Cheesy bacon potato breakfast casserole
This cheesy breakfast casserole recipe with bacon, potato and egg is the easiest make-ahead breakfast and so perfect for feeding a crowd.
Ingredients needed
- Eggs.
- Heavy cream/whipping cream.
- Milk.
- Extra-virgin olive oil.
- Bacon.
- Potatoes. Sweet potatoes can be substituted. Hash browns can also be used.
- Onions.
- Fresh garlic cloves.
- Cheese. I used sharp cheddar but any good melting cheese will work. Gouda, Swiss cheese, Mozzarella cheese, Gruyere, Monterey Jack, etc.
- Salt and black pepper.
- Other fillings: Feel free to add other vegetables like sautéed bell peppers, spinach, green onion or kale to the casserole. Other source of protein like turkey/breakfast sausage/pork sausage or ham can also be used.
How to make a breakfast casserole
Use any fillings of your choice but bacon, potato and cheese is a crowd-pleasing classic and a filling I use time and time again. Start by roasting the potatoes in a hot oven until golden brown and crisp. Cook chopped bacon with finely diced onions in a large skillet/pan until the bacon is crisp then drain any excess fat. Place the roasted potatoes, bacon and onion mixture and half of the cheese into a casserole dish/baking dish. The one I used was 9x13in (22x33cm). Whisk the eggs, cream, milk, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes and bacon then top with the remaining cheese (I keep some bacon back to add to the top as well but this isn’t necessary). Bake until golden brown and cooked through. Allow the casserole to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Can I make this ahead?
Bake the casserole and allow to cool completely before covering tightly with aluminum foil (baking the casserole directly in a freezer-safe foil container is a good idea) then freeze for up to 2 months. Bake from frozen for 30-40 minutes at 180ºC/350ºF or until hot throughout. You can also make the casserole the night before, cover with foil and place in the fridge overnight before baking. Leftovers can be reheated in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes until warm throughout before serving.
Serving Suggestions
For a simple breakfast or brunch, serve the casserole with toast, bagels or croissants. If the casserole forms part of a breakfast/brunch party, the following dishes and sides will work well:
- Bacon corn bread
- Summer fruit salad with lime-mint dressing
- Easy side salad with lemon dressing
- Creamy mushrooms
FAQ
Un-baked, the casserole can be kept in the fridge overnight. A baked casserole will last in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Make sure to sauté any vegetables before adding to the casserole to prevent a lot of moisture from cooking out. Similarly, using frozen potatoes can make a breakfast casserole soggy so it’s a good idea to cook them before adding.
Make-ahead breakfast recipes
Ingredients
- 3 large potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 250 g (+-9oz) streaky bacon chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 5 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- ¾ cup heavy/whipping cream
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
- Toss the potatoes with olive oil and salt and transfer to a baking sheet. Allow to bake until crisp and golden (approximately 30 minutes) then remove from the oven.
- In the meantime, fry the onion and bacon until the bacon is crisp. Add the garlic and cook for another 20 seconds then remove from the heat.
- Place the potatoes, bacon and onion mixture and half of the cheese into a casserole dish.
- Whisk the eggs, milk, cream and seasoning together and pour over the potatoes and bacon. Top with the remaining cheese and place in the oven.
- Allow to bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from the oven, allow to rest for 5-10 minutes then slice and serve.
Can this be frozen, then thawed and baked? Wondering if I can make a couple weeks ahead for a wedding. Thank you!
I’ve never tried freezing it and don’t really recommend freezing raw egg so not sure how it would turn out.
Added some parboiled broccoli in the mix. Didn’t use any salt. Added an extra egg & extra 1/4 cup of cream. The recipe was delicious. For some reason a lot of recipes use too much salt.
Love the broccoli addition 🙂
There’s too much salt, I would use 1 teaspoon of salt. Otherwise it was good 👍🏼
Great flavor overall, but to be honest next time I would increase the eggs to probably 8, and increase the milk and cream accordingly. It felt like we were eating mostly filling and just a tiny bit of egg to hold it all together.
Made this and it’s perfect! Lots of r flavour. Make sure u fry the bacon and then fry they onion in the bacon fat.
It is delicious
Oh my goodness this sounds good!!! Making it as I type! I did my bacon in the oven though, pulled it out and after removing it from the pan I tumbled the cubed spuds into the bacon grease and am waiting for them to be done! I can already tell you this’ll hit high stars with us!
I just made this and it is delish. I didn’t have cream so I used sour cream instead. I put parsley in it for some color. My only comment is to cook the bacon a little bit before adding the onion because the onion burnt but the bacon was undercooked by the time that happened. This was excellent even with the burnt onion so if you like some char, cook as noted!
In the photos, it looks like you used another vegetable in the dish and then perhaps a second vegetable as a garnish? What did you use? I’d love to try it out!
Just sprinkled with chives 🙂
What is the temperature…180 c doesn’t seem right?
180 Degrees Celsius or 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.
Could I make the mix into muffins ?
You could, yes.
Please recommend substitutes for the cream and bacon.
You can use milk instead of cream and ham or cooked sausage instead of bacon.
Could you replace the whipping cream with more milk instead?
I wouldn’t recommend it as the end result won’t be quite the same and the egg mixture might be a bit watery.
Hello! Would it be possible to substitute the milk with oat milk? Thank you so much! x
Yes, you can substitute with any milk of your choice.
What are the make ahead instructions?
Assemble the entire casserole then cover well and refrigerate overnight. Bake the morning of according to recipe instructions.
This looks delicious for breakfast, lunch or dinnerWhat size baking pan did you use? I couldn’t find it in the recipe. Thanks.
I used a 26cm skillet.
This looks great! Picture of slice appears to have spinach?? I was thinking that would be a good addition.
Will try to post update after I make this.
No fuss and proper delicious.
Great to hear. 🙂
Had 13 people staying over for Easter. We made this for brunch on Saturday and everyone loved it. Delicious recipe.
It’s great for feeding a crowd, isn’t it? So glad you liked it.