Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole Recipe: The Breakfast of Champions

The last few times I’ve had breakfast casserole I was extremely disappointed. The flavors were all off or they were all wrong, it was mushy and undercooked, and there was basically no cheese. Isn’t casserole synonymous with cheese now?! I heard about crock pot breakfast casserole before but thought it would be just as bad as the experiences I had previously. Or maybe even worse since it would be dried out from cooking for so long. It turned out that when it’s made properly, crock pot breakfast casserole is crisp never mushy and filled with all of the great breakfast flavors you always hoped for.

Hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, crunchy top, bottom, and corners; it was exceptional. The best thing about cooking the breakfast casserole in a crock pot is that basically everyone’s serving has a crunchy corner. The round edges allow for you to cut the pieces into 6 servings where everyone has an crackling edge piece! Hooray for round cooking utensils.

Crock pot breakfast casserole is basically the cake of early morning foods. The layers all exude different flavors but compliment each other. It’s also like a loaded baked potato. The hashbrowns, cheese, green onions, and seasonings really taste similar to that recipe except there are delicious eggs, bacon, and sausage added. This dish is very filling but light. It allows you to feel full for a long time without feeling bogged down with a huge stomach. I love foods that satisfy and help you feel full without making you feel like you just ate a giant brick. They send you off on your day saying, “Have a productive day!” instead of “Hey bro, wanna take a three hour nap?”

One of my favorite parts about making the crock pot breakfast casserole myself is that I can change out ingredients or add more of the ingredients I love. On most occasions, I like using Jennie-O’s turkey bacon and turkey sausage. I think they have great flavor, taste almost the same as typical bacon and sausage, and lack a ton of calories, sodium, and fat.

Using turkey products instead of pork also doesn’t leave as much grease in the crock pot or in the nonstick pan. When I pick up a slice of breakfast casserole and there’s a ton of grease left in the pan or falling onto my plate, I lose my appetite. Even those with strong stomachs have a hard time dealing with a lot of full fat meat products. I love to eat real bacon, don’t get me wrong, but it’s on occasion and for this dish, I just find it to be way too heavy, dense, and greasy. Don’t be afraid if you use regular bacon and sausage to try turkey products. Jennie-O is an awesome brand with great products and the sausage is extremely well spiced.

Experimenting is also encouraged with this dish. If you prefer chorizo, ham, red pepper flakes, minced garlic, garlic salt, or anything else, pop it in the crock pot and test it out. This crock pot breakfast casserole recipe is intended to hit all the high points of McDonald’s breakfast times without going too far over the edge.  

As someone who could eat breakfast foods for three squares a day, diving into this recipe was heaven. Each bite had some fluffy egg, crunchy hashbrowns, crisp bacon, spicy sausage, fresh green onions, creamy melted cheese, and complimenting spices. All the breakfast foods in an easy to eat crock pot breakfast casserole. Even if you’re like my dad and hate breakfast foods, this is anything but ordinary breakfast; it’s most like brunch. The baked potato-style is definitely a selling point if you’re trying to convince a non-breakfast-teer to try it. And they should it’s exceedingly awesome!

A final tip: if you want to scarf down this breakfast treat before work, you’ll have to start cooking around midnight. My crock pot finished cooking in 6 hours then was set to warm but some may take the full 8 hours. I definitely suggest cooking this and reheating though throughout the week to gain a full breakfast without feeling starved by 11. You can also indulge your inner carboholic with a perfect side dish of fresh baked French Bread. When you want an all in one breakfast meal, make this crock pot breakfast casserole and both you and your stomach will be happy for hours.  

Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole

2014-05-04 20:52:48

Serves 5

Filling crock pot breakfast casserole with all the great elements of the first meal of the day

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Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

8 hr

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

8 hr

Ingredients

1. • 16 oz frozen hashbrowns
2. • 8 oz sausage (I like Jennie-O turkey sausage because the spices are great in this dish and really pump up the volume.)
3. • 8 oz bacon (I like to use Jennie-O turkey bacon because there’s less left over grease soaked into the rest of the dish.)
4. • 3 green onions
5. • 6 oz shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
6. • 1/8 cup of 2% milk
7. • 1 TS (Teaspoon) garlic powder
8. • 1 TS oregano
9. • 6 eggs
10. • ½ TS salt
11. • 1 TS pepper
12. • Cooking spray or butter

