Can you believe Thanksgiving is just over a week away?!
Usually my family and I kick the holiday off by watching the Macy’s parade with cold mimosas in one hand, and Mini Cinnamon Rolls in the other before getting into our annual showdown over playing Scrabble, followed by feasting on my Mom’s traditional Thanksgiving dinner later that afternoon. I am not mad at that!
The men don’t last too long on cinnamon rolls alone though (and need something to soak up all those mimosas!) so usually I’ll bring over a breakfast casserole I’ve prepped the night before, or my Dad will whip up some eggs and bacon for everyone to eat. We’ll fill in the cracks with apps, homemade Chex Mix, and my Dad’s famous Bloody Marys until the big meal is served later that afternoon.
This year, however, we’ve got a more concrete game plan. Instead of nibbles and nips of this and that, I’m bringing over a big Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole to feast on all morning long.
This crock pot breakfast casserole is so good that my Mom has made it twice in the last month, first when my Grandma and Aunt were in town and again a couple weeks later for Evie’s baptism, then I made it for Ben and myself last Saturday morning to eat and reheat all weekend long. We seriously cannot get enough!
It is such a crowd pleaser, not to mention could not be simpler to make. Just layer frozen hash browns, breakfast sausage, eggs, and shredded cheese in a crock pot, then let ‘er rip. Perfect for throwing together on Thanksgiving morning, then cooking on high for 4 hours while everyone gets up and at ‘em. You can even cook it on low for 8 hours overnight, if the gang’s getting started early!
Start by spraying a large crock pot with non-stick spray then spreading half a 30oz bag shredded hash browns in an even layer on the bottom.
Next add a layer of 1/2lb cooked breakfast sausage,
Followed by 4oz each shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese.
Top with 3 sliced green onions, then repeat the hash brown, sausage, and cheese layers one more time.
Finally, whisk a dozen eggs with 1/2 cup milk, salt, and pepper, then drizzle the mixture over the casserole.
After that, just set it and forget it! 4 hours in the crock pot on high, or 8 on low, and you’ll have got yourself a fluffy, filling breakfast casserole that your entire family will love.
Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole
Serves 12
Barely adapted from Jimmy Dean
Ingredients:
30oz bag frozen hash browns
1lb sausage, browned & drained
8oz shredded cheddar cheese
8oz shredded mozzarella cheese
6 green onions, sliced and divided in half
12 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
- Spray a large crock pot with non-stick spray then place half the hash browns into the bottom. Layer in half the cooked sausage, half the cheeses, and half the green onions, then repeat hash brown, sausage, and cheese layers.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper, then drizzle over top. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours, or until eggs are set. Serve with remaining green onions, salsa, or guacamole.
Check out those layers of flavor!
Pair each hearty scoop of piping hot casserole with mashed avocado, diced tomatoes, salsa, or as Ben prefers – a slathering of cold ketchup. 
Hope you give Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole a try this Thanksgiving!
In other news…
I wanted to let you guys know about a cool new feature on the blog you may have noticed, from ZipList! Ziplist is an online recipe management tool that allows you to save recipes from my site and dozens more, including SkinnyTaste.com and SimplyRecipes.com, in your own online recipe box, then create shopping lists, track local grocery store deals, and more.
Click the blue “Save Recipe” button included with each recipe, to save it to your online Recipe Box. Right now I’m slowly but surely adding the button to older recipes, but if you have one you want me to add the save button to right away, just let me know!
Access your recipe box at any time by clicking the “Recipe Box” link in the main navigation of my site. I’ll stop saying recipe box now!
Anyways, I am excited to partner with ZipList and give you a new, easy way to save all your favorite recipes from multiple sites, plus create shopping lists, and more. I hope you find it useful!
~~~~~
Workout of the day: 35 Minute, 3.9 Mile Treadmill Workout II
This sounds delicious!! Thank you for sharing! Is there a way to cook on low so that you can cook it overnight?
I’ve made a variation of this casserole a number of times. I like to saute some onion and garlic to add to it. And when I a am feeling really decadent, I use sausage AND bacon!!
And I LOVE Ziplist — I’ve been using them for a long time now. I’ve stored quite a few of your recipes in my recipe box.
