Breakfast casserole

[Oak Smoke]

The whole family was here for the weekend. This was when we could all get together to have our Christmas. My wife makes breakfast casseroles when the house is going to be full of people. I’m not normally a casserole guy. I think it stems from a bad experience with tuna casserole as a kid. The wife’s breakfast casseroles are an exception. Hers have the normal hash-browns, sausage, bacon, eggs, and cheese with a generous helping of bell pepper and onion. It’s the pepper and onion that sell it for me. I don’t think I’d mind a touch of garlic either but that’s not in her recipe. If you want some heat there is hot sauce and salsa available on the side but she leaves it out so the kids can eat it. Do you ever make breakfast casseroles? What goes into yours?

[DennyWoo]

I like sausage, mushroom, onion and cheese. Topped with fresh Pico/salsa or sausage gravy.

[Mosca]

I would, but there’s nobody but me that would eat them. That’s why my breakfast tacos often take on so many items. I try to include a savory, a crunchy, an umami, an acid, etc., and a tortilla provides a starchy buffer.

[Oak Smoke]

Mosca I just read your post about the taco. I’d eat that. There was a time when I thought pico was necessary at every meal.

[LA Pork Butt]

I do very occasionally since my wife doesn’t like the calorie count. They are wonderful. Being from New Orleans give me onion, bell pepper, garlic and black pepper and I think I can make anything taste good. That may be a little overstatement! LOL

[Oak Smoke]

With those ingredients I wouldn’t bet against you.

[Purc]

I never had a casserole for breakfast, lunch or dinner that I didn't like.

BTW, I'm going to smoke my first stuffed turkey on the Bronco tomorrow and I can't wait to have a turkey casserole as leftovers. I will use Panhead John posted Texas chicken spaghetti recipe as a start.

[gcdmd]

The chicken (or turkey) tetrazzini in "Joy of Cooking" is a winner, too.

https://www.sunset.com/recipe/joy-of-cooking-turkey-tetrazzini

[Jfrosty27]

We love them but with just two just two of us there are too many leftovers. We usually get them at someone else’s house at a party of some sort. 🤷♂️

[tstalafuse]

Our Christmas Day casserole has english muffins with egg/sausage/onion/bell peppers/salt/pepper/garlic and ton of cheese. I usually put spicy pico de gallo on top to give some kick.

For NY's Day, we make a sausage kolache using jalapeno/cheese sausage wrapped in Pillsbury crescent roll.

[gcdmd]

Like the English muffin idea for the starch.

[RonB]

Never had one, BUT there used to be a grocery store here that sold breakfast pizza whole or hot by the slice. It had everything in the OP except the hashbrowns, peppers and onions. It was very good.

[Donw]

We are going to try this one from the NYT in the morning. It is called a Buttery Breakfast Casserole and got high ratings. It says it will feed 8 to 10. Everyone visiting got a full farm breakfast today but tomorrow someone else will have breakfast duty.

INGREDIENTS
1 pound croissants (about 5 to 7), split in half lengthwise
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, more for baking dish
1 bunch scallions (6 to 7), white and light green parts thinly sliced, greens reserved
3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage
8 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces Gruyère, grated (2 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread croissants on a large baking sheet and toast, cut side up, until golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes (watch carefully to see that they do not burn). Let cool, then tear into large bite-size pieces.

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add sliced scallions and sausage meat; cook, breaking up meat with a fork, until mixture is well browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in sage, and remove from heat.

In a large bowl, toss together croissants and sausage mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream, 1 1/2 cups cheese, salt and pepper.

Lightly oil a 9- x 13-inch baking dish. Turn croissant mixture into pan, spreading it out evenly over the bottom. Pour custard into pan, pressing croissants down gently to help absorb the liquid. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

When you’re ready to bake the casserole, heat oven to 350 degrees. Scatter the remaining grated cheese over the top of the casserole. Transfer to oven and bake until casserole is golden brown and firm to the touch, 45 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Garnish with sliced scallion tops before serving.

We will let you all know how it turns out.

[Donw]

Everyone really liked this casserole. Simple to whip up. good balanced flavor, and the Italian sausage shone through.

[texastweeter]

One has taters, bacon, sausage, onion, garlic, poblano chili, jack cheese, cheddar cheese, jalapeno, eggs, salt & pepper.

