A Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole is perfect when you need to feed a crowd first thing in the morning.
This breakfast casserole recipe is a full meal with eggs, sausage, peppers, and hashbrowns all topped with cheese and baked until perfect golden brown.
Best of all, prepare ahead of time and in the morning, just pop it into the oven. Serve with a fresh fruit salad, and keep the coffee coming (or mimosas)!
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Ingredients in Breakfast Casserole
Hashbrowns – I use shredded hashbrowns, but any style of hash browns work well in this recipe, or even leftover home fries or roasted potatoes!
Sausage – I prefer pork sausage (like Jimmy Dean’s breakfast sausage). Swap it out for turkey sausage, ham, or crispy bacon (or even leftover ground beef from last night’s tacos)!
Veggies – I add bell peppers to this casserole but add whatever veggies you have on hand. Mushrooms (cook them first so they don’t get watery), asparagus, or even steamed broccoli are great.
Cheese – Shredded sharp cheddar cheese is our favorite, but pepper jack cheese or other bold flavorful cheeses work well. Save a little for the top to get a nice golden layer of cheese.
This hash brown casserole recipe is very forgiving; you can change the add-ins according to your preferences or what you have on hand. Try leftover meats, veggies, and cheeses of all kinds. Just chop or shred and toss them into the mix.
How to Make Breakfast Casserole
Frozen hash browns make this breakfast casserole super easy to whip up.
- Spread thawed shredded hash browns in the bottom of a baking dish per the recipe below. Mix in cheese, sausage, and pepper/onions.
- Whisk eggs, milk, and seasonings in a large bowl.
- Pour over the hashbrown mixture.
Bake Now or Make Ahead
The great thing about this hash brown breakfast casserole recipe is that it can be baked right away or prepared ahead and baked before brunch. It’s perfect for holidays like Christmas morning or even Easter.
Cook it now or refrigerate overnight Once prepared, bake right away or you can cover, refrigerate overnight, and bake this breakfast casserole fresh in the morning.
To Bake Now Pour the egg mixture over top and bake. Unlike strata or french toast, you do not need to wait as there is no bread to soak up the mixture. So just make and bake.
To Bake Later Cover the mixture tightly and refrigerate for up to 48 hours (or 3 days if using pasteurized egg product). Remove from the fridge at least 30 minutes before baking (while preheating the oven).
This bakes at 350°F for 55-65 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. If you’ve let it sit overnight, it may need a few extra minutes if it’s still quite chilled from the fridge.
To prepare in the Crock Pot, I recommend our slow cooker breakfast casserole.
Just like egg muffins, leftover breakfast casserole is perfect for busy weekday mornings. Keep leftovers in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave or the oven.
Yes, you sure can! This will last in the freezer for up to four months. Wrap individual pieces and store in freezer bags. Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat in the microwave or the oven.
More Easy Make-Ahead Breakfast Casseroles
If you’re tired of the same old breakfast or want a meal to prep ahead, you’ll love these breakfast casserole recipes. They’re perfect for reheating throughout the week or for a special holiday breakfast and best of all, they’re all prepped ahead of time.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 20 ounces shredded hash browns thawed
- 1 pound ground pork sausage cooked, crumbled, and drained
- ¼ cup finely diced onion
- ½ red bell pepper diced
- ½ green bell pepper diced
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese divided
- 8 eggs
- 12 ounces evaporated milk 1 can, or 1 ⅓ cups milk
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning or your favorite herbs and spices, optional
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (if baking immediately). Grease a 9×13 inch pan or a 3qt baking dish or spray with cooking spray.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Brown the sausage, breaking it up with a spoon, until no pink remains. Drain fat.
- In the prepared dish, add the hashbrowns, cooked sausage, onions, bell peppers, and 1 ½ cups of cheese. Gently mix the ingredients together and spread evenly in the pan.
- In a large bowl, add the eggs, evaporated milk, salt & pepper, and Italian seasoning to a large bowl. Whisk until well combined.
- Pour the egg mixture over the hashbrown mixture and sprinkle the remaining cheese over top.
- Cover the dish with foil and refrigerate overnight if desired, or bake immediately.
- Bake uncovered for 55-65 minutes or until cooked through.
Video
Notes
- The casserole can be assembled and baked immediately or covered and refrigerated for up to two days before baking. If using pasteurized egg product, it can be prepared three days in advance.
- Sausage can be swapped for 1lb of bacon, cooked crisp. You can use any type of shredded cheese you have on hand.
- If the casserole is refrigerated overnight, remove it from the fridge 30 minutes before baking. It may require an extra 10-15 minutes of cooking time.
- Evaporated milk can be substituted with 1 1/3 cups of light cream, milk, or non-dairy milk of your choice.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Breakfast, Casserole
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
So good & easy to make and everyone loved it.
