By Lidey Heuck
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus chilling
- Rating
- 4(2,156)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This easy, make-ahead casserole makes creative use of classic breakfast ingredients like eggs, sausage, Cheddar cheese and English muffins. It’s a perfect no-stress centerpiece for a special-occasion breakfast: Simply assemble the casserole the night before and pop it in the oven before breakfast. Just remember to make sure to toast the English muffins until they’ve dried out a bit, which will help them absorb the egg mixture. For a vegetarian version, use vegetarian sausage or omit it altogether.
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Ingredients
Yield:8 servings
- Unsalted butter, for greasing the pan
- 6plain English muffins
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 1pound bulk hot or sweet breakfast sausage or Italian sausage
- ½cup thinly sliced scallions, white and green parts (about 3 scallions)
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 12large eggs
- 2½cups whole milk
- 2cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, lightly packed (about 8 ounces)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
623 calories; 44 grams fat; 18 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 17 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 25 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 31 grams protein; 889 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
Step
1
Generously grease the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with butter. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Step
2
Cut the English muffins into 1-inch cubes. (Do not halve them horizontally as you would normally for the toaster.) Place the cubes on a sheet pan and bake until lightly toasted, 12 to 15 minutes.
Step
See AlsoSheet-Pan Sausages With Caramelized Shallots and Apples RecipeSheet-Pan Chicken With Potatoes, Arugula and Garlic Yogurt RecipeBeef Wellington RecipePork Rillettes Recipe3
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium or large skillet over medium-high. Add the sausage and scallions, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper and cook, breaking up the sausage with a wooden spoon, until the sausage is evenly browned, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
Step
4
Meanwhile, add the eggs, milk, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper to large bowl; whisk to combine.
Step
5
To assemble, sprinkle half of the sausage, then half of the cheese onto the bottom of the baking dish. Add the English muffin cubes on top in one even layer. Carefully pour the egg mixture into the pan, pressing down lightly to make sure all the bread is moistened. Top with remaining sausage and cheese. Wrap well and refrigerate for at least 1 hour up to overnight.
Step
6
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the casserole until puffed and cooked through, about 40 minutes. (It may need a few more minutes, if your casserole has been in the refrigerator overnight.) Cool for 10 minutes, then cut into squares and serve.
Ratings
4
out of 5
2,156
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Cooking Notes
Cate
Easy, yummy crowd feeder though nothing too exciting about this variation on classic egg meat bread cheese breakfast casserole. I did like the use of English muffins; they add a layer of flavor, though got quite mushy. Toast them well! I should have added a few more grinds of pepper and I think a Swiss would pair better with the sausage. Scallions were lovely addition; I think shallots would work well, too. I added a dollop of Dijon to eggs and next time I’ll add more and add spinach. Solid 4*.
Lydia Sugarman
The point of toasting the English muffins cubes well is to dry them out so they will soak up the egg mixture while still maintaining some integrity and not disintegrate into a "mush". This is basically a breakfast bread pudding.
Henri
The English muffins are great. I like to add a bit of color though: I add mushrooms and chopped broccoli over the sausage, then then half the cheese, all the eggs, then more sausage and cheese. For yet more, add halved cherry tomatoes, press down into the eggs, then top with the cheese. Delicious!
Katherine
Per the note, toasting the english muffins helps them absorb the egg mixture. It's definitely worth doing.
suzan
for future reference: english muffins should never be sliced for toasting. they should be separated into two by using the fingers all around the circumference. this separation provides 2 halves with a crater surface better for collecting butter and honey or whatever you fancy.
Lynda in Pasadena
I make something like this but add cut up mild chilies to the mixture. It adds a little zip.
Alex
Love this! Make sure that the English muffin is extra crispy before incorporating. I highly recommend cooking onion and bell pepper along with the sausage and scallion — makes it so much more flavorful!
Cathy Cuff-Coffman
Perhaps making in muffin tins and then freezing or refrigerating the servings?
Eve
I haven't made a breakfast casserole before, so can't compare it to others. I don't see the point of baking the english muffins if you're just going to pour the egg mixture over it, so I didn't this time. But on a future try, I might do that and throw them on top of the casserole with the cheese instead of completely drowning them. Used a sausage with sage (drain well) and sharp cheddar. I only used 11 eggs and 2% milk, what I had on hand. Big hit with the family.
Scott
People are quick to criticize leave no explanation as to their criticism. I find that when this occurs excuse the pun, take it with a grain of salt.
Divatooms
I’d love to make this dish for myself. If I make the full recipe can I freeze the balance? Or can someone help with downsizing the ingredients for a smaller casserole?
