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- Hey guys, Taylor from the Girl on Bloor blog,
and I am hitting you
with yet another tasty meal prep breakfast option
that you're just gonna love.
Get ready for it.
Sausage hash brown breakfast casserole.
I know, I know, I'm just hitting you
with the most delicious breakfast over here.
Now, I love a breakfast casserole
because it's one of those things
that you can cook up in one pan
and then you have breakfast for days.
It's also good for a crowd,
and you can freeze it for later, too.
I love this breakfast casserole
because it's great for meal prep.
You can cook up a big batch,
cut it all into individual slices,
and then either refrigerate or freeze the leftovers.
Here's to cooking once and eating lots.
Okay, let's get started.
First you're going to cook your breakfast sausage.
This is the very first step
before you can get started with the other ingredients,
and this is the only time you'll be having to cook anything
other than what's in the one pan.
Now, in terms of breakfast sausage,
I like to keep things light
and choose a turkey or chicken breakfast sausage.
There are so many options out there nowadays.
My favorite are the Lilydale turkey sausages,
and my local grocery store, Longo's,
also has their own brand of turkey breakfast sausages
that are to die for.
Finally, somebody thought of us non-pork eaters
and made a maple breakfast sausage
that tastes just like the real deal.
I'm pretty addicted to their breakfast sausages,
and I find just about any excuse to eat them.
Even though we only have Longo's in Southwestern Ontario,
at least at the time I'm recording this,
I'm sure that you can find
similar turkey breakfast sausage options
at your local grocer.
You can totally use regular pork breakfast sausages, too,
but just be aware
that you'll be adding to the calorie count,
so please don't be mad at me
if the nutritional info ends up being a lot different.
So fry up your breakfast sausages.
You want them pretty much fully cooked.
It's okay if they are still a tiny bit pink inside
when you slice them up
because they will be cooking more in the oven,
but you do want them to be mostly cooked.
This should take you about five minutes
over medium-high heat.
Now, once you've got your sausages cooked and sliced up,
you're going to add them
to a greased nine by 13 baking dish.
You can use butter or cooking spray
to grease your baking dish.
Personally, I believe butter sticks to the dish better,
especially when adding wet ingredients such as eggs.
But if you're in a pinch,
you can use olive oil in place of cooking spray or butter.
Just be aware that your egg mixture
may stick to the dish just a little bit more,
making it tougher to serve up
your squares of breakfast deliciousness.
Once you've got your baking dish greased,
it's time to add in your sliced sausage,
followed by bell peppers and red onion.
Give that a little bit of a stir.
Now you can totally switch up the veggies,
making this a great dish
for clearing out your vegetable crisper.
I've used broccoli, mushrooms, green onions,
spinach and kale in this breakfast casserole, too,
so you can get really creative
with the veggies you add and switch it up.
You can even try different flavor combinations
and make a Mediterranean style breakfast casserole,
with ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and feta,
or you could make it a mushroom lover's theme
or green goddess theme,
with all kinds of greens and asparagus.
Once you've chosen your veggies, you're going to add cheese.
This is the best part, you guys.
You can't skip the cheese.
It's going to add so much flavor.
If you do have to skip the cheese for dietary reasons
or just a matter of personal preference,
that's totally fine.
You can also use dairy-free or lactose-free cheese,
so those are options.
Anything will work here.
And of course, just like with the veggies,
you can absolutely switch up the cheese
and add whatever you have in the fridge.
In fact, playing around with different cheeses
will totally take this breakfast casserole
to the next level.
Instead of cheddar, like I've used in this recipe,
you can use mozzarella, Swiss, goat cheese,
feta cheese, Parmesan, Gouda, even brie or smoked cheddar.
The options are endless and oh so delicious.
Now one thing to be aware of,
and this will be a matter of personal preference here,
I always like to buy a block of cheese and grate it myself
because it retains moisture the best that way
and tastes the freshest,
but you can use a pre-shredded blend here to save on time.
I'm always advocating for more ways
you can say time on meal prep,
and using pre-shredded cheese is a real time saver
and will help minimize your actual prep
and the amount of dishes you create.
That said, most of those bags contain preservatives,
such as potato starch,
to keep the shreds from clumping together,
which also means that the cheese won't melt as well.
And I mean, if you're trying to avoid preservatives,
you may want to avoid the shredded stuff.
Now that our cheese and meat and veggies are added,
it's time to add the eggs.
You'll add some salt and pepper to 16 eggs.
Yes, I do mean 16.
The reason I add so many eggs
is to pack as much protein possible
in this breakfast casserole.
As far as I'm concerned, any breakfast casserole
that uses milk is basically watering it down
and not really adding a whole lot to the nutrition content,
so I prefer to use as many eggs as possible
and skip the milk.
Another great idea is to make the egg mixture
half eggs, half egg whites.
So yeah, one egg is two tablespoons of egg whites.
So if you want to try my half and half method,
you can use eight eggs, then one cup or 16 tablespoons
of egg whites from a carton.
This way you're upping the protein content
while also lowering the calorie count,
and then you don't have to use as many eggs.
I'll let you make the decision
based on what your nutritional needs are.
So mix your eggs with salt and pepper,
whisk them all to combine,
then pour over the sausage, veggies, and cheese
sitting in your grease nine by 13 dish.
Try to gently mix everything together
so that you don't just get clumps of sausage
and no veggies in one area, and vice versa.
Now, you didn't think I'd forget the hash browns, did you?
If you're trying to make this breakfast casserole low carb,
then there's no need to add the hash browns,
but if you're trying to make it the most delicious
it can possibly be,
then you better believe that you gotta add them in.
The brand new choose doesn't matter so much.
I use little frozen diced hash brown potatoes,
but you can definitely use the shredded ones, too,
or maybe add a little bit of both
if you're feeling really hash brown obsessed.
Hash browns are just the best part of breakfast.
I think they are the one food
I could always eat without fail.
The only thing is,
you can't really add frozen hash brown patties,
so just be aware that you do need to
use the kind that you can sprinkle
and spread around the egg mixture.
Once you've got those added,
you're gonna pop the whole thing into a 375 degree oven
for 40 to 50 minutes.
The more fillings you have crammed into the casserole,
the longer it'll take to bake,
so I don't recommend adding any more
than half a bell pepper each and a small red onion,
along with your package of hash browns
and 10 breakfast sausages.
If you're using other veggies,
a good rule of thumb is no more
than one cup of veggies total.
How do you know when your casserole is done?
You can insert a toothpick into the center,
and if it comes out clean, that's when you know it's done.
You don't want the center of it to be too liquidy.
A tiny bit of residue stuck to the toothpick is okay,
so use your best judgment here.
Once your breakfast casserole is done baking,
take it out of the oven and let it rest
for at least five to 10 minutes
before slicing it up into individual portions.
This is a monster of a recipe,
and it serves eight to 10 people.
Again, like I said, perfect for gatherings
like Christmas morning or mother's day brunch.
If you were dividing the casserole up
for meal prep purposes, I recommend dividing it
into eight slices, and each one will be about 235 calories
and 16 grams of protein.
As Larry David would say, pretty, pretty good.
Not bad for something so delicious,
and guaranteed to keep you feeling full the entire morning.
Plus, the veggies make this whole thing guilt-free.
If you wanna take it up a notch,
serve the breakfast casserole
with some fresh fruit on the side, and you're set.
I've linked to some other delicious
meal prep recipes on the blog
in case you're looking for more.
I hope you enjoyed learning
how to make this yummy breakfast bake.
If you like my videos and sassy persona,
be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel,
and I can't wait to see you here back again
with some more delicious recipe inspiration.
Take care.
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