Ultimate Breakfast Casserole
This is one loaded breakfast casserole! It’s made with eggs, roasted sweet potato, crispy bacon, breakfast sausage, onion, bell pepper, garlic, and the perfect amount of seasoning. Serve it up on the weekends, meal prep it for the week, or make it ahead of time for special occasions and holidays, like Christmas!
The Breakfast Casserole of Champions
Who says a hearty breakfast casserole means store-bought hash browns and lots of cheese? Oh no, this one’s loaded with far better ingredients that are just as filling, and provide vibrant color to an otherwise brown and yellow meal. With the addition of roasted sweet potatoes, bell pepper, onions, bacon, and sausage, this casserole is the perfect all-in-one meal to start your day.
This easy breakfast casserole makes for a delicious weekend breakfast, it’s ideal for meal prep, and it’s perfect for special occasions and holidays like Christmas morning, or Easter brunch. You can easily feed the entire family (and then some), but you may not have much in the way of leftovers as it always gets devoured!
What’s In This Breakfast Casserole
A great mix of protein, carbs, and fats to keep you full!
- Sweet Potato: Roasted with some spices in the oven makes it crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.
- Bacon: Crispy bacon makes everything taste better and works well with breakfast sausage.
- Breakfast Sausage: I’m using a slightly sweet breakfast sausage. But feel free to go for a mild, medium, or even spicy flavor.
- Spices: A combination of garlic powder, paprika, and cumin takes your roasted sweet potatoes to the next level.
- Onion: I like to use yellow onion for its subtle sweetness.
- Bell Pepper: You can use any color, but I love green for the contrast in color to the sweet potato.
- Fresh Garlic: For that savory punch of flavor.
- Eggs: Binds all the ingredients together with a delicious egg base.
- Milk: You can use either dairy or dairy-free to make the eggs nice and fluffy.
- Cheese: This is optional, but I personally love just a little sprinkle of sharp cheddar on top.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below
How To Make This Breakfast Casserole (It’s Loaded!)
While the ingredient list may seem long, it’s much easier to make than you think. You’ll be multi-tasking when it comes to prepping the ingredients and using both the oven and stove top at the same time. And once that’s all done, just mix everything together in the casserole pan and bake away.
Roast the bacon and potatoes. Preheat the oven to 400F and toss the diced sweet potatoes with olive oil, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper. Then, add slices of bacon to a sheet pan. Pop both those items in the oven and cook the bacon for 18-20 minutes.
Once the bacon is done, take it out and place on paper towels to dry. Then continue roasting the sweet potato for an additional 15 minutes.
Cook the breakfast sausage, bell pepper, and onion. On medium-high heat, sauté the breakfast sausage until browned, then place in a 9×13-inch casserole pan. Drain off a bit of the sausage grease, then sauté the bell pepper and onion for 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and sauté for another minute. Add the mixture to the casserole pan.
Stir everything together. Mix the sausage, bacon, bell pepper, onions, and sweet potato in the casserole pan and season with salt and pepper.
Add in the eggs. Whisk together the egg mixture and pour it over the meat and veggies.
Bake and serve. Cook for 25-30 minutes until the edges are golden and the center is cooked through. Then slice into squares and keep on reading for a few ways to garnish and serve!
Ways To Serve
Oh yeah, this breakfast casserole is mouthwatering on it’s own. But if you want to spruce it up a bit for guests or make it an even heartier meal – here’s a few easy ideas to keep up your sleeve.
- Garnish with greens. Top it off with sliced green onions, microgreens, or chopped herbs such as parsley.
- Pair with avocado. Slice up some avocado, add it to each plate, and sprinkle a bit of black pepper on top.
- Sprinkle cheese. If cheese is your thing, add some crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese on top.
- Add a side salad. Amp up the greens in your meal by quickly tossing leafy greens (such as spinach, arugula, or my massaged kale salad) in a lemon vinaigrette and serving on the side.
Dietary Options
If you don’t add cheese, this breakfast casserole is Whole30 and paleo approved. But if you’re looking to make this vegetarian, here’s a few ingredients to switch up.
- Use a dairy-free milk to mix with the eggs before pouring into the casserole.
- Swap the bacon and breakfast sausage for more vegetables such as roasted Brussels sprouts, broccoli rice, cauliflower rice, or sauteed Swiss chard.
Meal Prep And Store
This make-ahead breakfast casserole means several meals are done for the week – for either breakfast, lunch or dinner! What more can someone with a busy weekday schedule ask for? Here’s a few ways to store it for future enjoyment:
- To eat throughout the week: Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 to 5 days. Then simply reheat in the microwave for about 1 minute.
- To freeze for later: Just place parchment paper in between the casserole pieces in your freezer-safe container (to prevent them from sticking together). The breakfast casserole will last for several months in the freezer. And when you’re ready to eat it, either thaw the night before in the fridge or let it defrost for a bit at room temperature then microwave it for 1 to 2 minutes, or until warmed through.
Breakfast Casserole Recipe Video
Want to see how I make this recipe? Watch the video below!