Craig
cut recipe in half but use a full pound of sausage and enough cheese to cover top fairly completely. We both rated it a 9.5. It also reheated well.
Sara
Just pulled it out of the oven. Looks and smells great, pretty much what you'd expect flavor-wise. Warm and satisfying, but a little single-note. Kids like it. Probably would benefit from some fresh green onions scattered over the top and another crack or two of black pepper before serving. Very easy to prep and pretty great that it can go from fridge to oven. Made bringing a warm dish to an offsite breakfast situation super easy.
Annie
I agree with others that this is a solid basic breakfast casserole. I found that about 45 minutes in the oven wasn’t quite enough (I had the prepared casserole in the fridge overnight). Next time I’ll check first at 50 mins.
Jane
My beloved aunt, who passed away last year at 83, treated three old friends to a brunch casserole every Saturday. Her basic recipe was this one, but she played with the starch (cut up baguette, croissants, frozen hash browns) and the meat (soy. sausage, bacons of all kinds, soy chorizo crumbles). She even made it a fruit casserole by using fruit and cream cheese) and a fish one with smoked salmon and cream cheese.
Jenn
It was easy to put together with simple ingredients. This will be made again and I think it's something great to bring to a Brunch. I did use frozen sausage patties bc I had them on hand. I just thawed and sauteed with red onion bc again what I had available. I also cut up and threw in some pieces of Jalapenos.
Anne
This was yummy. We substituted whole wheat English muffins and the results were great.
Caroline
Classic breakfast casserole and a crowd pleaser. I made this using a package of gluten free English muffins and it worked out perfectly both when leaving it in the fridge overnight or when baking it immediately
Peter G.
The quality of English muffins makes a huge difference here! Very niche, but the ones we get from the Corner Bakery in Pawling, NY are sublime in this recipe!
Ron
Left out onions and topped with maple syrup after dishing on plate. Delicious! Other mods: used chopped up Original Banquet Brown ‘N Serve sausage links, 2% milk, cheddar jack cheese, and whole wheat muffins.
SLC
So yummy! For a shortcut you can use sliced ham (such as you’d use for sandwiches) and sliced Swiss cheese, then pour over the custard.
B
This was probably the best breakfast casserole I've made! I cooked and drained a mix of Longaniza and Chorizo for some extra flavor, and used half and half instead of milk to fluff the egg a bit. Turned out incredible!
Aleks
The cooking time on this recipe is never quite right. I don’t refrigerate it overnight; I just make it morning of, so it’s not any colder. I always seem to need to bake at 375 or 380 for 40 minutes or a bit longer.
BethE
I don’t like breakfast casseroles because I don’t like soggy textures. But being craggier than normal bread, the muffins seemed like they would prevent soupy outcomes. So, I gave this recipe a shot. I regret nothing. It was an absolute hit with a fairly critical crowd. Simply because of what I had on hand, I did use 1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled, instead of sausage. The English muffins MUST be toasted / dehydrated nigh unto oblivion - I’d suggest even 2-3 minutes longer.
Bree
Used Fontina cheese instead of cheddar. Added 1/4 t of Cayenne pepper to egg mixture. Fantastic!
Big Lar
Made as written with Impossible spicy veggie sausage and it was delicious, although it took 60 minutes to fully cook instead of 40.
Carina
This was a success! I rested it for just less than an hour and the texture was not soggy. A high quality sausage is super important in this recipe. I tossed in a few cups of a left over baked salad we had into the sausage towards the end of cooking. This recipe would allow for all kinds of mix-ins if that's your preference.
Monica J.
This was a hit on New Years morning. The grown ups all had seconds and my 9 and 10 year old loved it as well. I tried to make it exact but only had four muffins so I used a leftover baguette instead and it worked perfectly. Used Cabot cheddar and breakfast sausage and it had a ton of flavor. I made it the morning of so only had time to let it sit on the counter for about 25 minutes and it turned out perfectly. My family nicknamed it “fancy sausage McMuffin casserole.”
KLN
Any egg casserole recipe needs a hero to avoid being good but not great. I would suggest getting high quality, very tasty sausage. I used a breakfast sausage with sage, and it really carried the meal. We prepared it in the evening and cooked first thing in the morning and the English muffins were not mushy at all. We also covered the casserole once the cheese started to brown (after about 30 minutes) and it came out great. Classic, delicious, not overly complex.
Robin
I made last night with plant based Impossible Sausage and am going to try it today on carnivore relatives - without telling them. We’ll see…
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