Oh, I meant to add that I cook the casserole overnight on low. Talk about waking up to the smell of yummy breakfast!!
This looks soooo delicious, I want to make (and by that I mean eat) it asap! Any recommendations for a similar recipe for potato-haters?
I’m so glad you posted a recipe like this. I’ve seen these breakfast crockpot things all over Pinterest and was curious as to how it would turn out. Looks delish!
Such a great idea! I tend to get stuck in a soup rut with my crockpot most of the time. It’s so convenient though I REALLY need to start making other meals with it!
Wow that looks great for the weekend!
thanks for sharing! sounds delish!
Yep. This is happening. We open gifts with my parents Christmas morning & it never fails that we all get the munchies & my mom feels like she needs to whip up breakfast even though she’s always prepping for dinner for our extended family later in the day. This year, I’m going to do this so she doesn’t have to think twice about it!
Thanks for sharing!
the Apple Chicken recipe is linked to the Save Recipe button on the breakfast casserole – at least that’s what it says every time i try to save the breakfast casserole recipe. Thanks
Hey B – good catch! I see that too. A work-around is to make sure you’re clicked into the individual post (http://iowagirleats.com/2012/11/13/crock-pot-breakfast-casserole/) then try hitting save. I’ll let the people at ZipList know!
This would also be perfect for Christmas morning! Love the new feature too!
I almost did a crock pot breakfast casserole last Christmas but I wasn’t sure how eggs would do in the slow cooker. Glad to see this turned out. I may need to give it a try!
A couple of questions….
-Do you think it would work with egg substitute?
-Do you use crock pot liners?
Neither my Mom nor I have tried, but if you do, I think it might take a little less time (just a hunch?!) Also, I don’t use CP liners, but you certainly can!
I am loving the addition of ZipList. I definitely need more organization in my life. My computer thanks you too!
Ha, ha, awesome! I was just pondering what on earth I was going to do for Thanksgiving breakfast… and its gonna be this! Yay!
This breakfast casserole looks great and I love that you have partnered with Ziplist to make it easier to save the recipes that I love (and I sure have a lot of them). I usually have to go into your site and search….thanks a bunch!
Omg!!! Looks amazing!!!
OMG you just made my Thanksgiving morning!!! This is HAPPENING, along with Pinch of Yum’s chocolate glazed baked mini donuts. Seriously, let’s just forget dinner …
Love the Ziplist thing! How convenient- your so up with the times and technology
Your Thanksgiving routine looks so relaxing and wonderful! We are tackling three parties. Lots of energy required!
I just made something similar to this last weekend! It didn’t turn out, though
I cooked it 7 hours on low overnight and it got all dried up… and crispy on the sides. My 4 year old niece said it best when she looked at it and said “that looks yucky”. I’m not sure what I did wrong but I want to give your version a shot! Maybe my crock pot just cooks too hot….
This is great and will be perfect for Thanksgiving morning! Thanks so much!
I’m always looking for good breakfast casserole recipes, and I’m always looking for good crockpot recipes. Hence, I LOVED this post. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
Love this breakfast casserole!! I make a similar recipe (but with bacon) for special occasions and it comes out great!! I want to warn you though NOT to try shredding your own potato and using it in this recipe (except if maybe you cook it for first). Even if you try squeezing it dry, it won’t cook up well in the slow cooker (not that I’d know from experience or anything! haha).
Thanks for the tip about the potato Chelsea. I live in New Zealand and we don’t have anything as impressive as those shredded hashies looked in the picture and I was going to grate some potato but now I won’t bother! I will just try pulling our usual hash browns apart. Cheers
This is sooooo perfect. I’m making this this weekend. Can’t wait. I’m going to use chorizo in place of the sausage for some extra kick. Thank you!
Yummmm, looks delish! My friend has been telling my how great Ziplist is also. Guess this is now my time to try it out!
Love the ease of this – too bad Thanksgiving has already passed here in Canada, but this could be a top contender for Christmas morning!
I have to admit, I’ve always been afraid of breakfast casseroles in the crock pot, thinking they would burn. But yours sure looks like it won’t! I will have to try!
This looks good, but since I am not going to be feeding any large amount of people soon, I wonder if I can cut it in half, like just do one set of potato, sausage, cheese layers? Would you adjust the cook time?
