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Crockpot breakfast casserole is perfect for holidays and 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!
Featured with this recipe
- Ingredients for Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
- Steps to Cooking Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
- Tips for the Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
- Variations for the Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
- Popular Combinations for Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
- Frequently Asked Questions
- What to Serve with Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
- Ways of Storing Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
- More Breakfast Recipes You Will Love
- How to Make Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
- CrockPot Breakfast Casserole Recipe
This crockpot breakfast casserole is the perfect breakfast to add to the slow cooker and let it cook on its own! Less preparation and more time with your family. It is a win-win breakfast recipe. The eggs cook up light and fluffy all around the ingredients, so it is a giant omelet once it is all baked. Saves time and all hands-off cooking! Your family will love this crockpot breakfast casserole!
Breakfast casserole is so easy to whip up the night before and then let the Crockpot do the work while we all sleep. Then guests are greeted with fragrant breakfast smells first thing in the morning and you get all the credit for serving a delicious breakfast. It is great for Christmas Eve, busy Sunday mornings, or any time you want a big family breakfast but don’t want all the fuss.
Ingredients for Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
Take your breakfast to the next level with this crockpot breakfast casserole! Easy ingredients with simple ingredients that cook together perfectly. The best crockpot breakfast casserole is a crowd-pleaser!
- Sausage – Add protein to this chopped sausage. Cut the sausage into even bite-sized chunks.
- Eggs – This is the base of the breakfast casserole. Eggs are filled with nutrients and are a great source of protein.
- Milk – Adds creaminess and moisture to the egg mixture. Milk helps the eggs fluff up and become lighter.
- Potatoes – Frozen diced potatoes with red and green bell peppers.
- Tomato – Slice and chop the tomato into small pieces that are added to the crockpot.
- Cheddar cheese – Give this crockpot breakfast casserole that gooey cheesy texture with shredded cheddar cheese. Shred the cheddar cheese for it to slowly melt throughout the breakfast casserole.
Steps to Cooking Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
If your Crockpot cooks hot or if you have an oval one it may only take six hours on low. A smaller, round crockpot may take the full 8 hours to cook through the center. To make clean-up even easier try using a crockpot/slow cooker liner!
- Cook – Brown sausage links in a large skillet until cooked through and cut into pieces. Set aside.
- Whisk – In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Add salt and pepper.
- Combine – Spray the crockpot with cooking spray and layer the cut-up sausage, potatoes O’Brien, tomatoes, and cheese. Pour the egg mixture over the top. Stir everything together.
- Slow cook – 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.
Tips for the Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
Follow these helpful tips to make a delicious crockpot breakfast casserole! Making this breakfast will be a family favorite. Your morning will be better waking up to a full-filling breakfast!
- Grease the crockpot – Make clean up even easier! Grease with nonstick cooking spray, and butter, or use a crockpot liner to keep the breakfast casserole from sticking to the sides.
- Layer – Make sure to layer the ingredients individually. This will help the structure of the breakfast casserole hold together and be stable as well as cook properly.
- Evenly distribute – When pouring in or placing the ingredients, try to evenly distribute the ingredients in the slow cooker breakfast casserole. Each bite will have a little bit of all the ingredients. This will help the ingredients from being overcooked or undercooked.
- Cooking time – Cooking times can vary depending on the size of the crockpot.
- Don’t overcrowd – Try not to overfill the crockpot with ingredients. If it is overcrowded then the ingredients will not be able to cook properly.
- Toothpick trick – Check to make sure the crockpot breakfast casserole is done by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the slow cooker. If the toothpick comes out clean, the breakfast casserole is cooked properly.
- Let it rest – Before serving, let the breakfast casserole sit and let the flavors enhance for a few minutes before cutting and serving.
Variations for the Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
Our recipe for Crockpot breakfast casserole is very flavorful with the simple ingredients we use. We love it this way, but we have also tried 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 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 have 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 an omelet 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 for Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
Try some of these ideas to make this casserole your own! Follow these most popular combinations. The options are endless!
- Denver Style – Cubed ham, green peppers, onion, and cheddar cheese are a classic and traditional omelet choice!
- California Style – Bacon, tomatoes, peppers, onion, topped with lots and lots of avocado. This is always a favorite!
- Meat Lovers – Bacon, sausage, and ham are every meat lover’s dream.
- Mushroom and Swiss – Spinach, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese are simple and tasty.
- Garden Delight – Peppers, onions, tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, and spinach give this veggie breakfast a healthy twist.
- Italian – Pancetta, red bell peppers, and mozzarella are all classic Italian ingredients.
- Southwest – Green chiles, jalapenos, pepper jack cheese, top with avocado, salsa, and sour cream for a complete southern taste!
“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.”
-Natasha
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! This is a great option if you are short on time. It is best to cook on low for 8 hours but high for 2 to 3 hours. Make sure the sausage and eggs are cooked through before serving.
Yes, you can adjust the quantity of ingredients that is best for your family. Adjust the time on the crockpot if adjusting the breakfast casserole. You can also store the breakfast casserole if needed.
Spray a cooking spray around the slow cooker or a crockpot liner that is done before adding in the ingredients. This will help with cleanup and easy to serve and store.
We used a medium-sized slow cooker. If you have a larger crockpot, you can double the recipe it will fit.
This breakfast casserole recipe will feed about 12 people. For larger servings, it will serve 6 to 8 people.