More Easy Breakfast Ideas
Breakfast (or breakfast for dinner) couldn’t be any easier with these reader favorites. Plus, these make for great meal prep options that turns Sunday cooking into exciting meals for the week.
- Shakshuka
- Breakfast Egg Muffins
- Sweet Potato Breakfast Hash
- Healthy Breakfast Casserole
- Kale And Butternut Squash Frittata
Want even more recipes? Check out these 40+ healthy breakfast ideas!
This breakfast casserole really encompasses the best sweet and savory flavors in one meal. If you make this recipe, let me know how it turned out! I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.
Ultimate Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2" cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- salt and pepper
- 8 ounces bacon
- 1 pound breakfast sausage, mild, medium or spicy, your choice
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, deseeded and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 12 large eggs
- 1/3 cup milk, dairy or dairy-free
- optional: shredded cheese and green onion for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F/200C and get a 9×13 casserole pan out. On one baking sheet pan, toss the diced sweet potato with olive oil, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- On another sheet pan, add slices of bacon. Then place both the sweet potato and bacon in the oven and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until the bacon is done. The bacon will be done first, so keep an eye on it and remove it from the oven when it's done, and place on paper towels to dry. Stir the sweet potato and continue cooking it for another 15 minutes.
- While the sweet potato is cooking, cook the breakfast sausage in a pan on medium high heat. Once it's browned, remove it with a slotted spoon and place it in the casserole pan.
- Drain off all but a tablespoon of grease from the pan, then saute the onion and bell pepper for 4-5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and saute another 30 seconds. Transfer the onion and bell pepper to the casserole pan.
- Remove the sweet potato from the oven and add it to the casserole pan, with the crumbled bacon, onion, and bell pepper. If you'd like to add cheese, you can add it to the casserole pan now.
- Stir all of the ingredients in the casserole pan together. Feel free to season with more salt and pepper.
- In a mixing bowl, stir the eggs with the milk.
- Pour the egg mixture on top of the meat and vegetables. Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the center is cooked through and the edges are slightly golden. You can test the center with a toothpick.
- If you'd like, garnish the breakfast casserole with green onion, or herbs. Then serve warm with sliced avocado, toast, or a side salad.
Lisa’s Tips
- One pound of sweet potatoes is usually one medium to large sized sweet potato. If it’s slightly over, that’s fine as well.
- I always recommend heavy duty baking sheets in the oven, so that they don’t warp. They’re definitely worth purchasing!
- And here’s a great casserole pan, if you’re looking for a new one.
Hi Lisa. This looks delicious. Could you make all the “fixings” the day before and then add the egg mixture when you are about to bake it? Perhaps bring the meat mixture to room temperature before adding the egg mixture? Love your recipes.
Yes, absolutely! You can definitely meal prep the individual ingredients and then mix and bake the casserole when you’d like to eat it. Enjoy!
This is a fave in our household! It’s great for meal prep, since it makes a lot and stores well. If we don’t have the exact veggies on hand, it’s easy to sub other ingredients in and it’s still delicious. Thank you for all of the inspiration to cook healthy and delicious meals for my family. :)
I’m so happy you love it Kimberlee! It’s one of my all-time favorite breakfast casserole recipes as well. :)
Lisa your recipes are good but this is the best one that i ever made. I made this breakfast cassorole for dinner. I used Ground Lamb Meat cut up some russett potatoes used frozen sweet potatos. Put my seasoning. Minced Onions and parsleys and other thing. and it turned out just delicious i have plenty of leftovers. your healthy recipes help me lose weight. I thank God for u.
Awesome, so happy you loved this recipe! And those sound like great swaps.
Looking forward to making this recipe and confident it will be excellent. Does anyone have tips for baking this the night before, refrigerating, then reheating in the same pan? What temp, how long, covered, etc… The more specific, the better. Thanks in advance!
Hi Sammy – I always have storage instructions written in the post :)
can you make it the day before keeping in the fridge then bake in the morning
It’s best to make this as is, then store leftovers away.
Have tried several of your recipes and they all came out great. I lIke that your recipes have a flexibility to them. You can adjust ingredient amounts or make substitutions and they still come out delicious. I used two sweet potatoes, onions, green peppers, peas and spinach and nine eggs in a slightly smaller pan so I could cook it in the toaster oven. Bacon on the side because of non-meat eaters. A hit. Thank you.
Happy to hear you’re loving this breakfast casserole!
Lisa, What vegetable, spices and cheese substitutions would you suggest if I want to leave out the meat?
You could always add in mushrooms, bell peppers, squashes, or even leafy greens!
I’ve made this about five times now. Love it! I usually cut the potato smaller so I don’t have to cook it as long and don’t add bacon every time. I try to add lots of spinach each time. I store single servings in smaller mason jars and pop those in the freezer so I don’t have to open a larger storage container each time. Thanks so much!
Excellent casserole! I’ve made it multiple times, sometimes substituting ingredients according to what I have on hand. We eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks… :)