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A super simple veggie loaded breakfast casserole that’s easily customizable! I loaded mine with shredded potato hash browns, tons of fresh veggies, and a big dash of hot sauce! You can add crumbled sausage, shredded chicken, or anything else you please!
FRI-YAY!
I am so excited to be bringing you one of my all-time favorite breakfast casseroles. It’s loaded with shredded potato hash browns and tons of sauteéd spinach, bell peppers, and mushrooms. Not only is it a cinch to whip up, but it’s also totally customizable! Be it sausage, ground chicken/turkey, shredded rotisserie chicken, or meatless – with tons of veggies like I made it. The options are endless.
Once you’ve got your protein picked out, grab your favorite cheese and start shredding. Mozzarella, swiss, and sharp cheddar are just some of the cheeses that will pair well with this casserole.
BUT BUT BUT! More reasons to make it –> you can MAKE IT AHEAD and just bake it off in the morning. How good would this be for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas breakfast? A nice hearty and veggie loaded casserole that’ll keep you and the little ones going all day long.
How to make a veggie breakfast casserole:
I kind of debated whether I should actually call this a ‘breakfast casserole recipe’ as it’s more of a guideline that can easily be adapted to your family’s breakfast casserole needs.
Did I mention it makes a ton? Like 10-12 servings! The hubby and I enjoyed this casserole for a couple of days but it’s one of those that actually tastes better with time. And yeah, you bet it was dinner the next day. But loaded with veggies and eggs, it’s hearty and keeps you full for hours afterward.
I spiced mine up with a whole ¼ cup of Franks hot sauce. And it gave the casserole so much flavor. If you’ve got little ones, you can cut the hot sauce back to a couple of tablespoons or leave it out altogether. But even with the ¼ cup added into the breakfast casserole, I still splashed on a little more before gobbling it down!
Let’s talk about the breakfast casserole recipe.
It’s super simple, I promise.
I sautéed the veggies separately in a skillet before layering them in. If you decide to use any kind of protein, just sauté it before adding it into the casserole.
So it starts like this – just spray a 9×13 casserole dish down with a good coating of cooking spray. We want the hash browns on the bottom to get nice and colored. Then add in the hash brown, pack them in firmly. Next, whisk the eggs, salt and pepper, milk, and if you’re using it, hot sauce, in a bowl and set it aside. Saute and add your protein +veggies on top of the potatoes and drizzle on your egg mixture. Top it with your favorite cheese and that’s it! Let it all bake up for 45 minutes and you’ve got a perfect breakfast casserole that’s great for brunch or lazy Saturday mornings.
Sometimes I like to assemble the casserole from the night before and let it come to room temperature for about 20 minutes while I enjoy a cup of coffee and bake it off in the morning.
Lazy Saturday morning breakfasts are my favorite part of the whole week.
Veggie-Loaded Breakfast Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 8-10 mushrooms sliced
- 2 teaspoon garlic minced or pressed
- ½ red onion diced
- 2 bell peppers diced
- 2 cups packed baby spinach roughly chopped
- 20 ounces shredded potatoes thawed
- 10 eggs
- ⅓ cup half and half or milk see notes
- ¼ cup hot sauce more or less to taste
- salt and pepper
- 1 cup shredded cheese see notes
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the mushrooms and sauté them for 4 minutes or until they start to brown. Add a small pinch of salt along withe onions and garlic and let cook for 2 minutes. Remove to a plate. Add the second tablespoon of oil, if needed, and sauté the peppers for 1 minute. Add in the baby spinach and allow it to wilt, remove from heat, set aside.
- Generously spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Lay the shredded potatoes in the bottom of the dish and press to make sure they are spread out evenly. Add the veggies (both the mushrooms and the pepper mixtures) over the potatoes, set aside.
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF if you are baking the casserole immediately.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, half and half, hot sauce, and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the prepared veggies. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and another small pinch of salt and pepper.
- Bake the casserole, uncovered, until the cheese melts, and the top gets in and golden, 45-50 minutes. Allow the casserole to cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- To make ahead – prepare the casserole as directed, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or as required (not to exceed 24 hours) and allow it to come to room temperature for 20 minutes before baking.
- The half and half can be replaced with any nondairy milk such as almond, soy, cashew, etc.
- Other add-ins – I kept this recipe vegetarian, but you can certainly add in browned sausage, ground turkey/beef, shredded chicken or ham. The cheeses I recommend for this casserole are cheddar (mild or sharp), mozzarella, and pepper jack, or swiss).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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How much sausage (pounds) would you add to this?
Roughly 1 – 1 1/4 pounds!
It was good! I browned hash browns first and cooked right away then heated up next day!
