Amish Breakfast Casserole
Updated
Updated
This hearty homestyle Amish Breakfast Casserole is filled with hash browns, cheese, bacon, and chicken sausage. I like that I can prep and bake right away, or transfer to the fridge overnight and pop it in the oven the next morning. So easy and delicious, I love serving it for a weekend brunch or holiday get-together!
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5 STAR REVIEW
Easy Amish Breakfast Casserole
I honestly don’t know if breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day, but I do know it’s my favorite—I could eat breakfast in the morning, and also for lunch and dinner.
We usually have friends and family in town for the holidays who stay overnight, so coming up with an easy, delicious breakfast that can feed a lot of people is key. This Amish Breakfast Casserole is pretty much perfect, made with potatoes, cheese, and lots of protein. It’s so hearty and filling, but not heavy. Bonus, it can be prepped the night before, so all I need to do in the morning is pop it in the oven. So important at holiday time. I think make-ahead meals are just the best!
Amish Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lb. bacon, diced
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 2 links cooked Italian chicken sausage, diced small (the size of peas)
- 6 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1½ cups 4% cottage cheese, small curd
- 4 cups shredded hash brown potatoes, (I use "Simply Potatoes Shredded Hash Browns" in the refrigerator section for ease)
- 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 1¼ cups shredded white cheddar cheese
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- finely diced scallions, for garnish
Instructions
- Coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high; add bacon and cook until crispy. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper-towel lined plate.
- Drain off all but 2 tbsp of the bacon grease from the skillet. Stir in the onion and chicken sausage; sauté until onion is soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Transfer sausage/onion mixture, along with the cooked bacon to a large bowl. Add in the eggs, cottage cheese, shredded potatoes, cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine thoroughly.
- Spread mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish. (At this point you can bake right away OR cover tightly with foil and place in the refrigerator overnight.)
- In the morning, preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Remove cover and bake for 45 to 60 minutes until eggs are set and casserole is golden around the edges. Let stand 10 to 15 minutes before cutting.
- Serve with a sprinkle of diced scallions and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and any changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are very important to you, I would recommend calculating them yourself.
Did you make this? Leave a rating below!How to Make Amish Breakfast Casserole Step by Step
Cook bacon: Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add 1 lb. bacon and cook until crispy. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper-towel lined plate. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Cook onion and chicken: Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease from the skillet. Stir in 1 onion and 2 links of chicken sausage. Sauté until onion is soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Combine all the ingredients: Transfer sausage/onion mixture, along with the cooked bacon, to a large bowl. Add in 6 eggs, 1½ cups cottage cheese, 4 cups shredded potatoes, 2 cups cheese, ¼ tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper; stir to combine thoroughly.
Transfer to baking dish: Spread mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish. (At this point you can bake right away OR cover tightly with foil and place in the refrigerator overnight.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Remove cover and bake for 45 to 60 minutes until eggs are set and casserole is golden around the edges. Let stand 10 to 15 minutes before cutting.
Serve: Serve with a sprinkle of diced scallions and enjoy!
Recipe Variations
- Change the meat. Sometimes I change the protein. Diced ham or pork sausage are good substitutes for the bacon and chicken sausage.
- Use bacon bits. The fat rendered from cooking diced bacon will give you the most flavor, but you can omit that step and stir in 1 cup of real bacon bits into the mixture.
- Try different cheeses. There are so many options for cheese to use. Instead of Mexican blend and white cheddar, try sharp cheddar, Swiss, or pepper jack for more heat.
- Swap cottage cheese with ricotta. HEADS UP! This casserole has not been tested with ricotta, so I can’t vouch for the results using it, but typically it’s a good substitute for cottage cheese, so you could try it if you’re a cottage cheese hater.
How to Store and Reheat
You can prep and serve this hash brown casserole right away, assemble it the night before, or freeze for later.
Cool leftovers completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
You can freeze the casserole before or after baking. Wrap well in plastic and again in foil and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge. If frozen after baking, just bake until warmed through. If frozen before it’s been cooked, bake as directed. You will likely need to add some minutes to the bake time.
What to Serve with a Breakfast Casserole
This Amish breakfast casserole is a hearty dish, so ideally you’ll want to pair it with something light like roasted asparagus, a flavorful arugula beet salad, or a juicy cucumber tomato salad.
This was DELICIOUS and would be great to serve all year round.
I’ll be making it for my kids spring break breakfast/brunch. Thanks for sharing.
Going to mix some hamburger meat and Jimmy Dean Sausage (with Sage) 50/50. Halfway fried! The other half will cook in the oven. Cream cheese sounds good too. My question concerns the Onion. With this much onion, is there an over powering taste of onion in the casserole ? I’m not much of an onion fan. BTW..why refrigerate?
If you refrigerate overnight the dish has time to meld together, and the overall flavor will be better. Have you ever had a bowl of chili 3-4 days after cooking a pot and it had a chance for the flavors to marry? It’s beautiful. Same concept.
If you cook the onion and let the sweetness come out of the onion first. You well enjoy the onion. It well sweeteenough in its onion way. As it called you need to candy you onions. With just butter. I think you well enjoy it. It don’t taste like raw onion. Enjoy I know u well. I do.
Absolutely wonderful, thank you!
Such a great recipe for breakfast. This casserole was a huge hit at our house!
Love it! My wife made this for us before we went out to cut some firewood. Perfect breakfast for that! Hearty and packed with energy. I’m not really usually that rugged, so I needed the extra push! It also tasted delicious. She used regular breakfast sausage in place of the chicken sausage because that’s what she had on hand. Thanks for the recipe! She said she’s going to hang onto it. I hope that doesn’t mean I have to chop wood just to get her to make it for me! ;)