I tried Joanna Gaines' go-to egg dish for family brunch and it's a definite crowd-pleaser

• Season two of "Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines" premiered on April 9.
• In the first episode, she showed viewers how to make her favorite brunch spread.
• I made her egg dish recipe at home and it was better than any casserole I've ever had.

Joanna Gaines, the ultimate homemaking guru and television personality, serves cheesy eggs for brunch, just like many of us.

On the season two premiere of "Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines," which airs every Friday on Discovery Plus' Magnolia Network, Gaines showed viewers how to make her go-to family brunch spread. In addition to French toast and grits, the former "Fixer Upper" star makes a baked egg casserole that she says her whole family enjoys.

"It's comfort food," Gaines said in the episode.

I tried the cheesy egg bake myself and found it to be packed with flavor and texture. I'm not typically the biggest fan of omelets — and I'm definitely not a fan of the word casserole — but this felt like an omelet and a frittata got together to bring this delicious dish of eggy fluff to life.

Gaines' recipe calls for 10 ingredients

The Magnolia founder uses two different kinds of cheese (Gruyere and mozzarella), whole milk, Dijon mustard, kale, onion, garlic, bacon, hash browns, and eggs for her brunch casserole.

In her on-screen tutorial, Gaines used a bag of frozen, ready-to-cook hash browns, but said home cooks could just shred potatoes ourselves. I couldn't find frozen hash browns in my grocery store, so I went with the freshly shredded option. It was super easy, but be careful not to cut your knuckles with the grater.

I cooked bacon and shredded the potatoes first

Wanting to give the potatoes as much time to drain as possible, I grabbed my box grater and got to work after loading strips of bacon into a pan.

As the bacon sizzled away and the fat rendered out into a beautiful layer of glistening liquid, I spread my potato shavings between two sheets of paper towel and let them drain.

Then I measured out the rest of my ingredients and chopped my cooled-down bacon into small, but not crumby, pieces.

Pro tip: cook an extra piece of bacon for yourself as a snack. You'll thank yourself later.

A lot of work went into putting this together, but it didn't feel overwhelming

Once I had all my ingredients measured and ready to go, I let my onions, kale, and garlic sauté in the remaining bacon grease as per Gaines' instructions. I would highly recommend keeping an eye on this pan, though, because kale can cook quickly. I wanted to keep it bright green and semi-firm so that it didn't feel mushy in the finished casserole.

The home-cooking expert warned against adding the garlic too soon because of its quick cook time, but I do wish I threw it in a little sooner so that it could give off more flavor.

I started with a block of Gruyere cheese and grated it myself, just like Gaines. Unlike Gaines, I also ate 1/4 of the block as I was cooking.

Following her steps, I whisked six eggs with 1/2 cup of whole milk, then added the potatoes, mustard, cheese, salt, and pepper, and finally combined the kale into the mixture.

The last step is topping the raw egg casserole with shredded mozzarella. At first, I thought I didn't have enough cheese for this step because it didn't completely cover the top, but I found that it definitely doesn't need to be covered. After trying the finished product, I believe fully covering this with cheese would have actually been overwhelming.

After cooking the bacon, shredding and draining the potatoes, chopping and sautéing the kale and onion, and combining everything together, I felt like I had made a four-course meal for a table of 10.

It took longer than expected to cook

Every oven is different, so take cook times and temperatures listed in recipes as suggestions. Rather than following them strictly, keep an eye on the food and check it for doneness along the way.

I had to put this ambiguous rule of patience to the test when I made this dish. Gaines said it would take around 30 to 45 minutes to cook in the oven, though she didn't say at what temperature.

I currently have the most temperamental oven I've ever come across, so I let it hang out at 200 degrees Fahrenheit and baked my dish for 30 minutes before checking on it the first time.

It was still very wet, so I set the timer for an additional 15 minutes — still wet. After another 15 minutes, my eggs appeared to be completely set — when I jiggled the dish, I saw no signs of movement — so I pulled it out of the oven and dove in.

This was much more delicious than I expected it to be

Because the potatoes were raw when I added them to the eggs, they retained an al dente feel after baking, which added some great texture to the dish. In my opinion, it's kind of impossible to overdo it with the potatoes — the more the merrier!

My onions also stayed firm and offered a similar texture to the potatoes as well. I was careful not to cook them too much because I knew I wanted that added bite.

In my opinion, the kale lends more to the aesthetic of the casserole rather than to the overall flavor. I couldn't really taste it unless I happened to get a large clump in one forkful.

Gaines didn't include measurements for salt and pepper, and I overdid it a bit with my pepper mill. But I forgave myself since I personally love the flavor.

I loved how everything stayed together when I cut into the finished dish. It didn't crumble into separate components and it also cooked evenly throughout, which is something I was worried about going into this experiment.

Even though I'm not one to typically make a casserole, I would make this dish for a potluck brunch situation. It reheats well in the oven and in the microwave, and it's easy to serve. It's also delicious when eaten directly out of the baking dish with a fork.