Sausage and egg overnight breakfast casserole is a baked egg casserole with pork sausage, onions, cheddar cheese, and spices, baked together with cubes of whole-grain bread. This delicious breakfast casserole recipe is sometimes known as a breakfast strata.
Sausage and egg breakfast casserole is super easy to throw together and really delicious for an easy breakfast or brunch. This make-ahead recipe is assembled the night before you want to serve it, then baked in the morning.
It's a big time-saver when you are feeding a crowd, especially during the holidays when you need and quick and hearty breakfast while entertaining friends and family. Things can get chaotic enough without adding complicated meal prep.
This sausage and egg overnight breakfast casserole is a tasty protein-packed meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I originally posted this recipe in January 2014 and recently updated it with some pretty new pictures. Don't worry, the recipe remained the same. Food should definitely look as good as it tastes!
How To Make Overnight Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients You'll Need:
- Sprouted grain, whole-grain, or gluten-free bread cubes (depending on your dietary preference)
- Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (use a block of cheese and shred for best flavor)
- Chopped onion
- Dry mustard
- Medium pork sausage
- Eggs, slightly beaten
- Whole milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking Steps
Cook sausage and onion, drain, crumble and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and add milk, cheese, salt and pepper, dry mustard, and sausage/onion mixture.
Spray a 9x13 (can also use a 9x11 baking dish for a fluffier casserole) baking dish with olive oil spray and place bread cubes in the bottom of the pan (make sure that cubes are in small pieces.)
Pour egg mixture on top. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake casserole, uncovered, for 1 hour. So simple and so delicious!
Want a slice?!
Helpful Tips For Making Overnight Casserole
- You can easily substitute lean ground beef, ground chicken, or turkey sausage for the pork sausage in this recipe
- This can also be made into a vegetarian casserole by using a mixture of sauteed vegetables in place of the sausage. I love a blend of red, yellow, and green bell peppers with mushrooms and onion. Just make sure that you drain them well before adding them to the dish. Baby spinach is also a great addition to this dish to add some fresh greens.
- You can cube the bread and shred the block of cheese and place it into separate sealed containers, and cook the sausage and onion several days in advance of assembling the casserole. Then, all you need to do is whisk the eggs with the seasonings and milk and assemble the casserole the night before baking.
- In a pinch, you can also assemble and bake this casserole all in one day, but it will turn out fluffier since the bread doesn't have time to soak up more of the liquid. I have done this and it still turns out great in a time crunch!
More Favorite Breakfast Recipes
Jalapeno Scrambled Eggs with Pan-Fried Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes
Loaded Potato Breakfast Casserole
Carrot Cake Protein Overnight Oats
Greek Yogurt Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
Sausage and Egg Overnight Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 cups sprouted grain, whole-grain or gluten-free bread cubes depending on your dietary preference, remove crust and tear bread into small pieces
- 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded (use a block of cheese and shred for best flavor)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 teaspoon dry mustard
- 2 lbs medium pork sausage browned and drained
- 12 eggs slightly beaten
- 4 cups whole milk
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook sausage and onion, drain, crumble and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and add milk, cheese, salt and pepper, dry mustard and sausage/onion mixture.
- Spray a 9x13 baking dish with olive oil spray and place bread cubes in the bottom of the pan (make sure that cubes are in small pieces.)
- Pour egg mixture on top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- The next morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake casserole, uncovered, for 1 hour.
Nutrition
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Jenn
Hi there! Could you make this fully cooked the night before and heat it up in the morning? If you can, what temp and how long do you suggest to heat it for?
Amee Livingston
Hi Jenn! This would definitely work because I've made this recipe for meal prep. I would cover it with foil and warm at 300 degrees F until heated through, probably around 20 minutes.
Sandra
I made this, this morning and made a small pack of pepper gravy to go with it, and OMG !! It was so good,. Thanks for posting this beautiful recipe.. It made enough for 16 servings and got my meal prep for breakfast done for a while,. I froze a bunch of them.. Thanks again.. 🙂
Amee Livingston
I'm so glad that you enjoyed it Sandra! 🙂
Deborah Bryant Knight
The only thing I wasn't clear about was whether to leave it covered or not when baking. I opted to leave it covered and checked it in 30 minutes. I then uncovered it so the cheese would be fully melted.
Amee Livingston
Hi Deborah! I bake it uncovered, but that would work well to do half and half. I'm going to make that note in the recipe card. Thank you! I hope that you enjoyed it!
Ashlie
Have you ever done this in muffin tins? I’ve been unsuccessful finding a recipe for an overnight “casserole” that’s baked in muffin tins. I’m trying 350 for 20-ish minutes and will see if they are done.
Amee Livingston
I haven't tried this Ashlie, but I'd love to know how they turned out!
