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.
Delicious! Made this dairy-free by using cashew milk and dairy free cheese.
Can I add more eggs and use less milk? Will that come out too firm?
Hi Maria, We have only made this recipe as listed. If you do attempt it, we would love to hear how it turns out!
I am making this x4. The standard recipe calls for 60-65 minutes. What would you recommended for this size ?
Oh wow! That’s a lot of casserole! We haven’t made this recipe in that size before so I would recommend checking it at the hour mark and adjust the time from there. You could make 4 regular size casseroles and bake as directed if that helps!
Thanks for the great recipe! I’ve made this twice using taco meat and southwest hash browns. Before eating, I drizzle some taco sauce and add a dollop of sour cream. Absolutely delightful!
The article says to press hash browns into pan, but the instructions don’t, and at one point says to ‘add the rest of the ingredients’. I know this wouldn’t exactly ruin the dish but I almost mixed the hash browns into everything else!
Otherwise, I’m excited to try it!
Hi Kristen, we mix the hashbrowns with the other ingredients and top with the egg mixture. Hope that helps!
Can you suggest a reheating temperature and time for this casserole if fully cooked and oven ready at room temperature.
I’m sorry for the 3 stars in previous post. This is definitely 5 stars.
Delicious and so easy to to assemble. I added diced ham and bacon bits to the sausage.
What size pan/dish is used to bake in?
We bake this recipe in a 9×13 baking dish.
Super easy to put together and everyone loved it!
Can you make this in individual muffin cups?
Hi Christina, we haven’t tried turning this recipe into individual servings. We do love baking and them freezing individual servings to enjoy later though! If you try making individual servings we would love to hear how they turn out!
If I wanted to make these into individual cupcake servings how long would you suggest cooking?
Hi Tina, we have never tried this recipe in individual servings. I would recommend greasing the muffins tins and starting with 25-30 mins and increasing from there if necessary.
Do you bake covered or not?
Thanks
Hi Lori, we bake this casserole uncovered.
I LOVE this recipe. I have literally made this over 20 times. It’s perfect for big family breakfasts! We travel 4 hours away to our family lake house most weekends in the summer and I premake and freeze in a disposable pan. It survives the drive with no problem and then I just pop it in the oven in the morning. My family also loves to top it with warm country gravy or green chilli for a little extra spice!
I would like to make ahead and freeze like you did. She suggests baking it first, but you’ve had success with freezing and traveling and then baking, correct??
Came out great and tasted delicious!
I am making this today(Wednesday) for a wedding brunch on Sunday. Can I freeze the whole thing together and should I bake it today and then just reheat the whole thing on Sunday?
Hi Donna, I would bake it and then freeze it. Pass along our congratulations to the happy couple!
Came out perfectly for a teacher breakfast at our kids’ school. Thank you so much for the recipe!
I only had 7 eggs instead of 8, so I skimped a couple tablespoons on the can of evaporated milk – looked and smelled wonderful.
To prep for a food dropoff in the morning, I combined all but the eggs mixture in a pan (saved the eggs part for the morning), covered in foil, and refrigerated that overnight. I let “thaw” for about 30min in the morning while preheating the oven to 350F. I whisked the eggs, evaporated milk, and italian seasoning together and poured that in just before baking.
The recipe insinuates mixing up the peppers, onion, cheese, and potatoes, but doesn’t really say so. It just says layer potatoes on the bottom and add the other stuff. The picture shows them mixed up, though, so that’s what I did and I recommend that – it distributes the goodies really well and looks great when it’s all cooked up.
Thank you again for a great recipe, it made a lot of teachers happy today I’m sure, while they get ready for another school year.
So happy this recipe was enjoyed by all Mike! That is a such fun way to start the school year.
This recipe was a hit at my job for our brunch
I want to take this for a week at the cottage and do in advance. Should I bake it first and then freeze, or mix everything together, freeze from raw, thaw and then cook?
I would bake it first then freeze it in small portions, that way you can pull one portion at a time and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight!
So I made it, but it came out super watery, any ideas on why? The family still loved it though
Hmmm, we haven’t had it turn out watery, sorry to hear that! Did you thaw the shredded hash browns, Samantha? Also, draining the cooked sausages would help if it was more liquidy. Hope that helps.
I’ve had it turn out watery as well. Sautee all the veggies before baking if you aren’t using a convection oven and it should help.
Do you dilute the evaporated milk
Hi Lynette, we do not dilute it but you can substitute it with 1 ⅓ cups of milk if you prefer.
This was excellent! I also added mushrooms, ham and real bacon to your recipe and made it into a Denver breakfast casserole. I had 5 kinds of cheese that needed used up. Feta, cheddar, Colby Jack, mozzarella and parmazon cheese! I will definitely make this again and again! Thanks for sharing! Also it cut nicely out of the pan!