Michelin-starred chefs share their favorite easy 30-minute brunch recipes (2024)

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Give your French toast an even sweeter twist by adding cinnamon and caramelized peaches.

"I go indulgent and kid-friendly when brunching at home," Curtis Stone, who runs Maude and Gwen in Los Angeles, told Insider. "Everyone loves my French toast!"

To make the caramelized peaches for this dish, you'll need: 4 peaches (each cut into 8 wedges), ½ cup sugar, and 3 tablespoons unsalted butter.

First, combine your sugar with ¼ cup of water in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves and the syrup has come to a simmer.

Allow your syrup to boil over medium-high heat without stirring for about six minutes, until it begins to turn golden brown. Swirl your pan occasionally to make sure the syrup cooks evenly.

Remove the pan from the heat and add your peaches and butter, swirling everything together until the butter melts. Then cook the peaches over medium heat for two minutes, until they're just tender.

To make Stone's French toast for six, you'll need: 6 large eggs, 4 slices of brioche bread (½-inch thick), 1/3 cup crème fraîche, ¼ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon.

First beat the eggs with a fork in a baking dish to blend. Then place your slices of brioche in the eggs and let them stand for five minutes, turning your slices over once.

Stir your sugar and cinnamon on a large plate and set aside. Then melt your butter in a large griddle pan over medium heat.

Add the brioche slices to the pan and cook them for about two minutes per side, until they're golden brown. Then immediately place your French toast in the cinnamon sugar, coating the slices completely.

Spoon the peaches over your French toast to serve, drizzling the caramel sauce over the peaches and around the bread. Top it all off with a dollop of crème fraîche and serve immediately.

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Craving something savory? Why not try some Korean potato pancakes.

Suyoung Park, the executive chef of Jungsik in Manhattan, told Insider that this is her favorite recipe with potatoes.

"It's so savory and crispy, and it has a similar taste to a hash brown," she added. "It's very easy and simple —that's the way Korean people love it!"

To make Park's potato pancakes at home, you'll need: 2 medium potatoes (peeled, thinly sliced), ½ medium onion (peeled, thinly sliced), 1 green chili (seeded, thinly sliced), and ¼ carrot (thinly sliced).

Begin by julienning your potatoes and soaking them in cold water for at least five minutes. Park said this step is essential for removing the starch from the potatoes. Then dry them with a kitchen towel.

Mix your green chili, onion, and carrot with ½ teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of flour, and 1 tablespoon of the potato starch. Add your potatoes to the mixture.

Place a pan on medium heat and add plenty of cooking oil. Spread your potato slices onto the pan and cook until they're browned, making sure to turn it over and cook the other side as well.

Park recommends serving your Korean potato pancakes with soy pickles or an easy dipping sauce — just mix equal parts soy sauce, vinegar, water, sugar, and chili powder.

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Or get your potato fix by serving them in the rösti style inspired by Switzerland.

"In Switzerland, rösti means 'crisp and golden,'" Chef Patrick O'Connell, who runs The Inn at Little Washington, explained to Insider. "The word has become synonymous with the country's famous potato cake."

O'Connell, whose three-star restaurant was also recently awarded the Green Michelin Star for sustainability, serves his rösti potatoes with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.

"The potato cake makes a delicious cushion for ribbons of smoked salmon and lightly scrambled eggs," he said. "This dish is a lighter and more interesting brunch dish than the usual eggs Benedict."

To make O'Connell's rösti potatoes for six, you'll need: 2 large Idaho potatoes, ½ cup clarified butter, 12 eggs, 12 slices smoked salmon, 5 tablespoons crème fraiche, 2 teaspoons capers, 2 teaspoons red onion (finely diced), 2 teaspoons fresh chives (finely chopped), 2 teaspoons fresh dill (chopped).

Begin by peeling the potatoes and steaming them for 15 minutes. Let them cool, then use a box grater to shred the potatoes. Season the shredded potatoes with salt and white pepper and shape them into six cakes.

In a large skillet, heat half of your butter over medium heat. Place three of the cakes into the skillet and cook them for about five to seven minutes per side. Remove and drain them on paper towels. Repeat the step for the remaining cakes.

To make the scrambled eggs, first whisk your eggs together with 3 tablespoons of the crème fraîche, along with salt and pepper, in a stainless-steel bowl. Then place the bowl over a simmering pot of water, stirring and folding the eggs with a rubber spatula until they're very lightly scrambled.

To serve, place one of your rösti potatoes in the center of each plate. Add two slices of salmon on top, as well as a spoonful of scrambled eggs and a small dollop of crème fraîche. Top everything off with your capers, red onion, chives, and dill.

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Kuku sabzi is a Persian frittata packed with herbs and veggies.

Chris Morgan, who runs Bammy's in Washington, DC, told Insider that he loves making this dish for his wife all the time.

"It's super healthy and not as dense as a frittata," he said. "This is kind of the guilt-free quiche, without the buttery crust."

To make Morgan's version of kuku sabzi, you'll need: 7 eggs, 2 medium yellow onions (peeled, finely chopped), 4 cups spinach (finely chopped), 1 cup fresh parsley (finely chopped), 1 cup fresh cilantro (finely chopped), ½ cup spring onions (finely chopped, white and green parts), 6 cloves garlic (peeled, finely chopped), 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 1 tablespoon rice flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, and 1 tablespoon advieh (Persian spice mix).

