Sausage & Egg Breakfast Casserole

Whether you are hosting a breakfast, need to bring a dish to a breakfast gathering, or need a quick breakfast to eat throughout the week, this Sausage & Egg Breakfast Casserole is a crowd-pleaser. Eggs, cheese, hashbrowns, sausage. Milk, pepper, salt, onion powder. Everything you want in a breakfast, rolled into one dish. It’s perfect anytime of year.

The inspiration for this Sausage & Egg Breakfast Casserole came from the layering aspects of this Southwestern Breakfast Casserole from juliasalbum.com, and the ingredients of this recipe for Easy Breakfast Casserole from thewholesomedish.com, only using sausage instead of ham. If you like eggs and want individual servings ready-to-go, try my Low Carb Bacon Quiche Muffins.

What You Need

Mild pork sausage works great. Cheddar cheese – shredded at home. (Sometimes pre-shredded cheese is coated in preservatives that don’t allow to melt as well as shredded from the block.) Eggs. Half n’ half, but milk works fine too. Thawed shredded hash browns. Salt, pepper, and onion powder.

Cooking the Sausage

The key to this dish is the amount of time you spend cooking up the ground sausage. There’s cooked sausage. Then there’s crispy-cooked sausage (my invented word). Allow 30 minutes of pan fry time for the ground sausage to get it to a very browned, crispy state. This works best for the casserole content. It cooks out more of the fat and has a better texture in the context of the entire casserole. If you don’t crispy-cook the sausage, the texture will be greasier and chewier. I don’t recommend it.

This is normal browned sausage over medium heat. I’m in the camp that would say it is NOT ready for this casserole. Drain what fat you can drain. Then give it about 20 more minutes in the frying pan. Periodically drain and stir as needed.

This is what you want to see — crispy-cooked sausage throughout. Not necessarily all crispy. Just notably mostly crispy. Stir occasionally during that latter portion of cooking time to create even crispification (another invented term). You may need to drain off a little more fat during this process.

The Rest of the Casserole

Crack 10 to 12 eggs in a bowl and beat with a whisk. Add 1/2 to 1 cup half n’ half, cream or milk. Whatever you have on hand. Can you tell I’ve made this recipe many times under many circumstances? Thankfully it is a forgiving recipe and turns out great every time! I usually add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp ground mustard.

Time to layer up! Once the crispified sausage is ready, half of it becomes the first layer in your greased casserole dish.

After the sausage, the second layer = half of the hash browns. Third layer = half of the cheese. Carefully pour half of the egg mixture over those layers. Repeat all steps.

Bake at 375°F for 35 minutes. This casserole is great to prepare ahead of time, then bake right before serving.

Here is the finale. Even though you can refrigerate it and eat portions throughout the week for a quick breakfast, it does actually taste the best served right after exiting the oven.

Sausage & Egg Breakfast Casserole

December 4, 2018

Servings: 16

Prep: 30 min

Cook: 35 min

Total: 1 hr 5 min

Difficulty: Easy

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Sausage, egg, cheese, and shredded hash browns blend for the perfect breakfast casserole to serve at a gathering.

By: Elizabeth Newman

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground mild breakfast sausage
• 12 eggs
• 3/4 cup half n' half, or milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1-1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 cups thawed shredded hash browns

Directions

• Step 1 Fry sausage in pan over medium heat. Drain. Continue frying, stirring occasionally. Drain as needed. Fry until the sausage is crispy and extra brown throughout. This process takes about 30 minutes over medium heat to get the best consistency for the casserole.
• Step 2 While sausage is cooking, whisk the eggs together with half n half. Add spices and whisk again.
• Step 3 Preheat oven to 375° F.
• Step 4 Grease 9 x 13 casserole dish. Add half of the sausage, half of the hash browns, half of the cheese. Pour half of the egg mixture over those layers.
• Step 5 Repeat by adding the rest of the ingredients in the same order.
• Step 6 Bake for 35 minutes or until firm. Serve warm.

Did you try this recipe?

Tag @nickelplatekitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #nickelplatekitchen. I would love to see your cooking!

This unforgettable strawberry pretzel jello dessert has likely made it to your palate at a gathering. If not, you MUST try it.  I can still remember the wow factor of the sweet salty strawberry creamy wonderful taste the first time I had it at a graduation party fifteen years ago. I had to have seconds.

