Overnight Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole
This easy Overnight Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole has all your favorite breakfast foods in one great dish. The perfect thing to serve your overnight guests.
Have you ever had a house full of guests and wondered what in the world you were going to serve them for breakfast? Well, I have the perfect recipe for that.
This casserole is assembled the night before serving and popped into the oven the next morning to bake. All you need with this is a little fresh fruit, maybe a sweet roll for “breakfast dessert,” and a pot of steaming hot coffee.
I like to set up a little buffet with plates on one end, this casserole, fruit, and pastries in the center, and the cutlery and napkins on the other end. Everyone helps themselves and finds their beverage in the kitchen. Nice and easy. Informal and casual. Just the way we like things.
🔪 How to Make Overnight Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole
Prep the Veggies and Sausage
Cut the onions and bell pepper into small dice. You can use any color bell pepper in this recipe… green, red, yellow, orange, purple… whatever. I just happened to have a red one on hand.
Remove the breakfast sausage from its packaging. Use whatever sausage you like best and as spicy or mild as you want.
Cook the Onions, Peppers, and Sausage
Cook the onions, pepper, and sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through (no pink remains in the sausage).
Break the sausage meat up while it’s cooking so that it’s nice and crumbly. You can do this with a simple wooden spoon, but I find an old fashioned potato masher works really well.
Let the cooked mixture drain on paper towels while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
Prepare the Bread and Cheese
Prepare the bread by cutting it into about ½ inch cubes. This is a purchased sourdough bread and it adds a really nice flavor to the casserole. A regular whole wheat would be great, any kind of homemade bread, or bakery loaf. Just don’t choose a soft white sandwich type of bread unless you toast it first. It just kinda turns to mush in the casserole.
Grate the cheese. Now, I prefer to grate my cheese by hand. If you want to use the packaged, pre-grated cheese that’s perfectly fine!
Mix the Milk and Eggs
Whisk together the eggs, milk, mustard, salt, and pepper.
Assemble the Casserole
In a lightly greased 13×9 baking pan or casserole dish, layer the bread cubes, then the sausage, and cheese in that order.
Pour the milk and egg mixture evenly over the casserole making sure to moisten all the bread cubes.
Cover and Store Overnight
Cover the assembled casserole with foil and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning, preheat the oven to 350F. Uncover the casserole and bake for 45 minutes or until puffed and golden in color. Serves 8.
🔀 Lots of Variations!
There are so many ways to make this casserole your own! To make a spicy, southwest-ish casserole, you can use canned chilies in place of the bell pepper (the canned Hatch green chilies are so good!) and even add a bit of jalapeño if your folks go for the spicy stuff. In that case, you could even substitute half of the cheese for pepper jack.
For a more mellow taste, leave out the peppers and add some sauteed mushrooms (or drained, canned ones) along with grated Swiss cheese and maybe substitute a nice pumpernickel for part of the bread.
🍚 What About Leftovers?
Like most casseroles, this one is even better the second day. Just cover it and store in the fridge. Warm individuals portions in the microwave and enjoy it all over again.
Leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge. You can even freeze individual portions for up to 4 months. Wrap each serving individually and store in freezer bags. Allow to defrost in the fridge overnight and then reheat in the microwave or the oven.
🧾 More Breakfast Recipes
- Easy Overnight Sweet Rolls
- Easy French Toast Casserole
- Spicy Breakfast Sausage
- Hash Brown Omelet Skillets
- Country Ham with Red Eye Gravy
- Easy French Toast
- Instant Pot Spiced Orange Marmalade
More Questions? I’m happy to help!
If you have more questions about the recipe, or if you’ve made it and would like to leave a comment, scroll down to leave your thoughts, questions, and/or rating!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
📖 Recipe
Overnight Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- ½ green or red bell pepper diced
- ½ medium onion diced
- 1 pound bulk sausage your choice of mild to hot
- 6 slices white bread cubed
- 8 eggs beaten
- 2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
- Cook the bell pepper, onion, and sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through (no pink remains). Drain on paper towels.
- Cut bread into about ½ inch cubes.
- Beat together the eggs, milk, mustard, salt, and pepper
- In a lightly greased 13×9 baking pan or casserole dish, layer the bread cubes, sausage and cheese in that order.
- Pour the milk and egg mixture all over making sure to get some onto all the bread cubes.
- Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
- The next morning, preheat the oven to 350F. Uncover casserole and bake for 45 minutes.
Notes
- For a different taste, leave out the peppers and add some sauteed mushrooms, grated Swiss cheese, and use pumpernickel for part of the bread.
- Leftovers keep 3 to 4 days well covered in the fridge.
- Freeze individual portions for up to 4 months. Wrap each serving individually and store in freezer bags. Allow to defrost in the fridge overnight and then reheat in the microwave or the oven.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
This is our favorite breakfast casserole! Such a time saver for company visiting or just for ourselves. It is absolutely delicious as written. We sometimes swap out the bread for shredded hash brown potatoes and add some diced jalapeños for us spicy grown-ups.
Those are great ways to vary the recipe, Sheila! Glad you like it.
I have made a similar casserole but instead of bread, I use refrigerated crescent rolls for the bottom and add refrigerated hash browns mixed with the egg mixture.
That sounds great, too!
Can I add hash browns to this?
Hi Virgie, I never tried adding hash browns to this casserole. It has so much bread in it, I wouldn’t think it would need potatoes.
Do you have to refrigerate this. I cook for a private hunting ranch and need to have it ready to cook as soon as made. not possible to do the night before.
Kathy, it does have to sit overnight for the bread to absorb the milk and eggs.
We made this when we had a big brunch! It was delicious and easy. We also added mushrooms and onions to it.
A great dish for a crowd! Looks yummy.
looks yummy n easy too……….good photos n a nice post.
The leftovers (if any) work nicely for supper with a green salad. I think I will make this up Saturday night and take it to church for my group on Sunday morning. At least, that’s my good intention of the moment.
Have a great day!
Miss P
Great pictures – looks super tasty!
I’m not much of an early riser, but I’d get up early for a plate of that casserole. Yummy!
Really good “how to” photos! Best from Santa Barbara, s