Another has butter, bacon, leftover waffles, eggs, mayo, instant gravy packets, ham, salt & pepper.

Another has sausage, eggs, milk, sour cream, mushrooms, taters, poblanos, onion, cheddar, provolone, white bread, salt & pepper, hotsauce

[Oak Smoke]

You are the man! If we lived near each other I’d be at your place at meal time most days.

[Johnny Booth]

We don’t do casseroles, but you nailed the ingredients in our ‘best’ breakfast. Omelettes, plenty of fresh sweet and hot peppers and onions, cheese, bacon or sausage. The meat is pre-cooked, then everything goes in before we fold it, so the veggies are still a little crunchy. Hash browns or home fries on the side. (They don’t fit). 👍😎

[RichieB]

Don't do them as my wife wouldn't consume it. As Johnny Booth said, spot on with ingredients. It's an omelette for me.

[synodog]

Ours sound very similar to yours. I wasn’t so sure about them at first but have enjoyed them.

[realdocBBQ]

We do a biscuits and gravy casserole sometimes, did it for Christmas this year.

1. Fry up a pound of breakfast sausage, crumbled up and drained.

2. Make a quart or two of white gravy - I like to use about 1/4-1/3 of the sausage, along with the drained grease from it. Heat the grease and sausage, probably some butter as well, mix in 1/4 cup of flour or so, fry it up, then start stirring in milk and simmering it, adding milk as you go as it gets too thick. Salt, pepper and some Tony Chachere's to taste - I added in some sage this time, too, and red pepper flake, ended up pretty good. Anyways, you need a good amount of gravy.

3. Take a can of Grands flaky biscuits, cut them into 1/6 triangles, or 1/8s if you want 'em smaller. Spray your casserole dish with a little oil and lay these down all scattered out - usually about 5 of your can of 8 biscuits in a 9x13 casserole dish.

4. Beat up 8 large or extra large eggs, a little milk and S&P in them.

5. Sprinkle the other 2/3 of your cooked breakfast sausage over the cut up biscuits, then pour your (uncooked) eggs all over it all. Then pour about half your gravy all over that. Everything's still liquid and it's a big sloppy mess at this point.

6. Cover with foil, throw in a 350ºF oven - probably about an hour cooktime on this. The eggs will cook, the biscuit pieces get coated in egg and gravy and float to the top and cook, pull the foil off at about 35-40 minutes. Let the biscuits brown up nicely on top.

7. Remove from over, sprinkle with shredded cheese - we use a Mexican blend, though cheddar works great for this as well. If you want, at this point, sprinkle a little parsley, or some more sage, or some more Tony's.

Let cool for 10 minutes, then dish it out. We usually cut out rectangular pieces, then top with more freshly heated cream gravy, I add Tapatio hot sauce on mine and go to town!

Good stuff! Leftovers keep pretty well in the fridge and we can reheat it for a couple days, if you've got leftover gravy (I usually make plenty), put that on it, too. I guess I don't have any pics of it. But it's good.

[barelfly]

Love a breakfast casserole! Usually sausage, cheese, eggs, always green chile, and we use tater tots. I think we put some onion in there as well. Just so good! And serve with a little more green chile or even red chile for christmas style! In fact, my mom usually makes this for us when we are at the lake. We are here for a week and she hasn’t mentioned making this during the week? Hmmm. May have to make it for everyone on New Years Morning - be a nice way to kick off the food new year!

but yours sounds excellent! Hope you enjoyed the family all together!

[realdocBBQ]

" always green chile" - how did I guess this would be part of yours? lol

I think I may have one more pack of green chiles in the freezer... of course, no one else in the family is as big a fan of them as I am, so if I make a casserole with them, I'll be the only one eating it. Not that that is a downside, now that I think about it... lol.

<edit> Had to correct my spelling of "green chiles" before I got smacked down... lol

[barelfly]

realdocBBQ - just make two small skillets? Or make one and put the green chile on one portion after it sets up a bit?

And….yes - chile - none of this stuff with an i

Now I’m hungry for breakfast skillet/casserole!

[realdocBBQ]

Actually, it's not just the green chiles - when it comes to breakfast, we all have such wildly differing tastes, it's usually just too much to make everyone's individual preferences, so we usually fend for ourselves - if we do it at all. I don't usually even eat breakfast.