Kiersten
Could you do this without potatoes?!?
Amee Livingston
Hi Kiersten! There aren't any potatoes in the recipe.
Tracy
My Mom made this as our Christmas Day brunch since I can remember. It was a huge favorite. Only thing she did differently is mix 1 can of cream & mushroom soup with 1/2 cup milk and pour over the casserole before baking the next morning. So good both ways. I’ve learned to spice it up with Jimmy Dean’s hot sausage! Love that you posted this recipe!
Amee Livingston
Hi Tracy! That version sounds amazing too! It's such a great nostalgic recipe. We've had it for years, too. 🙂 Happy holidays!
Tiffany
Can I make the afternoon before instead of night before?
Amee Livingston
Yes, Tiffany, that would be fine. 🙂
Abby
How many slices of bread yields 4 cups? Do you have an ounce amount?
Amee Livingston
Hi Abby! You get about a cup of bread cubes from 2 slices of bread, so once you trim the crusts off and cube the bread, it's about 8 slices. Of course, this is going to depend on the size of your bread loaf. I slice and cube the bread and fill a 4 cup Pyrex container. The next time I make it, I'll weigh it, but the beauty of this recipe is it will still turn out great if it's not exact.
Grace Basilan
I have a similar recipe of this breakfast casserole and it’s always been a favorite of my family. It’s so easy to prepare and a no fuss recipe.
Amee Livingston
Thanks Grace! I love easy breakfast recipes and this one is a staple for us. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a review!
Molly
Do think this would turn out ok using Aldi’s Keto-friendly bread? I have a small loaf I bought for my husband taking up room in the freezer, and since the rest of the recipe is ok on his Keto plan this would kill two birds with one stone.
Amee Livingston
Molly, I haven't tested it out with that kind of bread so I'm not sure how it would taste. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out!
Nancy Mitchell
I have a very large family, and would like to make a double batch in an extra large 13 x 17 lasagne pan. How should I adjust the recipe?
Amee Livingston
Hi Nancy, I'm sorry I missed this! I would just double and use two pans.
Jennifer
This egg casserole is outstanding. I served it today at a Mother's Day Brunch and it fed 15 adults with some left over. Everyone raved about it. Just reading the ingredients I knew it wouldn't fit in the standard 9 x 13 pan so I put it in a 13 1/2 x 10 3/4 x 2 1/2 and it fit perfectly. I also had some sliced mushrooms and red bell pepper on hand so I cooked those with the sausage. This is delicious and I will definitely be making again. Thanks for the recipe!
Amee Livingston
Thanks for the review, Jennifer! I'm so glad that everyone enjoyed it! 🙂
Sally
Can this be frozen after cooking?
Amee Livingston
Hi Sally! I wouldn't recommend freezing. It will affect the texture when reheated.
Cynthia
I have made this casserole for decades and have frozen it ahead of time . The secret is to freeze it before you bake it. To make ahead/freeze this casserole: you can freeze unbaked casserole up to 2 months. Cover very tightly with plastic wrap and foil. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bake the next morning. It comes out perfect, as though it were freshly made. This is a Christmas morning favorite in our household. 😊
Amee Livingston
Love this tip, Cynthia! I'm definitely going to try this!
Pat
yummy
Amee Livingston
I'm glad that you enjoyed it Pat!
Adicia Dykes
Have you ever made this with ham? If so, how much did you use?
Amee Livingston
Hi Adicia! I have not made it with ham but an equal swap should work well. Let me know how it turns out!
Rachel Robbins
Can this be baked in 3 or 4 casseroles instead of just one?
Amee Livingston
Hi Rachel! I'm sure that would be just fine, you would just need to adjust the cooking time. I haven't tested this, so I'm not sure how long it would need to bake in smaller portions.
Mikaela Cazzell
Hi,
I want to half this recipe for my small family. How do you recommend adjusting the time and temp?
Thanks,
Mikaela
Amee Livingston
Hi Mikaela! You can half the ingredients and bake it in an 8x8 baking dish. However, I haven't tested the recipe this way so I'm not sure about baking time. I would start checking it a 40 minutes and pull it once the casserole if fully set.
Kalee
I made this last night and baked it this morning and was so excited, but sadly ended up being super disappointed. It was nowhere near done at the hour mark and even after another half hour there was an inch of water in the bottom of the pan. I had to drain the water out and bake for another half hour, so 2 hours total. The top tasted okay, but the bottom was super soggy because of the moisture down there. I’m not sure what went wrong 🙁
Amee Livingston
Kaylee, I'm not really sure because I've made this so many times with great results and it gets rave reviews. Did you use skim or low-fat milk? What kind of bread did you use? Was the sausage drained well?