The first step is caramelizing your onions. Heat some olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat and sauté your onions for 10 to 15 minutes, until they're lightly golden. Remove the onions and allow them to cool.

Then, to make your batter, break your eggs into a large mixing bowl and add the baking powder, advieh, salt, pepper, and turmeric. Beat lightly with a fork. Then add the garlic, spinach, herbs, flour, caramelized onions, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Fold in gently using a rubber spatula, and be careful not to overmix.

Paint a rimmed sheet pan with olive oil, then pour in the batter and gently shake the pan to even it out. Bake the kuku for 15 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once it's ready, remove your kuku sabzi from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Morgan said you can serve it hot or at room temperature, and recommends pairing it with lavash flatbread and labneh cheese.

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Make your crêpes extra special by pairing them with orange and mascarpone.

This is another one of Stone's favorite 30-minute brunch dishes.

To whip up Stone's crêpes for four, you'll need: 2 large eggs, 1 cup all purpose flour (sifted), 1 ¼ cups whole milk, ½ cup heavy cream, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, 4 teaspoons sugar, and a pinch of salt.

Start by blending the flour, milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and salt in a blender until they're smooth. Cover the batter and set aside for 30 minutes, which will allow time for your flour to absorb all the liquid.

Then, heat a crêpe pan or an 8-inch nonstick sauté pan over medium-low heat. Dab some butter on a paper towel and wipe the pan with a little butter.

Pour 3 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan and swirl to thinly coat the bottom. Cook for one-and-a half minutes, or until the edges of the crêpe are light brown. Loosen the edges gently with a silicone spatula and carefully turn your crêpe over. Continue cooking the crêpe for about one minute, until the bottom begins to brown in spots. Transfer to a plate.

Repeat with the remaining batter, wiping the pan with butter as needed. You should be able to make 12 crêpes total.

To make the sauce, you'll need: 2 oranges, 1 cup mascarpone cheese, ½ cup pure maple syrup, 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, and 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur.

First, grate the peel from your oranges and set aside. Cut the oranges between the membranes to release the orange segments, setting them aside as well. Then squeeze the orange juice from the membranes into a bowl. You should get ¼ cup of orange juice total.

Heat the maple syrup in a large sauté pan over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Add the orange peel and juice, as well as your butter, and simmer over medium-low heat for five minutes, until the sauce slightly thickens. Add the Grand Mariner and simmer for two more minutes, until the sauce slightly thickens again.

Spread a large spoonful of mascarpone over each crêpe and fold in half, then in half again, forming triangles. Add the orange segments to the hot orange sauce and swirl the pan to gently warm the oranges. Spoon the sauce and oranges over the crêpes and serve immediately.

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Switch out your usual pancakes with some hoecakes instead.

Unlike pancakes, hoecakes —which are popular in the South —are made from cornmeal batter. Soo Ahn, chef of the soon-to-be-open Adalina in Chicago, takes his version up a notch by cooking them in bacon fat.

"I love cooking bacon and hate wasting all that delicious fat, so I use that as the oil on the pan. It gives it that extra salty, smoky flavor through the hoecakes — which are absolutely delicious," Ahn told Insider.

To make Ahn's hoecakes, you'll need: 2 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1 cup cornmeal, ½ cup water, ¾ cup milk, ⅓ cup melted butter, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, and a pinch of nutmeg.

First, mix your flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, salt, and nutmeg together. In a separate bowl, mix your milk, water, melted butter, and eggs together. Then whisk the liquid mixture into your dry ingredients.

Heat a sauté pan with some bacon fat over medium-high heat. Pour about ¼ cup of the batter in the pan and cook for 45 seconds to one minute on each side to make a hoecake. Repeat for each cake.

"Once it's done, you pour maple syrup over it," Ahn said. "There's salty, smoky, sweet, savory goodness in every bite."

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Ending your brunch with a coffee or tea? Why not enjoy some madeleines with it.

Ryan Ratino, the youngest US chef to ever receive two Michelin stars, always serves madeleines on his tasting menus at Bresca in Washington, DC.

To make Ratino's iconic madeleines at home, you'll need: 6 large eggs, 270 grams all-purpose flour, 270 grams melted butter, 225 grams of sugar, 30 grams dark brown sugar, 2 tablespoons honey (combined with the melted butter), 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder, and a vanilla bean pod.

First, in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, add your eggs, sugar, and dark brown sugar. Whisk them together on high for 10 minutes until they've tripled in volume.

Then, slowly add the flour and baking powder to the mixture in small additions. Make sure to turn the mixer on low-medium speed, mixing thoroughly until all the dry ingredients are incorporated evenly.

Add your melted butter, honey, and scraped vanilla bean (not the whole pod) to the mixture. Mix for one to two minutes on medium speed.

Put your completed batter into pastry bags. Pipe the batter into madeleine baking molds, filling them about two-thirds of the way. Bake your madeleines for three to five minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, until they're golden brown and cooked through.

Toss your madeleines in a small mixing bowl with granulated sugar and enjoy!