I generally make this dish for Christmas brunch. We go the whole nine yards for Thanksgiving, so it is a relief to only be responsible for this one dish come Christmas morning. My father-in-law makes biscuits, bacon and (sometimes) sausage gravy to accompany it. By the time we are done eating, everyone is full and ready to lounge around for the remainder of the day. Bon Appetit!
Estimated Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time:1 hour: 20 minutes
Total Estimated Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Estimated Servings: 10
Estimated Calories per Serving: 475
Ingredients
1 stick Salted Butter (1/2 cup)
30 or 32 oz frozen Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes
Salt and Pepper
9.6 oz fully cooked Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage (patties or crumbles)
1 lb Breakfast Sausage (bulk)
1 Orange Bell Pepper (any color can be used, but I prefer orange for its sweetness)
1/2 Green Pepper (chopped)
1/2 Red Pepper (chopped)
1 small Sweet Onion
1/2 small Onion (diced)
2 c shredded Colby & Monterey Jack Cheese
1 1/2 c shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (packed)
2 c shredded Extra-Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 1/2 c shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese (packed)
8 jumbo Eggs
8 large Eggs
Pepper (to taste)
1 tsp Seasoned Salt
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt (1/4 tsp if using table salt)
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Dry Mustard, optional
1 tbs Freeze Dried Chives
1 1/3 c Half and Half
1 1/3 cups Half and Half, Cream, Evaporated Milk or Whole Milk
Possible Add Ins or Toppings(a)
Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Green Onions
Sliced Avocado
Cooked Bacon (pieces or crumbles)
Hot Sauce
Sausage Gravy (homemade or store bought)
Salsa
Pico de Gallo
Sour Cream
Directions:
1. Defrost hash browns in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Core, seed and dice the pepper. Peel and dice the onion (this should approximate the amount of diced pepper). If using sausage patties rather than crumbles, dice them into small pieces.
3. Heat a medium, non-stick frying pan at medium to medium high heat. Add the sausage crumbles stirring often as they release their extra oil and are nicely browned. Remove the crumbles to a larger, lidded container, leaving as much oil behind as possible.
4. Add the pepper and onion to the pan and saute until onion is tender and mostly translucent. Place in the same container as the sausage. Thoroughly combine the ingredients. (b)
5. Preheat oven to 400˚.
6. While the oven is heating up, add the stick of butter to a 9”x13” casserole dish (c) and place in the oven so it melts. When the butter is melted, remove the dish from the oven and it tilt around until the sides of the dish are greased.
7. Add the hash browns to the dish and mix well with the butter so all the hash browns are coated. Fan them out evenly but do not press them down.
8. Place the dish back in the oven and bake for 35 minutes (the potatoes should be mostly cooked and some are starting to lightly brown). Remove the dish from the oven and lower the temperature to 350˚.
9. In the meantime, crack and beat the eggs (d) until smooth, then combine them with the pepper (to taste) and the half and half.
10. While the oven’s heat reduces, evenly sprinkle a third of each cheese over top the hash browns. Top the cheese with the sausage mixture and another third of each cheese. Evenly distribute the egg mixture and top with the remainder of the cheese.
11. Bake for about 35-45 minutes (40 always works for me), until the edges are browned and bubbly.
12. Remove the dish from the oven and let set for five minutes to set before serving.
13. Slice and serve with any desired toppings.
Cook’s Notes:
This recipe requires a lot more cooking than preparation, since the dish goes into the oven on three separate occasions. And since everyone really enjoys it, it’s the perfect choice for Christmas morning, even if it means I need to rise earlier.
Every once in a while, I will make this randomly throughout the year. Because who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner?
Both my husband and father-in-law add hot sauce to it. And if my father-in-law has made them, every one of us tops it with sausage gravy and bacon. Other than that, we generally don’t do any add ins or toppings, which says more about our desire to have a nice, lazy day than anything else. And it is very filling, especially if you add sausage gravy to it. We generally eat it around nine or 10 in the morning and it isn’t until at least five that any of us are even remotely hungry again.
On a last note, my mother-in-law really wanted to make a sandwich of it the last time I made this dish. It seemed like a bit too many carbs to me, so I suggested using tortillas and making burritos with it instead.
This, of course, got me to thinking; so, the next morning I chopped up some tomatoes, laid out a tortilla, topped it with a little extra cheese, the tomatoes and a long, thinnish slice of the casserole. I heated up my single sandwich George Foreman and grilled it. It ended up being really good. However, I think I in future I will add some fresh salsa and/or pico de gallo, or sausage gravy would work great too.
Original Source:
● thefoodcharlatan.com/easy-sausage-breakfast-casserole/
Greyed Italic Ingredients and Directions were either omitted or altered.
Ingredient & Direction Notes:
a. If you add in any items I suggest using a bigger casserole dish as this recipe fills the 9”x13” nearly to capacity.
b. At this point, the container can be lidded and placed in the refrigerator for up to two days before cooking the casserole. If prepping ahead of time, remove the container from the fridge an hour before the casserole is going into the oven so the contents can warm closer to room temperature.
c. Glass is the easiest to clean up, so if you have glass, use glass. It saves a lot of scrubbing.
d. This is one of my most favorite hacks because I can never get the eggs smooth enough to make me happy. Crack the eggs into a large mason jar, along with the pepper and half and half. Seal it with the lid and shake. With this quantity of eggs, it usually takes about 20 seconds for the eggs to be fully smoothed (one or two eggs takes about 10 seconds). I generally shake it a bit more, just to be absolutely sure, but it still saves numerous minutes of beating the eggs. If you don’t have a large enough jar, start with half the eggs, the pepper and half of the half and half. Once beaten place into a larger container and repeat with the other half of the eggs and half and half.
