Description
This easy sausage, egg and hash brown breakfast casserole is simple to make, and always a crowd-pleaser!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage (hot, mild or sweet)
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, cored and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (20 ounce) bag frozen diced hash brown potatoes*, thawed
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- 6 eggs
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt*
- a few generous twists of freshly-cracked black pepper
- toppings: thinly sliced green onions, sliced avocado and/or hot sauce
Instructions
- Prepare oven. Heat oven to 375°F.
- Brown the sausage. Cook over medium-high heat in a large sauté pan until browned, crumbling the sausage with a spoon as it cooks. Transfer sausage with a slotted spoon to a large mixing bowl. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the remaining sausage grease in the sauté, and discard the rest.
- Sauté veggies. Add onion and bell pepper to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add garlic and sauté for an additional 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant. Transfer the vegetable mixture into the mixing bowl with the sausage. Add the thawed diced potatoes and 1 1/2 cups cheese to the mixing bowl with the sausage and veggies. Toss gently until evenly combined.
- Add the eggs. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and black pepper until combined. Add the egg mixture to the potato mixture and toss gently to combine.
- Bake. Pour the mixture into a 9×13-inch* baking dish and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the potatoes in the center are cooked through. Transfer the baking dish to a wire rack.
- Serve. Serve warm, garnished with your favorite toppings, and enjoy!
Notes
Potatoes: If you don’t have a bag of frozen diced hash brown potatoes, feel free to dice 20 ounces (nearly 2 pounds) of Yukon gold potatoes for this recipe.
Type of salt: I always cook and write my recipes with fine sea salt. But please note that if you are using iodized table salt, you only need to add about half as much.
Size of baking pan: This casserole will also fit in an 11 x 7-inch or 9 x 9-inch baking pan, if you prefer. It will likely just need an extra 5-10 minutes to cook.
Can I cut up potatoes and use them
Hey there! I’m using fresh russet potatoes (frozen foods are scarce in the store right now), would I cook it the same or should I par-boil the potatoes first?
Thanks!
Great easy breakfast casserole to make for my big family!! Delicious! Thanks!
My husband and I loved this! I didn’t have any red peppers so I used a can of red gold chili ready tomatoes (drained) and let me just say…..it was AMAZING!!!! ?
Also, I used Tater tots instead is potatoes.
Just made this today and I love it! I did change just a few things (added entire 32 oz bag of thawed Ore-Ida diced hash browns instead of the above 22oz, which led me to add three more eggs and about a half cup more of milk). I cannot eat cheese but the husband can so I topped his half of the 13×9 pan with cheese and left my half alone! Baked for 30 minutes covered and another 15 minutes uncovered. YUM!
*Note – next time I make this, I will add more veggies like spinach and mushroom.
I enjoyed this casserole with the exception that it was way too bland! My family had to add hot sauce for extra flavor otherwise it was a good recipe.
Made this for Mother’s Day and it was a huge hit! Not a bite was leftover. Super easy and will definitely make again.
Taste was great! We used turkey sausage for a healthier option and I didn’t have any frozen potatoes so I used 3 fresh golden potatoes and just diced them and microwaved them in a glass bowl for 7 min to precook before adding to the casserole
It’s my family’s favorite breakfast, and co-workers.
Can I use chopped kielbasa or smoked sausage with chopped bacon instead of italian sausage in this recipe.
This is my go_to overnight breakfast casserole. BUT it’s so much better if you sauté the potatoes first! And add a little hot sauce when you’re mixing ingredients together-takes it over the top!
Can you freeze this and bake it later?
Yes ! Baking for about 45 minutes at an altitude of 2300
feet seems perfect .
This is a really yummy dish . Thanks !
Tired of the breaded version so found this option and it proved to be a great base recipe. Made some modifications as my family does not like peppers but added other favs including chopped fresh tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and spinach (blotted extra moisture as much as possible). Also used canned potatoes as that what was in my pantry and sprinkled with feta in the last 15 minutes. It was delicious! 45 minute cooking time worked perfectly in the 11 x 7. Highly recommend this as a carb-lighter casserole. Thanks!
Hello, I was wondering about freezing options
I want to make the casserole a night before I leave to go out of town (friday) and then make it that sunday
What should I do?
I’ve made this casserole for Christmas morning and for Mother’s Day this year. Love this recipe and my family can’t get enough of it either!!
Yummy! I prepped the night before as I was using whole potatoes cut up and wanted to par-boil them. We like things with a kick so I used both spicy sausage as well as sautéed jalapeño with my pepper and onion mix. So so so good!
Tried this recipe for the first time today. I used shredded potatoes and it was very good. The next time I think I’ll use pepper jack cheese as well as top the dish with crumbled bacon.
This is delicious!! Can you share the nutrition facts?
I tweaked it a bit. I used 1/2 lbs breakfast sausage, 4 strips of bacon chopped, and ham pieces. I used green peppers instead of red. I had shredded hash browns instead of using potato cubes and baked covered for 30 mins. DELICIOUS!
I made this an overnight casserole, prepared it the night before and set it out for half an hour before putting it in the oven. It needed to bake for an hour and twenty minutes. The last half hour w/out the foil. I did bake it at 350* instead of 375*.
This was delicious! We used fresh red potatoes and didn’t need to adjust the cooking time at all.
It’s really delicious and so easy to put together. It would be good for any meal.
Very yummy! Only thing I do different is double the meat because my guy loves meat! A++
Made this recipe for the first time and it was delicious! I topped it with salsa verde as I served it and really added good flavor. Would definitely make again!