I’m making this in a few days and am very excited to try! Couldn’t find shredded hashbrowns so had to opt for the little cube ones. Veggie ground round as a substitute for the meat. Onion and the peppers as the recipe calls for but am adding a japaleno for spice! Also going to swap the evaporated milk for regular milk. Going to prep most of the ingredients day before and combine it all in the morning. Probably will add more cheese than it calls for because cheese. May or may not top it with cornflakes for some crunch, thoughts? Thank you!!
Also just fyi there are a couple typos in this.
Love reading your recipes
I have this all prepared to go in the oven and I find out my company cannot make it for brunch today. Can I freeze what is left over?
Yes, this recipe freezes well.
Mmmm this is GOOD. It’s easy to customize with whatever vegetables, cheese varieties and/or meats you have on hand. I used fresh potatoes which I shredded and squeezed the excess moisture out of using a kitchen towel and it turned out delicious. I used ham, bell pepper, pepper Jack cheese, and half and half and it was SO good. P.S if you half the recipe it only needs 40-45 minutes in the oven.
I used this recipe as a way to use up a pound of spiral ham, so I subbed out the sausage for that. In retrospect I wish I had realized that Italian seasoning and spiral ham were not going to be a good flavor match. Maybe it goes together well with sausage, but having done ham, I really wish I had left that part out. Totally ruins the classic ham and cheddar vibe it would have had without. I also decided to sautee my veggies before adding them. Not sure how it would have gone without that step, but I do not like crunchy veggies in my eggs, and I was pleased with how they turned out having sauteed first.
Can this be made with reconstituted hydrated hashbrowns? Do they need to be cooked first?
They do not need to be cooked, just rehydrated.
Easy and delicious!
If I’m using hash browns how much do I need for this recipe. You have 20 oz. For shredded has browns. Thank yoh
It will be about 7 cups.
I made this recipe. I cooked the mushrooms. And added red onion and the green onions. Also used red, orange and green bell peppers. Used one cup of Gouda cheese with one cup of Cheddar cheese. Then put the 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese on top.
Everyone loved the casserole this morning.
I assembled it last night and baked it this morning.
Wonderful.
Excellent
Hi Holly! New follower here and I love your recipes. I don’t use milk when cooking breakfast eggs, so is the evaporated milk necessary? Curious and thanks!
Thank you so much Connie. The dairy is needed in this recipe as it creates more of a custard (kind of like you would have in french toast) than just an egg base. It keeps the casserole moist and soft.
Made 4 batches of this for a catered event…it was a hit! Deliciouse!
I wanted to make something new for breakfast, and chose this recipe. I had .5 lb of leftover cooked Jimmy Dean sausage, so I cut the recipe in half. I used a piece of purple pepper and small jalapeño from our garden, along with the onion. I used half & half in place of the milk. I baked for 43 minutes, due to the size. It was yummy! I’ll be making it again! Thanks for a great recipe!
How much half and half did you use, please?
This was good, but the onions should be cooked with the sausage. I don’t care for bell peppers, but I used the red and it took over. Next time, I’ll use a can of well drained hot Rotel tomatoes with green chilis.
Love this recipe! Perfectly seasoned without adding anything other than what recipe calls for. Will be making this again and again! Thank you!
Thank you for the recipe. Since my daughter has CP (and trouble chewing and swallowing food) I blended the cooked sausage and vegetables into the evaporated milk before blending it with the eggs. It seems to have reduced the cooking time by quite a bit (at 40 minutes it seemed to be quite done). I imagine that’s a trick parents could use for picky eaters as well.
One pet peeve I have is recipes that say salt and pepper to taste when you need to mix it into raw ingredients that you have no opportunity to taste. I get that this is subjective, but it would be nice to at least know how much salt and pepper you put in.
Thank you for your tip on the blending Melody and for the feedback. I can definitely see what you’re saying about not being able to taste it raw. Because of the salt in the potatoes and cheese (and sometimes sausage) I personally add a bit less in this recipe about ½ teaspoon of kosher salt.
Would it be okay to use red onion instead of white?
Absolutely. Enjoy Ellie!
Yes! Any type of onion works well in this recipe. Sometimes I garnish it with green onions.
Delicious! I’m so pleased with this recipe. Needs lots of salt though. 1 tsp of pink Himalayan salt from Costco is perfect. I use green onions/scallions in place of the onions and skip the green bell pepper. I also increase the hash browns to 28 ounces. Yum!
Have you ever put the hash browns on the top instead of the bottom? In doing so I hope they would be crunchy.
Hi Cindy, we have only tried this recipe as written but if you’re looking for a crunch on top, try adding some panko bread crumbs before baking!