Instructions

1. For the casserole: Spray the inside of the crock pot with nonstick cooking spray, heat a medium nonstick pan over medium heat, add the sausage to the pan and cook until all the pink is gone making sure to break it up into bite-sized pieces, while the sausage is cooking, cook the bacon per the package instructions, when the sausage has finished cooking remove it from the heat and let it rest, when the bacon has finished cooking let it cool and then crumble it into bite-sized pieces, chop the green onions, in a medium bowl, whisk or slightly beat together eggs, milk, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper, add 1/3 of the hashbrowns to the crock pot and salt and pepper to taste, add 1/3 of the sausage to the crock pot, add 1/3 of the bacon to the crock pot, add 1/3 of the green onions to the crock pot, add 1/3 of the shredded cheddar to the crock pot, repeat adding the dry ingredients to the crock pot until they are all gone, pour the wet ingredient mixture over the dry ingredient mixture and top with more shredded cheese, turn the crock pot onto low and cook the casserole for 6-8 hours, when the casserole has finished cooking or the edges are golden brown use a spatula to cut the casserole into portions then remove from the crock pot and fill your empty morning stomach with this filling dish

Notes

1. -I like to use Jennie-O turkey bacon and turkey sausage because there’s less left over grease soaked into the rest of the dish and the flavors really pop.
2. -My typical casserole is about 3 layers
3. -I like to cook my bacon in the microwave with a plate and layers of paper towels to soak up all the excess grease

By Mandy Ellis

So Good Blog http://www.sogoodblog.com/

Recipe Cuisine: Comfort Breakfast Food

Slow cook it:

• Spray the inside of your slow cooker with cooking spray or rub the insides with butter to prevent any sticking (I like to spray a lot of cooking spray inside the crock pot then take a paper towel and rub down the inside to make sure everywhere was coated to prevent all sticking. It also helps to remove any excess cooking spray.)
• Heat a medium nonstick pan over medium heat and spray with cooking spray
• Add the sausage to the pan and cook until all pink is gone making sure to break up the sausage into bite-sized pieces since it’s going into a casserole (You can season the sausage with salt and pepper as well. I like to use Jennie-O turkey sausage because it’s less fat, salt, and calories but also because it has excellent spices that help add some depth to this dish.)

• While the sausage is browning, cook the bacon according to the package instructions (I typically use Jennie-O turkey bacon for the same reasons I use the sausage. Additionally, I like to cook it in the microwave on a plate with layers with paper towels to soak up any excess grease. Normally it’s 5 strips of bacon and 2 paper towels between layers and 4 on the bottom to soak up any grease that drips down. It takes about 10 minutes in my microwave to cook 8 oz of bacon. I also love to make my bacon extra extra crispy. This makes it easier to crumble in this recipe but I also don’t like floppy soggy bacon. I recommend cooking your bacon until it’s crunchy to help you crumble it to add it to the crock pot.)

• When the sausage has finished cooking, remove it from the heat and let it rest

• When the bacon has finished cooking, remove it from the microwave/oven/skillet and place it on a plate

• When the bacon has cooled slightly, crumble it into small pieces

• Chop the three green onions

• In a medium-sized bowl, whisk or slightly beat the eggs, milk, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper together

• Add 1/3 of the hashbrowns to the crock pot and salt and pepper to taste

• Add 1/3 of the sausage and 1/3 of the bacon to the crock pot on top of the hashbrowns
• Add 1/3 of the green onions and cheddar cheese to the crock pot
• Repeat these steps until you have used up all of the “dry” ingredients (My typical crock pot breakfast casserole is 3 layers so you should only need to repeat the steps 2 more times.)

• Pour this wet ingredient mixture over the layered mixture in the crock pot and top with extra cheddar cheese
• Turn the crock pot onto low
• Cook the crock pot breakfast casserole for 6-8 hours until the edges are crispy and brown
• When the casserole has finished cooking, use a spatula to cut it inside the crock pot and serve on plates

• Fill your empty morning stomach with this extremely satisfying and tasty breakfast concoction!

Summary

Recipe Name

Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole

Published On

2014-05-26

Preparation Time

30M

Cook Time

8H

Total Time

8:30

Average Rating

4 Based on 1 Review(s)