I would adjust the cooking time to 2 hours or so on high. Might just need to watch it to see when it’s done!
Thanks! I am making it this weekend
Did your cutting the recipe in half and changing the time to 2 hours on high work? I want to make too, but for smaller group.
Thanks.
Love this recipe! Do you have any thoughts on baking it in the oven? The reason is 8 hours is not enough time for overnight and 4 hours is too long in the morning for our schedule.
I’m sure it could work! Maybe 350-375 for 45 minutes to an hour?! Let me know if you give it a try!
I’ve been using the Catch app on my phone and computer to save all the recipes I like but I will have to try ZipList and compare.
I kinda miss your daily breakfast posts and hearing about your walks with your mom? More breakfast posts please
Anyone have thoughts on how this would work with morningstar breakfast sausages instead of sausage – I would worry about it drying out, but could put it in frozen. Let me know what you think! This looks amazing!
The original recipe from Jimmy Dean called for pre-cooked sausage crumbles, so I bet it would work fine!
I love using Ziplist! So glad that you’ve added to your blog~
This is sound a great idea! My family will love it!
I LOVE using Ziplist! So excited you’re pairing up with their app and website!
Could you specify what is considerd a “large crockpot.” The one in the picture looks similar in size to mine, but I am just wondering if you know how many quarts yours holds.
This looks amazing and I am going to try it soon!
Thanks!
[...] This pomegranate-champagne punch sounds like it’d be a great addition to my family’s Thanksgiving morning festivities!Favorite find: Nike Fuelband. I know several people who have the new Nike Fuelband, and they all [...]
This is an EPIC casserole. I can’t even.
This was a HUGE hit with family over the weekend. Thank you!!
I made this today. Set it up in the crockpot to cook overnight ( 7 hours worked btw) Good Stuff!!! I just wanted to say I love your recipes, I make at least 1 a week (like the skillet chicken parm was last nights dinner haha!) Thanks for making it look like I know what Im doing!
[...] thanks.), and I don’t think about casseroles and the like. Well, I didn’t, until I saw this recipe for an overnight breakfast casserole on Iowa Girl Eats.The dozen eggs that broke my fall Sunday [...]
Making this to take to my work’s black Friday potluck tonight!
[...] smell of hot breakfast sausage cooking with eggs and cheese worked like a charm. My Mom had a big Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole bubbling away and the whole house smelled AMAZING. If you weren’t able to make this casserole [...]
[...] I am always on the lookout for new breakfast recipes. The same old over and over gets, well, old. I saw the recipe on Iowa Girl Eats. I love her page and her recipes are always so healthy. Don’t even get me started on the tuna casserole recipe – YUM! http://iowagirleats.com/2012/11/13/crock-pot-breakfast-casserole/ [...]
[...] was Iowa Girl Eats Crockpot Casserole. Someone, Scotti, ate all the breakfast sausage that was supposed to go in, but he’s [...]
What time of sausage did you use? I went to my local Jewel and they have garbage! All with msg, etc. Costco has all natural, but you know Costco…everything is BIG! So now I have a ton of sausage I have to use up! Ideas?
I actually don’t remember what brand I used! If you have a ton leftover from Costco, I would portion it into 8oz portions and freeze!
[...] Essentially you just layer 1/2 bag of frozen hashbrowns, 1/2 package cooked sausage, 3 green onions, and 40z each cheddar/motz ~ and repeat. Then top with a dozen eggs & 1/2 c. milk with some seasonings and hit go! It was SO easy & so yummy. Definitely make-again-able. Here’s the recipe for that one! [...]
We are having breakfast for dinner tonight…just started the crockpot and I can’t wait to try this!
Made this and the mini-cinnamon rolls this past week and they were a hit! Thanks for the great recipes! Gave you a little shout-out on my blog too. http://whatchamakinnow.blogspot.com/2013/01/2-thingsbreakfast-and-liquidlipshine.html
I’ve baked similar casseroles in the oven, one made with French bread instead of hash browns and the other made with grits. I’d try the French bread option.
This sounds great. Are the hashbrowns thawed out or frozen?
Thanks, Jo
They’re frozen.