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The Best Breakfast Casserole is a thick and creamy egg base with shredded potatoes, chunks of ham, and flavorful cheese blends that bake up in no time. Make this to enjoy Christmas morning or brunch.
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy to Make: This is so easy to throw together. It only takes about 5 minutes to get everything together. The hard part is waiting for it to be done cooking!
- Make Ahead: Make this ahead of time, and when ready to bake, simply take it out of the refrigerator and bake.
- Family Favorite: Your family will love this easy breakfast casserole this holiday season. I have our traditional Sticky buns on the menu for Christmas along with this amazing casserole.
What you need to make a Breakfast Dish
This breakfast is perfect any time of the year but great for Christmas! All the simple ingredients come together quickly. Try it out for yourself! You will agree that it is amazing! Exact measurements are at the bottom of the post.
- Shredded potatoes: You can use frozen ones, and they do not need to be thawed.
- Salt and pepper: To taste!
- Eggs: Used to bind everything together.
- Half and half: Adds creamy texture and thickness.
- Season salt: The secret ingredient that adds all of the right flavors.
- Cheddar & Pepper Jack Cheese: Gives the melty cheesy top and complements the ham.
- Ham: Gives a hearty, meaty flavor and texture.
How to Make a Breakfast Casserole
This breakfast casserole is the BEST for so many reasons. One of which, is how simple this breakfast casserole recipe comes together and is in the oven in minutes. This tried and true breakfast casserole is so simple, and everyone loves the flavor.
- Prepare pan and add ingredients: Grease a 9×13 inch pan. Add the frozen and shredded potatoes to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Whisk eggs: In a large bowl, whisk the eggs together.
- Add remaining ingredients: Then add half and half, season salt, cheddar cheese, pepper jack, and chopped ham.
- Pour into pan and refrigerate: Pour over the top of the frozen potatoes, then cover with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
- Bake your breakfast casserole: Bake covered in foil at 350 degrees for 90 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
What to Serve with a Delicious Breakfast Casserole
This casserole can stand alone, but if you are looking for a more complete meal, add some tasty side. Here are some ideas of what will go well with this breakfast casserole during the holiday season.
- Fruit: Christmas Fruit Salad or The Best Winter Fruit Salad
- Bread: Buttermilk Biscuits
- Potatoes: Skillet Potatoes with Peppers or Baked Parmesan Hash browns Recipe
- Meat: Bacon, sausage or ham from my Classic Honey Glazed Ham recipe.
- French Toast: Secret Ingredient French Toast Recipe or Creme Brûlée French Toast
- Pancakes: The Best Buttermilk Pancakes or Best Ever German Oven Pancake
- Muffins: Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins or Fruit Explosion Muffins
Mix It Up!
Try some of these fun variations in this breakfast casserole and find what you enjoy best!
- Vegetables: Add in some veggies like bell peppers, spinach or kale, tomato (fresh or canned), broccoli, mushrooms, or onions are great.
- Meat: You can use bacon, variations of sausage, shredded chicken, ground beef, or leftover turkey.
- Cream: I’m not a fan of half and half; you can use whipping cream for a thicker, richer breakfast or simply use milk you have on hand.
- Cheese: Switch up which cheese you use. Try swiss cheese, Colby jack, or mozzarella which all work well and melt perfectly when baked.
- Spicy: By adding red pepper flakes, green chilies, or green onions, is a fun way to add a little heat.
- Potatoes: Diced or flavorful frozen potatoes will work great in place of shredded potatoes.
Tips for Making the Perfect Breakfast Casserole
Here are some tips for making this breakfast casserole even better and easier on you. This recipe is fun to make with different variations, make ahead, or even make it the morning of. There are so many great things that make this casserole the BEST! These tips will help you better understand how to bake this breakfast for you to enjoy with your family.
- Covering or Not Covering: This is an option. I recommend not covering the baking dish, so the topping can get that nice crisp edge. If you prefer to cook it covered be sure to uncover the last 10 to 15 minutes.
- Keep your potatoes frozen: There is no need to thaw the potatoes, because they will cook frozen.
- How to know when breakfast is done: Once the outside edges become golden brown and the egg mixture in the middle is firm (check by rocking the pan). Use a toothpick or knife to check if it is completely cooked through. You can also use a thermometer to see if the breakfast casserole has reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Drain grease: If you use any other meat in the breakfast casserole, drain the meat before adding it to the dish.
- Gluten-free: Make this gluten-free by following this breakfast recipe. Check your labels on other ingredients to make sure.