The Name: Strawberry Pretzel Jello Dessert

Some call it Strawberry Pretzel Jello Salad.  That title is misleading as it is no where near the salad department. Since it lands more in the dessert category, I intend to call it Strawberry Pretzel Jello Dessert. I found a recipe for it in a newspaper article once, before the internet was teeming with recipes. But it had pineapple in it. And it wasn’t quite the same.

I tried a few other recipes. One was found at umwhatareyoudoing.blogspot.com. But I felt these recipes had either too much cream cheese filling, or not enough strawberries. Properly balancing these two aspects, along with the sweet, salty crunch of the pretzel crust creates the optimum combination for a stellar strawberry pretzel jello dessert. Anytime I take it to a gathering, it’s a crowd-pleaser. And the pan is usually empty when it’s time to go. I really don’t mind leftovers with this dessert.

The Steps of Strawberry Pretzel Jello Dessert

The entire process takes about three hours, mostly due to some wait time for cooling and setting. But totally worth it!!!

The first step is to soften the cream cheese. I do this by placing the foil-wrapped cheese in a warm bath of water in a plastic container about an hour before needed. Works beautifully.

The crust is simple. Crushed pretzels, melted butter and sugar. Baked for ten minutes. And cooled.

Use a rolling pin to crush the pretzels in a zip-lock bag.

Mix the crust ingredients.

I really like my OXO Good Grips batter mixing bowl. I’ve had it for five years now and find it worthy of every mixing task.

The baked crust. Allow to cool for 45 minutes on a wire rack.

While the crust is cooling, get the cream cheese filling ready.

Mix sugar and softened cream cheese with a hand mixer to combine well. Then fold in the thawed cool whip.

Spread evenly on cooled crust. Allow to chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

While the cream cheese layer is chilling, clean, hull and slice the one to two pounds of beautiful strawberries. If you don’t have two pounds, that’s okay. I just prefer two pounds.  Also, start the water boiling for the jello.

I strongly recommend using real JELL-O brand strawberry jello. (They aren’t even paying me to say that.) I’ve tried other generic brands and they simply are not as good as JELL-O.

Place the strawberry layer on top of the cream cheese layer. You can use frozen strawberries in a pinch. But freshly sliced in my opinion are the best way to go for texture and taste.

The Jello Layer

Mix the 6 oz JELL-O packet with two cups of boiling water in a large bowl until all the jello granules are dissolved. Pour carefully over the strawberry layer. This is also your last chance to arrange the strawberries evenly if any are not to your liking. Make sure all of the strawberries are submerged in the liquid jello layer. Let refrigerate for at least one hour for the jello to set.

Here you are. The beautiful and delicious layers of strawberry pretzel jello dessert.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Pretzel Jello Dessert from nickelplatekitchen.com

November 5, 2018

Servings: 12

Prep: 2 hr 50 min

Cook: 10 min

Total: 3 hr

Difficulty: moderate

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The sweet and salty pretzel crust, the sweet and creamy middle layer and the strawberries in jello create the perfect dessert that everyone will enjoy.

By: Elizabeth Newman

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups crushed pretzels
• 4 tbsp white sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (8oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 2 pounds fresh strawberries (or about four cups sliced)
• 1 (6oz) package strawberry JELL-O gelatin
• 2 cups boiling water

Directions

• Step 1 Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix crushed pretzels, 4 tbsp sugar and melted butter. Press into bottom of a 9×13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack ~ about 45 minutes.
• Step 2 While crust is cooling, beat softened cream cheese and 1 cup sugar until smooth. Hand mixer works best. Then fold in the thawed whipped topping with a spatula until combined. Spread evenly over cooled crust. Leave in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Step 3 While cream cheese mixture is chilling, start water to boil for the jello.
• Step 4 Clean, hull and slice strawberries. Place strawberries evenly on the cream cheese layer.
• Step 5 Pour boiling water into a large bowl with the strawberry JELL-O gelatin. Mix until dissolved. Pour carefully over the strawberry layer. Rearrange any strawberries to create an even layer. Try to make sure all strawberries are submerged in the liquid jello.
• Step 6 Place in refrigerator and allow to set for at least one hour.

Did you try this recipe?

I’d love to see a picture of your Strawberry Pretzel Jello Dessert. Share it on Instagram @nickelplatekitchen or #nickelplatekitchen. Happy cooking!