We love to serve this with fresh fruit, creamy yogurt, or sweet cinnamon rolls to make a complete meal.
What to Serve with Crockpot 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. For a big breakfast or brunch, you can also pair it with our Make Ahead Breakfast Parfaits, our rich Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, or a batch of the BEST Blueberry Muffins.
Ways of Storing Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
Learn how to properly make ahead or store the crockpot breakfast casserole! It is so easy to plan for and feed a crowd. Use your leftovers throughout the week or freeze them for a later time. All great options for having this breakfast casserole recipe more than once!
- Making ahead – Place all the ingredients into the crockpot and cover to store in the refrigerator for 24 hours. When ready to cook, let the crockpot warm to room temperature, place in the crockpot warmer, and start the time on low for eight hours.
- Refrigerator – Place the leftovers in an airtight container and store them in the fridge.
- Freezer – Cut and portion the crockpot breakfast casserole into individual portions to freeze.
- Warming up – Reheat the breakfast casserole leftovers in the microwave or in the oven until it is warmed through.
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How to Make Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
CrockPot Breakfast Casserole
Video
Equipment
- Crockpot Slow Cooker
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 a large skillet until cooked through and cut into pieces. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Add salt and pepper.
- Spray the crockpot with cooking spray and layer the cut-up sausage, potatoes O'Brien, tomatoes, 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.
I’m going to try bacon instead of sausage. So would I need to cook the bacon before placing in crockpot or could I use the microwave bacon? And do I need to break it up in pieces to put in the crockpot, sounds delicious! Thank you!!
Definitely precook the bacon.
Can I used pre cooked sausage links instead of the ones that need to be browned on the skilet?
Sure! I’m sure that would be fine!
This sounds really good and can’t wait till our hog comes to make this.
Has this receipe ever been halfed. It sounds like it makes a lot and I would love to try it but cut it in half. Thanks.
Yes you can but it will cook faster. Just adjust your times and check on it every hour or so
Sounds and looks delicious!! Could I program my crock pot to switch to warm after 6 hours? Or would the dish dry out? How long do you think it could sit on warm safely? Would love to make it for Christmas morning. Guess I could assemble, store in the fridge and wake at 1 am to put in the crock pot.
Thanks for the great recipe!!
I don’t know how long it would stay good on warm. I am guessing a few hours on warm would be ok.
Do you think this would work with chicken apple sausage or some other type of chicken sausage?
This sounds great, I am going to try it this weekend!
Sure! Why not? Come back and let me know how it turns out.
Hmm…. got back from the store and noticed the bag of potatoes o’brian I got is only 1 lb… I didn’t see any bigger bags at the store. Is 2 lbs. the correct amount?
I used a 2lb bag but you can use a 1lb and it should still be fine.. Or two 1 lb bags works too
Looks great! Did you thaw the potatoes first or toss them in frozen?
I kept em frozen
I’ve enjoyed this many times…not cooked in a crock pot though. Sounds amazing. Using bacon also sounds good. Thanks so much for sharing!
I was wondering about the texture of the eggs. Are they kind or hard or soft?
They aren’t runny at all.. I would say they are on the well done side.
What size crockpot are you using?
It’s a 6 quart.
That sounds delicious. I’ll have to try it.
I usually do overnight oatmeal for the work week mornings, this will make a nice switch.
Do you think you could cook and freeze in sections?
I wouldn’t. Eggs really don’t freeze well.
I freeze eggs all the time and they freeze well and this probable will to.
I noticed that if we want to double it you said to use two crock pots? Why?
Can’t I just double it and add time? Just asking I am not crock pot friendly….lol !
If you can double it and make it fit in one crock pot, by all means go for it. We have a big crock pot though and I think if we doubled it, it would be close to overflowing… I would only maybe add an hour or two for cooking it if I kept it in one crock pot. It’s not the cooking I would worry about.. It is making it all fit.
For food safety, it’s best not to fill your crock pot above 3/4 full. Having too much in the pot will make heating the food take too long to get to temperature and bacteria (that’s naturally in the food) will grow before the temperature can prevent it. Two crock pots would be best. You don’t want to serve food poisoning with your meal. A longer cooking time would not solve this problem, since it’s a matter of the heat getting to the center of the food quickly.
Never mind, I just saw that part. I was focusing on the ingredients and totally missed the cooking time. Sorry guys!
How many hours do you set this for??
I am the worst at cooking sausage link. I think I’ll be cooking half a package of sausage (crumbling beforehand) instead, add some bacon, and fresh herbs. This looks great!! Can’t wait to try it!
A trick to cooking links is to start them in some water and let the water boil out of the frying pan (like pre cooking bratwurst). Once the water is gone just brown the links.
This is how my DH cooks his sausage links and I’ve been criticizing him about that method, but guess this makes sense. Basically you’re steaming the sausage links first, then browning them off. Sausage links don’t agree with me anyhow; but bulk sausage fried, I have no problem with digesting it.
I always cook my sausages (like my bacon) in the oven….put them on parchment paper and cook at 300 til browned….so easy and a lot less mess. I always cook the full pkg then wrap what isn’t used in paper towels and refrigerate.
If i was to double this would it over flow in the crockpot? Im cooking this for co-workers and need to serve aboit 12?
uh yeah.. I would do 2 crockpots!
I’m with your dad-ketchup-yum!
This looks amazing! Do you think it would work to add bacon?
Absolutely! I have made it with bacon and it is awesome
Everything works when you add bacon!