
How did you reheat these in microwave or oven and time and temperature to reheat at.
Thanks!
You can reheat in microwave, oven, or toaster oven – oven or toaster oven will work best for maintaining a crisp crust. You’ll just have to test it to see when it’s warm
So glad to have found this recipe! We love these things but our Panera sell out of them so early every morning! Can you tell me which puff pastry you use?
And I leave 90 minutes from Panera – I had to come up with a copycat recipe. 😄 They’re SO good!! I use this puff pastry> https://shopstyle.it/l/bXfnq It’s Pepperidge Farm.
I have not tried the recipe but it sounds incredible. Is it possible to make this in one large ramekin….6 x 3 1/2?
I got 6 souffles using 5-inch ramekins so it won’t all fit in one 6×3.5-inch.
Whoa! Amazing! Panera’s souffles might very well be my favorite grab-and-go food, and I simply can’t believe how much like Panera’s these are! Of note: I forgot to add the cottage cheese and they were still amazing. Looking forward to making them right next time and no doubt they will be even better. Thank you so much for such a great recipe. This is going in my A+, destined-to-make-again-and-again file.
Thank you!! I feel the same way about them. I don’t have Panera in my town so I needed these more than I was able to get to a Panera. 😉
This is so good, I’ve made it several times. Thanks for the recipe.