Made this for breakfast today with daughter and son-in-law, and it was delicious! I added asparagus, which I cut into 1” pieces and sautéed for about 5 minutes until tender/crisp, and also added cut-up Morningstar Farms breakfast sausage patties, both of which I put on top just before the cheese. We used a milder hot sauce, and it was just the right amount of heat for me, and the others added a bit more. Wow! Definitely will make this again, although it’s a lot of work prepping everything to have as an every day breakfast.
Did you add the morning star sausage already cooked?
This was absolutely easy and soooooo delicious!!! This is definitely one of my new staple recipes for the school year!! Thank you!!!!
Is the hot sauce the same thing as Tabasco sauce?
I say hot sauce because they range from spicy to mild – you can pretty much use anything you like here. Tabasco will do! 🙂
Making this right now! We do a summer farm share (aka CSA). This week we got some nice potatoes. We decided to grate the farm potatoes and just layer the bottom of the pan with them as described. I’m wondering if we should have added salt/pepper to the potato layer or done anything else? I’m not familiar with frozen potatoes, so I’m just note sure if they are pre-cooked or seasoned etc. what do you think? Excited to try it tomorrow!
You can season them with a little salt, pepper, onion, or garlic powder if you’d like. The frozen potatoes I used for this recipe weren’t previously cooked but were lightly seasoned. Hope you enjoy the casserole!
Excellent!!! I loved that i could make this the day before. It tasted wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
This is now my go to breakfast casserole. I always get compliments. I usually add sausage but it’s not necessary. I always make sure I get plenty when I go through the buffet line. ?
Made this for Easter brunch 2018.
What a hit! Absolutely delicious! Never like to make something for a holiday that I have never made before. I did so because it looked delicious in the pictures and that 15 people gave it 5 stars. You have my 5 stars on it too! Thank you for this recipe!
Can I use 2% or whole milk?
Either should work fine!
What a great, easy recipe! I love how you can alter it easily too. I didn’t want too many servings and only had smaller amounts of veggies leftover to use, so I:
Used an 8×8 pan
Used 1 small sweet potato (diced), several mushrooms, red onion, garlic, 1/2 orange bell pepper, about 10 asparagus (cut up), about 2 cups of fresh spinach (from a bagged salad mix that was getting old). Added a sprinkle of feta and about 1/2 cup cheddar on top. I used 6 eggs, some hot sauce and about 1/4 c. milk. Added S&P, of course, too. Baked for about 33 minutes and it turned out perfect! I think if you left out the cheese, you wouldn’t miss it. All the veggies had great flavor on their own. Thank you!
Yum! I doubled the recipe (2 9×13 pans) for a big family brunch, and instead of doubling the potatoes just added riced cauliflower to make up the difference and lower the carb count. It was a big hit – thanks!
It says half and half (see notes)
But there wasn’t anything about the half and half in the notes unless I was missing something.
Does it have to be half and half?
Or milk. ??♀️??♀️
Thanks for catching that! The note must’ve fallen off when we converted the recipes over to the new format. You can replace the half and half with any nondairy milk (almond, cashew, soy, etc.)
Made it with various veg I had on hand and ground turkey breakfast sausage. Even threw in a couple of chopped apples. It was a big hit at Bible study and with my family.
Do you think this would work well with only egg whites?
Yes, I think you could make this with egg whites. You may need to up the quantity a little to make up for the egg yolks and the timing may vary slightly so you may have to monitor for doneness but it should work!
Amazing recipe!! I tried it this morning. I followed the recipe exactly except omitted mushrooms and added crumbled sausage. It was both flavorful and filling. Husband approved. This one is a keeper.
Tried it and my boyfriend and I both love it! Love how customizable it is (based on comments here) and plan to try it again and add Canadian bacon to see how that goes over (we love meat). It reheats well for breakfast (or other meals) all week! Thanks for the recipe! Yum!
I was wondering if it would work with feta cheese?
Hoping to try it for breakfast tomorrow.
Yeah, I think it should!
Do you think you can make this in the crockpot?
Sorry Marcy, not too sure about making this in a slow cooker. If I’ve tried making it, I’ll usually leave a little blurb in the notes section of the recipe.
What a great Sunday morning breakfast! As we are not big potato lover, what about skipping the hash browns and pour the eggs mixture over the yummy veggies and bake?
I think that would work out just fine! You may need to keep an eye on it though, as without the potatoes it’ll alter the baking time a bit 🙂
I made this for dinner tonight and it was AMAZING. To make it quicker I used frozen veggies (one bag of mirepoix blend and one bag of stir fry mix) and it worked great. The best (and most important) part is that the kids approve! I may try it next time with some cherry tomatoes and kale instead of the spinach for some more body.