Our Make-Ahead Egg & Sausage Breakfast Casserole Recipe is Perfect for Brunch!
Whether you call it sausage breakfast casserole or egg and cheese strata, here’s an easy and delicious brunch recipe.
Need a delicious breakfast recipe for the new year?
In our home, this savory egg and sausage breakfast casserole is one of our favorites to serve during the holidays, but it’s also simple enough for any brunch occasion. You can even prep this make-ahead meal the night before in a 9 x 13 casserole dish, and then put in the oven the next morning.
The result is a bubbly egg, cheese, and sausage breakfast casserole with melted cheese topping and delicious fluffy bread crust at the bottom. It all caramelizes together for a warm comforting texture. I add a can of green chiles to my casserole for a mild spicy flavor, although that is optional of course!
Tips for perfecting our egg and sausage breakfast casserole recipe:
- I love that this basic recipe can be customized to different meats and veggie combos your family prefers. Breakfast ground sausage (or link sausage) is what we normally use. Ham or bacon would be yummy as well.
- If you have a day-old loaf of French bread, this is a great way to use it up. Otherwise, it’s easy to slice and toast for a few minutes in the oven first. I use 6 slices which ends up being about half a grocery store loaf of French bread. In a pinch, I have used white sandwich bread instead!
- This can be baked immediately or compiled up to a day ahead of time and then placed in the oven to bake first thing in the morning (I normally do the latter).
- Eating Keto? Be sure to check out our keto Crockpot breakfast casserole on our sister site Hip2Keto.com!
- Leftovers are delicious warmed up the next day in the microwave and can be stored covered in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
Sausage & Egg Breakfast Casserole
yield: 12 SERVINGS
prep time: 20 MINUTES
cook time: 1 HOUR 20 MINUTES
total time: 1 HOUR 40 MINUTES
Here's a cheesy sausage and egg dish with fluffy French bread crust that is perfect to share as breakfast or brunch.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian or breakfast sausage
- 6 slices of French bread sliced, toasted, torn into pieces
- 5 eggs, beaten
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 small 4 oz can roasted mild green chilies
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Directions
1
Crumble the sausage into a skillet, and cook over medium heat until evenly browned. Drain grease if necessary.
2
Place pieces of toasted bread at the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Place cooked sausage over the bread, evenly spread.
3
Mix eggs, milk, salt, green chilies, and red bell pepper together in a medium-sized bowl. Pour mixture over the bread and sausage. Sprinkle the top with shredded cheese. Cover and place in the fridge overnight, or bake immediately.
4
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the casserole for 50 min covered with foil. Remove the cover and cook another 25 minutes at 325 degrees, until browned and bubbly. Enjoy!
Sausage breakfast casserole is a perfect potluck dish!
You can prepare a pan with sausage and one with bacon as a different variation, and they travel well in a casserole dish. I usually serve it alongside fruit and sometimes a sweet option like cinnamon rolls for a yummy brunch. Enjoy!
See how one of my teammates made a low carb version of this breakfast casserole:
“I make this idea without the bread and it’s still very good. In fact, it’s my go-to recipe for using up leftover ham after holiday dinners! It can be done with almost any meat, but my family loves it when I used chopped-up ham. It is such a forgiving recipe, and the result is always yummy! Bonus – it makes enough for a couple of breakfasts so that’s a definite win in my family.”
These breakfast burrito pouches are a delicious make-ahead breakfast, too!
I just sat down from finishing getting our breakfast casseroles in the fridge for the morning.
These pictures are so amazing! Makes me want to eat everything that is posted!
Yum! Sounds good! I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas Collin! Thank you for all your hard work.
It looks really good…yum! Merry christmas to you and your family Collin:)
This does look really good. Thank you.
I need to try this! Delish!
I just made something similar to this today but instead of bread I used cooked hashbrowns. Can’t wait to eat it tomorrow!
Ahh…I’ve had this for Christmas breakfast every Christmas I can remember! My mom uses stale bread – sounds gross but it’s delicious!
Thanks for the recipe. Just got done making this… It’s in the fridge all ready for tomorrow! Merry Christmas to all! 🙂
You can use toast if you don’t have French bread. I toast the heels of a loaf of bread since no one eats those pieces anyway. We like add cilantro and some chili flakes for a little heat.
We make this (minus the chili’s and we use any bread cut in cubes and dried or toasted) every Christmas 🙂 sometimes with fruit salad or cinnamon rolls, too. My husband’s Grandmother started the Christmas tradition and we carried it along.
I made something almost identical this morning, only instead of using the french bread my recipe called for country style hash browns. Turned out delicious and was super filling!! 🙂
Hi! I love the idea of using hash browns instead of bread. Can you add frozen hash browns? Do you remember the amount you used? TIA!
I make mine with hashbrowns but the simply potato bagged ones. I usually toss them with melted butter, salt and pepper before putting in the casserole. If you use frozen I’d defrost and remove some of the water from them.
Yum! Great idea 💡
Perfect, thank you!!
Read this last minute decided to take a chance: used everything except chilies and added an egg and extra bread (french) with maple sausage- was simply amazing! Never had it before, was inexpensive and very filling! Thank you!
Excellent!
Does anyone know how to like a deal? Before the update you were able to ❤️ a post and it would save. I’m kinda upset cause all the ones I saved before update are gone 🙁 I had recipe posts saved, DIY stuff, and items I really liked that I eventually wanted to buy and now it’s all gone! I can’t even save anything else! I truly hope they bring that feature back to Hip2Save
Yes!! I would like to know this too!!
Yes, I have this problem, too! All those special ‘saves’ no longer registering! H2S, can you help us figure this out, please?
We do leftover sausage stuffing and scrambled eggs sautéed in a pan for breakfast – I should try it baked this way. Would be way better!
Oh yum! Great idea 💡
I make this every year. My nephew calls it Egg cake. Lol. I have to make triple batch bc everyone LOVES it. It’s super easy and so good!
Awesome! So yum
Only 5 eggs? Doesn’t seem like near enough for a big pan…isn’t it more bread than egg? Does anyone add more eggs?
My recipe calls for 6 eggsand a few more pieces of bread. The 2 cups of milk that you add makes for plenty of liquid for the bread to absorb. We used any kind of breakfast meat (ham cubes, bacon, sausage), onions, and green peppers. Yum!
I still have alot of these ingredients leftover from thanksgiving day prep. Definitely will try this recipe 😊🌶🥕🍅🧀
Perfect! Thanks for sharing 👍
I do a similar casserole for Christmas and I like to top it with green onions and cherry tomatoes at the end.
Lina, As I’m making this for the 7th year. Lol Thanks to you it’s our Christmas tradition breakfast when visiting our son every year out of state. I hope you see this. May you and your family have a blessed holiday season!
Aw yay!! I just made mine too, so it’ll be ready for tomorrow ❤️ thank you – Merry Christmas!! 🎄
I use day old croissants! Yummy.
YES! I love that idea.
My recipe calls for 10 eggs (I usually just use a full dozen), 6 slices of bread, 2 cups milk, teaspoon of dry mustard, bag of cheddar cheese, and pound of meat (sausage, bacon, ham, etc), and any veggies you want. I always use a dozen eggs. It’s nice and fluffy . I will have to try it sometime with less eggs to compare. Thanks for sharing the recipe! Merry Christmas !
Thanks for sharing Erica! Merry Christmas! I love this tradition 🎄💕 Just put mine in the fridge 😀
We do 8 eggs plus 2 cups milk. It’s really versatile. I often add a bit of white wine, and frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry). Use any kind of bread–I usually mix together whatever bread I have lying around even bagels.