Our Five Cheese Soufflé is a copycat Panera recipe that you can easily make at home. It's savory, flaky and perfect for entertaining.
Copycat Panera Souffle
Weekend brunch is probably my favorite meal, and waking up to the aromas of a cheese soufflé is my idea of heaven. Fluffy, flaky puffed pastry surrounded by layers of cheese, oven roasted tomatoes, and crispy bacon: what could be better?
You don't need to make a Panera run for Cheese Soufflés. These lovely pastries look like you slaved over them for hours, but they only take about 30 minutes. Like our Roasted Tomato Quiche, they are perfect for bridal showers, brunches, or a simple meal for two. Serve them with Radicchio Salad.
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Ingredients
- Cherry Tomatoes: we roast them first to coax out the flavor
- Puffed Pastry: one puffed pastry sheet will do
- Eggs: large or extra large eggs
- Bacon: cook the bacon before adding to the pastry
- Parmesan Cheese: freshly grated parmesan cheese or shredded parmesan cheese
- Pepper Jack Cheese: block of pepper jack cheese, shredded
- Sharp Cheddar Cheese: sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- Milk: full fat milk, 2% milk or 1% milk works best
- Blue Cheese: crumbled blue cheese
- Swiss Cheese: (shredded)
- Olive Oil: use the best quality extra virgin olive oil you can afford
- Red wine vinegar
- Garlic Powder
- Salt: kosher salt or sea salt
- Pepper: freshly ground black pepper
*see recipe card for quantities.
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❝ OMG so much better than Panera! ❞
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Instructions
To prepare the tomatoes:
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- (this can be done up to a week in advance and stored in refrigerator)
- Cut the tomatoes into quarters. and place on oven safe cooking pan and sprinkle with garlic powder, olive oil and salt and pepper and bake in a 200 degree oven for 4-5 hours until desired doneness. (they should have some texture to them still and not browned.
- Remove from oven, place a in container, and add vinegar. Cover and store in refrigerator until cooled.
To assemble souffle:
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Using an oven safe metal soufflé pan (ours were 5 inches in diameter) Cut pastry so that it is the size of the diameter plus the the height of pan.
- Lay pastry into pans and press into sides.
- Cook bacon, drain fat and chop into ½" pieces
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk. Add all cheeses and combine.
- Divide mixture into pans evenly and fill to the top.
- Sprinkle Bacon onto egg mixture.
- Using remaining puff pastry pieces, cut eight 2" by ½" triangles and lay on top of egg mixture (4 per soufflé to form decorative top.
- Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes.
- Remove and add tomato pieces to top and return to oven. Continue to cook for approx. 10 minutes or until puff pastry is browned (egg mixture will bubble over the edges, this is fine).
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Serve warm as a breakfast or with a salad for a quick and easy dinner.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- To reheat: pop them in the microwave for a minute or two.
- Do not freeze.
FAQ
Cheeses that melt well and have a good flavor profile are ideal for cheese soufflés. We like cheddar, pepper jack, parmesan and Swiss cheese. You can also Gruyère, Emmental, and goat cheese. Combining two or more types of cheese adds depth of flavor.
While we recommend assembling and baking these soufflés close to the time you will serve them, you can cook the tomatoes and bacon ahead of time and refrigerate them until you are ready to bake the soufflé.
Yes! Omit the bacon all together, or substitute it with roasted peppers.
Several factors can cause a soufflé to collapse, including overmixing the batter, underbeating or overbeating the eggs, opening the oven door too soon, or not baking the soufflé long enough. Ensuring that the oven temperature is stable and not disturbing the soufflé while it's baking can help prevent collapse.
Cheese soufflés pair well with a variety of side dishes, including Grilled Romaine Salad, roasted vegetables, or a Tomato Soup.
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Cheese Souffle recipe
Our Five Cheese Souffle is a copycat Panera Bread recipe that you can easily make at home. It's savory, flaky and perfect for entertaining.
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 2 soufflés 1x
Ingredients
- 12 cherry tomatoes
- 1 puffed pastry sheet
- 3 Eggs
- 4 slices bacon
- 2 TBSP parmesan cheese
- 2 ounces pepper jack cheese (shredded)
- 2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
- ½ cup milk
- 1 TBSP dry blue cheese
- 1 ounce Swiss cheese (shredded)
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 1 TBSP Red wine vinegar
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
To prepare the tomatoes:
- (this can be done up to a week in advance and stored in refrigerator)
- Cut the tomatoes into quarters. and place on oven safe cooking pan and sprinkle with garlic powder, olive oil and salt and pepper and bake in a 200 degree oven for 4-5 hours until desired doneness. (they should have some texture to them still and not browned.
- Remove from oven, place a in container, and add vinegar. Cover and store in refrigerator until cooled.
To assemble soufflé:
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Using an oven safe metal soufflé pan (ours were 5 inches in diameter) Cut pastry so that it is the size of the diameter plus the the height of pan.
- Lay pastry into pans and press into sides.
- Cook bacon, drain fat and chop into ½" pieces
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk. Add all cheeses and combine.
- Divide mixture into pans evenly and fill to the top.
- Sprinkle Bacon onto egg mixture.
- Using remaining puff pastry pieces, cut eight 2" by ½" triangles and lay on top of egg mixture (4 per soufflé to form decorative top.
- Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes.
- Remove and add tomato pieces to top and return to oven. Continue to cook for approx. 10 minutes or until puff pastry is browned (egg mixture will bubble over the edges, this is fine).
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Serve warm as a breakfast or with a salad for a quick and easy dinner.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: French-American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 each
- Calories: 1121
- Sugar: 8.7 g
- Sodium: 2445.5 mg
- Fat: 77.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 40.4 g
- Protein: 45.5 g
- Cholesterol: 396.5 mg
Loreto Nardelli says
Talk about out if this world good. These look so good nice height on the souflee, the addition of the roasted tomatoes and bacon. Brilliant. This is definately one I am going to attempt for a brunch.
Jackie says
thanks Loreto!! You are so kind! Keith did a great job on these, if I do say so.... they were absolutely delicious. I hope you get a chance to try them!!
Loreto Nardelli says
This looks great nice soule definitely didn't flop. Nice flavors with the roasted tomatoes and bacon additions. And what can I say puff pastry awesome.
nita says
This dish looks and sounds very tasty. I'm bookmarking this for later 🙂
Ken says
Omg so much better than Panera!
Jackie says
thanks Ken! We're so happy that you enjoyed it!!