Outstanding! Only thing I changed was I used 8 eggs. 6 seemed a little lonely in that big mixture
Me, too! Thanks for reminding me…
I love this recipe. I use a dozen eggs .take about a hour.
I haven’t cooked this yet, however my son made it at our Thanksgiving Weekend. It was delicious, he made a extra large dish and almost all of it was eat. When we started home they sent it with us. The next morning I warmed it up for breakfast for me and my husband. It was still delicious.
I made this for my family and they loved it.
Can this recipe be made in the microwave? I won’t have access to a conventional oven on Christmas morning, when I usually make a strata (prepared night before then baked in the morning in a bain-marie in the oven) for breakfast.
Have made this several times and have added a couple ingredients that my kids like. We added a cup of cubed ham and 2 cups of broccoli. Made it per the directions the first couple times and it has been a family favorite ever since. Thank you ?
This was good! I regret adding black olives to it!!
Kevin, was your broccoli cooked or raw?
I made this using garlic smoked sausage. I added a teaspoon of tastefully simple spinach and herb and a 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. It was awesome!
Didn’t see “Salt” in the ingredients. So i trusted the process and said to myself, maybe all the flavors will release natural salts and wont need any. Boy i was wrong. The casserole in general was so good and packed with flavor after i sprinkled some salt on top of it. My mother loved it, she requested that i make it again for Sunday brunch. Will deff add my own spices but deff will use the same recipe! Thank you?
I am attempting to make a layered casserole.
I have 8 baked potatoes left over from xmas dinner. Will use what I have. I will brown 1 lb ground sausage and 10oz chorizo and chopped onions, which I will layer over the cut up potatoes with skin on. Then I will pour doz scrambled eggs over mixture salt and pepper pinch of salt. I will then add shredded cheese on top. Top it with green onion once out of oven. Hoping it comes out integrated and layered. Wanted to add bellpeppers with chopped onions but, alas, have none.
Yours reminds me of homemade cornbeef hash from yrs ago.
Easy to make casserole with so much flavor! Made the night before with exact ingredients. Bake for an hour in e morning – first half hour covered with foil. Delicious!
Just made this, and it was delicious. I made a few substitutions based on what I had on hand, the main one being that I didn’t have any bell peppers but I did have chili peppers and mushrooms. One note: if you’re substituting fresh diced potatoes for the frozen hash browns, consider parboiling them before adding them—it took a long time to get them baked all the way through.
I am looking for something I can freeze for a new mama to reheat. This should work, right? I’ve never made enough to freeze!
I have frozen this to take to my daughter’s house! Just thaw overnight in the fridge, let come to room temp (about 1/2 hour) and bake as directed! My grandkids loved it and my daughter was so happy she didn’t have to cook! :-)
I followed the recipe exactly and mine looked nothing like the picture shown. I used a 9×13 pan. It was quite full. I honestly wonder if this blogger even made this recipe since all the posters had to tell her it takes atleast 45 mins to bake..it was quite tasty..I will add more sausage next time
This was so good that my son in college has asked me for this recipe! Go figure!
It needs to cook 1 HR to 1HR 15mins. We also added bacon and added double eggs it was great. Will be making again
Best recipe ever. Use the hot Italian sausage. But replace the potatoes with frozen tator tots!
I’d advise to cook the hash with just a spoonful of bacon grease or oil. The potatoes will look dry towards the end but stir it here and there and it will get a good head start.
Made this for a Birthday breakfast party and everyone loved it! I did add salt .
Bomb-diggity. Spot on with everything. Did not use bell peppers. Easy and a hit!
Decent, easy to make crowd pleaser! This is one of those simple recipes that lends itself to personalization so I add a little onion and garlic powder to the whisked eggs for just a little more flavor in them, otherwise the sausage carries most of the flavor. I also like to use half and half with the eggs for a little more richness.
Don’t be afraid to try different meats or cheeses if sausage and cheddar aren’t your thing! This would be excellent with ham and Swiss cheese!
I made 1/2 recipe, as there are just 2 of us. Didn’t have used French fried cut up:) it was really good!
can this be made cooked then frozen?
I suppose it wouldn’t be fair to rate this any lower, because I did make some changes, but there was way to much onion for my taste. It completely overwhelmed all the other flavors. I used 12 eggs, bell pepper and onion as instructed, breakfast sausage, added 2 cups of broccoli, and shredded my own potatoes. Still, all I could taste was onion. Baked for 1.5 hours at 350. If I make it again, I’ll omit the onion entirely.
As you stated in an update, this definitely takes at least 45 minutes to cook and I’m currently at an hour-and-going to get the center set and the diced fresh potatoes cooked. The active prep time also took me way more than 15 minutes and I’m quite efficient in the kitchen. I wish recipes included a range of prep time based on experience for a more realistic time range. Or maybe it would be 15 minutes if someone was using all pre-cut/shredded ingredients. Although I suppose the time listed technically does start after all the ingredients have been prepped. So long rant short, the actual time for this dish is probably 1.5-2 hours.
Still yummy, and gimmesomeoven is still a go-to recipe site for me!
Made a beautiful Easter Breakfast! Cooked it in the oven in a cast iron skillet. Put in oil while the oven preheated. Added the thawed hash browns while I finished browning the sausage and egg mixture. Once all components were ready, I added the sausage/veggies on top of the potatoes. Then added a layer of cheese then poured the egg mixture on top and baked. Cut the cooking time down significantly!
If you use a frozen bag of hashbrowns, onions and peppers, it’s much easier.
Easy and tasted great! I bought the frozen diced potatoes with the peppers and onions in them. It did take about 50 min total to bake. A crowd pleaser!