Breakfast Casserole With Bread
Easy breakfast casserole with eggs, bread, and sausage topped with cheese. This overnight breakfast casserole recipe can be made ahead and is perfect for feeding a big crowd.
Start your day with a warm and hearty dish that tastes, in equal parts, bread, eggy, cheesy, and a bit creamy. Overnight Breakfast Casserole is made with dry bread, eggs, and sausage, then topped with cheese. It is hearty and filling. With minimum preparation, this easy casserole is a savior on busy mornings. Do all the prep the night before, refrigerate, and pop it into the oven the next morning. This warm, savory breakfast casserole is perfect to serve on a holiday morning or for brunch on a Sunday.
You can adapt the base recipe and play around with it. Add veggies of your choice to make it more wholesome. We don’t mind having this for lunch or dinner, as the leftovers are equally delicious.
You may call it a bread casserole (a more generic term) or a savory bread pudding. The stuffing is not layered in between layers of bread chunks as you do in strata, but it makes you taste a bit of bread along with the eggy and cheesy mixture and also with a bit of veggie in each bite.
Ingredients for the casserole
- Bread- Crusty bread works well, preferably day-old bread. Unlike regular sandwich bread, these hold their shape without turning mushy. You may use old whole wheat or sourdough too. Especially for overnight casseroles, when the mixture is rested overnight, the bread pieces soak up the liquid, making the casserole fluffy and soft.
- Breakfast sausage makes the casserole more filling and wholesome. You can skip this if you wish. You can swap it with bacon.
- Egg: Go for fresh, free-range, large eggs. The eggs in the mixture act as a binding agent and hold everything together.
- Half and half: While heavy cream is a bit too rich, half and half works perfectly in this recipe. It is equal parts milk and cream and brings creaminess and richness to the dish. For a lighter version, you can also use milk. Keep in mind that the ratio of egg to cream has to be higher, as the dish tastes best when it is more eggy.
- Seasoning: Use flavor enhancers like Italian seasoning, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper.
- Red bell pepper: You can use any colored pepper or a mix of all.
- Cheddar – mild cheddar adds a savory note and cheesiness to the mixture.
- Fresh parsley to garnish on top. You can also sprinkle paprika for a pop of color on top.
How to Make Breakfast Casserole
Making a breakfast casserole is easy. The best part is that for the best-tasting version of the dish, you can finish the prep the previous evening, let it rest overnight, and pop the dish into the casserole in the morning.
- Cook the sausage until it is no longer pink. Let the sausage cool down a bit before adding it to the eggs.
- Beat eggs along with Italian seasoning, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. There is no need to cook the bell peppers separately, as they will be cooked along with the eggs.
- After adding half and half, chopped bell pepper, and 1 cup cheese, give everything a good mix. Then fold in the bread pieces.
- Cut the bread into chunks that are 1–1.5 inches wide.
- Add the bread chunks to the egg-cream-cheese mixture and toss.
- Layer the mixture onto a casserole dish. Top it with more cheese on top.
- If you are planning to do so right away, I would still suggest covering and letting the bread mix rest for 20–25 minutes for the bread to soak up the liquid. Sprinkle fresh parsley and then bake as per the recipe instructions below.
- If you are planning to make it the next day, tightly cover the mixture with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight. The following morning, remove the mix while you are preheating the oven. Sprinkle fresh parsley on top, and then bake as usual.
Variations
You can add other ingredients as per your taste and preference. Here are a few additions I love to make.
- Add veggies like mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, or zucchini. Cook the veggies and drain any extra liquid before adding them to the casserole. I would stick to 2-3 kinds of veggies without overloading the casserole.
- You can add crispy, cooked bacon to it, as it adds great flavor.
- If you have leftover cooked ham, substitute it for sausage.
- Pepperjack and gouda are great alternatives to cheddar cheese.
Storing the leftovers
It tastes great when it is immediately out of the oven and still warm. But the leftovers can be stored for up to 4 days in airtight containers in the refrigerator. So it is great for meal preparation.
What to serve with breakfast casserole
This savory breakfast dish can be served as part of the classic breakfast spread with fresh fruits, fruit juices, avocado slices, toast, and sausages. Best had with a cup of hot coffee.
You can add a dollop of Mexican salsa for some fiery flavor.
Breakfast recipes to try
Easy Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 10 large Eggs
- 1.25 cup half and half
- 4 cups Crusty Bread Cut into pieces
- 2 teaspoon Oil
- 1 pound ground breakfast sausage
- 1 Red Bell Pepper chopped
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- ½ tsp dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1.5 cup Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Heat oil in a skillet. Cook breakfast sausage until it is no longer pink. Let it cool.
- Beat eggs in a big mixing bowl. Add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, dijon mustard, half and half, chopped red pepper, cooked sausage, and 1 cup shredded cheddar. Mix everything really well.
- Add cut bread. Toss everything. If you are doing the prep for the next day morning breakfast, then tightly cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate.
- If making it on the same day, loosely cover the mixture and rest for 15-20 minutes for the bread to soak the mixture.
- Butter a 9×13-inch casserole dish. Pour the mixture into the casserole dish. Sprinkle rest of the cheese.
- Bake in a 350°F oven for 50 minutes to an hour, until the top is browned. The center is set and springs back when touched.
- Let the casserole rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
