Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole is perfect for busy mornings. Tender potatoes, fluffy eggs, and savory sausage cook up overnight in the slow cooker, so you can wake up to a delicious, healthy breakfast!
Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole
This Crock pot Breakfast Casserole is my go-to when I have overnight company. I don’t want my guests to miss out on the most important meal of the day! The eggs cook up light and fluffy all around the ingredients, so it’s basically a giant omelette once it’s all baked. This breakfast casserole is so easy to whip up the night before and then let the slow cooker do the work while we all sleep. Then guests are greeted to fragrant breakfast smells first thing in the morning and you get all the credit for serving a delicious breakfast. It’s so great for Christmas Eve, busy Sunday mornings or anytime you want a big family breakfast but don’t want all the fuss.
Tips for Cooking
If your crock pot cooks hot or if you have an oval one (like the one pictured above) it may only take six hours on low. So you may have to stay up a little late the night before to start the cooking process. But if you’re like me, it’s way easier to stay up late and visit with company than it is to wake up early and make a big breakfast. To make clean up even easier try using a crock pot liner! I love these ones from Amazon.
Variations on the Recipe
Our recipe for Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole is a very simple one. We love it this way, but we have also tried some variations depending on what we are in the mood for and what we have on hand.
- Potatoes: I love using the Potatoes O’Brien because they are already chopped and they come with red and green bell peppers. This just speeds up the process for me and makes this recipe even easier. However, you can really use any frozen hash brown variation. You can even use fresh grated potatoes, but the casserole will cook up a lot quicker with fresh as opposed to frozen.
- Meat: I like using sausage links because it is what my family prefers, but you can use any breakfast meat you have on hand! It just needs to be cooked first. Feel free to use sausage, bacon, turkey bacon, or ham. If meat isn’t your thing, you can use meat substitutes, or no meat at all!
- Veggies: If you’ve got it in the fridge, it can go in this recipe (almost, haha). We’ve used peppers, onions, green onions, mushrooms, spinach, kale, green chiles, zucchini, tomatoes, and asparagus, just to name a few. If you can find it on a omelette bar, chances are it will taste delicious in this recipe!
- Cheese: Cheddar is an obvious breakfast choice, but you can change it up! Any cheese that melts well will work. We’ve used Swiss, mozzarella, pepper jack, Monterey jack, and Colby jack before. They’ve all been great!
- Toppings: Everyone in my family likes topping this casserole with something different. We’ve tried ketchup, sour cream and salsa, sriracha, avocado, chives, cheese, and Tobasco, just to name a few. Whatever you top this with, we know you will love it!
Popular Combinations
Still looking for ideas to make this casserole your own? Try some of our most popular combinations.
- Denver Style: Cubed ham, green peppers, onion, and cheddar cheese
- California Style: Bacon, tomatoes, peppers, onion, topped with lots and lots of avocado
- Meat Lovers: Bacon, sausage, and ham
- Mushroom and Swiss: Spinach, mushrooms, Swiss cheese
- Garden Delight: Peppers, onions, tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, spinach
- Italian: Pancetta, red bell peppers, mozzarella
- Southwest: Green chiles, jalapenos, pepper jack cheese, top with avocado, salsa, and sour cream
What to Serve with Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole
This casserole is a terrific all-in-one dish, so you could serve it alone with some toppings and a side of fruit. Or pair it with our Make Ahead Breakfast Parfaits, our rich Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake or a batch of the BEST Blueberry Muffins.
More Breakfast Recipes
Try a few more of our favorite recipes for your next breakfast or brunch. Check out our list of 25+ Breakfast Ideas or see some of our favorites below!
- Easy Breakfast Casserole
- California Breakfast Casserole
- Yogurt Pancakes with Homemade Syrup
- Breakfast Monte Cristos
- Best Breakfast Burritos
- Easy Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
How to Make Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 12-15 breakfast sausage links
- 12 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 pounds potatoes o'brien (hash browns with diced onions and peppers)
- 1 tomato diced
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Brown sausage links in skillet until cooked through and cut into pieces. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs together with milk. Add salt and pepper.
- Spray crock pot with cooking spray and add cut up sausage, potatoes o'brien, tomato, and cheese. Pour the egg mixture over the top. Stir everything together.
- Cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours. The oval crock pots like the one shown may cook faster than the typical round crock pots. Try to aim for the 6 hour mark if using one like this.
Equipment
- Crock Pot Slow Cooker
Recipe Video
Nutrition
Kristen says
If making for just 2 people, could I halve the recipe, and if so, how long would you cook?
Echo Blickenstaff says
If you halve this recipe, it will take much less time to cook since there won’t be as much of it in the crock pot. My guess is that this would only need to cook between 3 1/2 to 4 hours, but you will want to keep a close eye on it. Cooking times can vary depending on the size, style, and brand of your crock pot. Since this kind of defeats the purpose of cooking something overnight for breakfast the next morning, you may want to try it for dinner one night before making it for breakfast. 🙂
Sherry Getman says
If I was to make this and leave on overnight for 6 hours on low for Christmas morning. We usually don’t eat til 9:30 , I would have to turn it on around 3am for it to be done around 9 then it would kick to warm? How long can you leave on warm before It would dry out? Any suggestions on how to cook this? Thanks
Favorite Family Recipes says
It can stay on warm for a couple of hours. If you aren’t eating until 9:30, you could also make our oven-baked breakfast casserole. You can make up the casserole the night before, store it in the fridge, and then it cooks for about an hour in the morning. See the recipe here: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/elises-breakfast-casserole_21/ hope this helps!
Meredith says
Do you need to thaw the potatoes or just add them frozen?
Echo Blickenstaff says
Add them frozen. Thanks for asking!
Tamie says
Will this work in an instapot slow cooker?
Favorite Family Recipes says
It should, as long as the bowl is big enough!
Natasha says
This Crockpot Breakfast Casserole is a perfect make-ahead breakfast recipe! We had this for breakfast/brunch today and it was such a hit! I’m so glad I found your site when I was looking for a good recipe, I’m looking forward to more new great recipes.
Andrea Thueson says
Two of my favorite concepts my slow cooker and a breakfast casserole! I am so excited to give this a try!!!
katerina @ diethood.com says
YUM! This sounds incredibly delicious! The perfect way to start the day!
Trang says
This is the best! Breakfast is our favorite meal at our household but we are always rushed and so busy on the weekdays and want to sleep in on the weekends. So this is perfect for us!
Dennis says
Can you cut up potatoes into cubes instead of using hashbrown .
Favorite Family Recipes says
Yep! You sure can!
darren montgomery says
how about with egg whites
Favorite Family Recipes says
I haven’t tried this recipe with just egg whites, so I am not sure how it would turn out. Let us know how it goes if you do try it!
Kristyn says
Best recipe ever!! Breakfast casseroles are my favorite & making it in the crock pot, makes it an even better recipe! So tasty!
Kellie H says
This is so simple and such a lifesaver on the weekend! The whole family loves it.
Betsy says
I cook so many things in my slow cooker overnight but I never thought to cook a breakfast casserole! This is fantastic and so delicious!
Pam says
Can this be baked in the oven.?
Favorite Family Recipes says
Yes! We have a separate recipe for that HERE: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/elises-breakfast-casserole_21/
Alexandra says
Love easy breakfasts that can be done in the crock pot. This is so delicious!
Kasey says
This looks delicious! It will be nice when I have family come to stay!
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
Such a tasty recipe and perfect for lazy mornings as it’s ready when you wake up! Love a delicious breakfast casserole.