Storing Breakfast Casserole
There are so many options and plans for this breakfast casserole to make your holiday mornings even easier and better.
- Reheat: To reheat the breakfast casserole, add it to the microwave or cover it in the oven. Check it occasionally until it has been warmed through.
- Make Ahead: Simply follow the instructions until you are ready to bake. Cover it with aluminum foil or a lid and place it in your refrigerator. When you are ready to bake, simply take it out of the refrigerator and bake it according to the instructions. This can sit in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- Can you freeze a casserole? Yes, this is perfect for freezing. Make and bake your breakfast casserole. Once it has completely cooled down, place it in an airtight container or ziplock bag. Lay flat in your freezer for up to 1 month. When ready to warm up, place on a baking sheet and bake until warmed through about 50 min.
More Breakfast Casserole Ideas
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The Best Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 24 ounces frozen shredded potatoes
- salt and pepper
- 12 eggs
- 2 cup half and half
- 1 teaspoon season salt
- 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese grated
- 1 1/2 cup pepper jack cheese grated
- 2 cup chopped ham Or your preferred meat, sausage would also be great
Instructions
- Grease a 9×13 inch pan. Add the frozen and shredded potatoes to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs together. Then add half and half, season salt, cheddar cheese, pepper jack, and chopped ham.
- Pour over the top of the frozen potatoes. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
- Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 90 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The original recipe said to bake covered, this updated version says to cook uncovered. The covered version works so much better.
Thank you for mentioning this. I made this once uncovered and it was clearly in need of being covered. This tine I searched the reviews to see what went wrong and I’m seeing people comment that they cooked covered per the recipe… very confusing. They must have changed the recipe, which I’m trying to understand why. Covering is the way to go.
Thanks for the clarification!!!! There are soooo many different & crazy replies for this recipe.
This was pretty good! I used cooked bacon instead of ham and added some sauteed onion and red pepper to it. Didn’t put it in the fridge before cooking and it cooked fully in about 1hr15. Would have liked it to be a bit more flavorful, but overall a solid breakfast casserole!
If i double the recipe. do i double the time ?
Yes, you will double the time. Be sure that it can all fit in one pan when doubling it. Usually you will need to bake in two pans. If that is the case, simply add about 5 more minutes to the cook time rather than doubling the time.
For the people who halted the recipe, how long did you back it for?
Hi. So easy to put together and 90 minutes worked perfect. I felt the layer of hash browns was to thick. I would use less and add peppers, onions to give them more flavor. Will try again for sure. Thank you for sharing the recipe ?
This was so easy and so good!!!❤️? I added green onions, sliced black olives and green chili’s which just bumped it up a bit. Took it to work and was well liked. Would highly recommend this dish to anyone!
This turned out good,I halved the recipe, I added olives,garlic and onion added a extra egg,and used a little less half and half,cooked about an hour
You might want to up those carbs per serving by a lot. You need to look up the carbs in shredded potatoes.
My thought too (unfortunately). This looks delicious, but probably closer to 15 carbs per serving.
I’ve had other egg bake type casseroles that I have used over the years, but none as soft and tender as this one. It was DELISH! Maybe it was the addition of the potatoes or the fact that this one baked covered, but this recipe will definitely replace my old ones! Ty for sharing!
Made this recipe for breakfast on Sunday (actually made it Sat. nite), it is truly delicious.
Since there are only two of us, I cut the recipe in half. We had it for breakfast, I gave a piece to a neighbor,, had some with dinner, and have two pieces left for today.
Have made at least 10 of your recipes, all good! Thanks
Coming back for this recipe for Father’s Day brunch tomorrow. Wanted to pop in to say that I made this last summer for a family brunch after my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary party & everyone in the family raved about it! So good! Definitely keeping this on permanent rotation for big breakfast events!! P.S. I subbed sausage for the ham & it’s SO tasty!
Ok to put in the fridge overnight?
Yes! That will be great!
I make a version of this in a slow cooker. Great recipe.
Any idea what the nutrition facts are for this recipe?
I like to use skinnytaste.com or myfitnesspal.com for any nutritional information. Hope that helps!
Big hit with work breakfast club – used sausage, bacon, asparagus and sun dried tomatoes. Used cheddar and swiss cheeses. Recommend removing foil for last 10 mins to let the cheese crisp up.
Jennifer!
Thanks for the feedback. I love this casserole as well. I am so happy that everyone liked it. xoxo
Delicious and perfect brunch recipe. One recipe fed my adult crowd of 7 with extra large portions perfectly! Thank you!