Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
Posted: 12/16/19
Updated: 11/29/22
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This breakfast casserole is made in the Crockpot or slow cooker and is super versatile, making it perfect for entertaining, the holidays, or Christmas morning. With hashbrowns, eggs, onions, cheese, and your protein of choice (with vegetarian options!), it’s loaded with flavor and is so easy and quick to make.
Why This Casserole is So Good
- This breakfast casserole is so quick and easy to make, you just have to fry the bacon and then dump everything in the slow cooker.
- You can easily make this casserole vegetarian.
- You can set this casserole overnight for an easy to grab breakfast in the morning.
Such an Easy Overnight Recipe
This casserole is perfect if you have overnight guests that need feeding in the morning. It takes around 8 to 9 hours to cook the casserole in the slow cooker, so pop everything in just before you go to bed and you will wake up to a ready to serve hot breakfast.
Variations
I love this recipe, as it’s so easy to adapt it to different tastes and diets.
- You can use 1 pound of breakfast sausage in place of the bacon. Brown and crumble the breakfast sausage then drain and continue with the recipe as written.
- It’s so easy to make this Crockpot breakfast casserole vegetarian. You can simply omit the bacon, or you could substitute it for vegetarian bacon or sausage.
- If you prefer, you can use non-dairy milk or half-and-half. I like Ripple’s Half and Half.
How Long Does It Keep?
This is such a great make-ahead breakfast, not only can you cook it the night before serving, but it also stores well too. Transfer the cooked casserole to an airtight container and it will keep well in the fridge for about three to four days and then you can reheat it in the oven.
Top Tips For Making
- When sprinkling on the cheese, leave a slight border from the sides of the crockpot. This will prevent as much burning of the edges as possible
- There will be SOME burning on the edges but it won’t affect the rest. just leave a small border when cutting into the casserole to serve
- You must spray the crockpot first. this dish cooks for quite a long time and will burn or stick otherwise
For More Tasty Breakfast Recipes
- Freezer Breakfast Burritos
- Gluten Free Breakfast Casserole
- Easy Peel Eggs
- Whole30 Hashbrown Sausage Breakfast Casserole
- Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl
- The BEST Croissant French Toast Casserole
- Instant Pot Eggs
- Copycat Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole
- The BEST Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
- Vegan Biscuits and Gravy
Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
This breakfast casserole is made in the Crockpot or slow cooker and is super versatile, making it perfect for entertaining, the holidays, or Christmas morning.
servings
Ingredients
- 1 26-ounce bag frozen hashbrowns divided
- 3 cups shredded cheese of choice cheddar preferred, divided
- ⅔ cup chopped white onion divided
- 1 pound bacon diced, see Notes
- 12 large eggs
- 1 cup half and half
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper more or less to taste
Equipment
- Large skillet
- Spatula
- Plate lined with paper towels or bowl lined with paper towels
- neutral-flavored spray oil
- Crockpot or similar slow cooker
- Large mixing bowl
- Whisk
Instructions
- Heat large skillet over medium heat. When pan is hot, add diced bacon. Cook bacon until crisp, then transfer to plate lined with paper towels and set aside. Discard rendered bacon fat or save for another use (like bacon gravy).
- Spray bottom and sides of Crockpot insert with spray oil. Layer half of frozen hashbrowns in bottom of Crockpot insert, then top hashbrowns with 1 ½ cups shredded cheese and ⅓ cup chopped onions. Top onion layer with half of cooked bacon. Repeat layers in same order until all ingredients have been added to Crockpot.
- Crack eggs directly into large mixing bowl. Add half and half, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper, and whisk until mixture is fully combined and no longer streaky.
- Pour egg mixture evenly over casserole layers in Crockpot. Cover with Crockpot lid and set to low for 8 hours. After 8 hours, check doneness of casserole to ensure eggs are fully cooked. Add additional time as needed, cooking no more than 9 hours total.
- When casserole is cooked through, serve immediately or set Crockpot to warm and serve when ready.
Notes
- Bacon: You can use 1 pound of breakfast sausage in place of the bacon. Brown and crumble the breakfast sausage, then drain and continue with the recipe as written.
- Make it Vegetarian: If you like, you can leave out the bacon altogether for a vegetarian version. Or use veggie sausage or bacon in place of the meat!
- Make it Dairy Free: Use dairy free cheese and non-dairy milk or half-and-half. I like Ripple’s Half and Half.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 511kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 24g, Fat: 38g, Saturated Fat: 16g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 13g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 296mg, Sodium: 871mg, Potassium: 461mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 767IU, Vitamin C: 7mg, Calcium: 312mg, Iron: 2mg, Net Carbs: 16g
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Love this recipe!! I have made it several times. Tomorrow morning we are having it with tortillas and salsa!
That sounds super yummy! So glad you enjoy, Terri!
Delicious ! My husband loves this on early mornings before work. So happy to see a fellow Memphian too!! Would this work with frozen waffles as an alternative to hashbrowns ?
So happy to hear that and thank you so much for the review, Lisa! We haven’t tested it out with frozen waffles, but would LOVE to hear your feedback if you try that!
Would adding a small can of diced green chiles work?
Sure! I’d drain them well first, or the excess liquid may make the hashbrowns too soggy.
Excellent recipe! I used breakfast sausage and sautéed that before putting it into the crockpot. I also added chopped green bell pepper. You could easily adapt for veggies only. Thank you for sharing!
Definitely a great one to make your own! Thanks so much for the review!
I’ve made this recipe for large gatherings twice and it’s been a hit both times. Once I used 1/2 & 1/2 and the other time I used soy milk. Tasted great both times. Thanks for an easy and delicious recipe!
That’s so great! Happy to hear it worked both ways for you. Thanks so much for the review, Val!
Any ideas on how many crockpots I would need to feed approx 75 people? This is my first time feeding a group this large.
As written, this casserole yields approximately 10 servings, so you’d need 7-8 casseroles for that number of people, depending on the size of your servings. You may be able to use a larger Crockpot with 1.5-2x the ingredients so you don’t need to make as many casseroles, but we haven’t tested it so we can’t say for sure what size you’d need or how much of each ingredient. If you’ve got time between now and your event, I recommend making a test casserole to get a better idea of what you’ll need!
Can I use regular milk instead of half and half? Really want to make, but only have regular milk! Thanks!!!
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi, I have a 3.5 qt casserole crock pot. I’m presuming I can easily halve the recipe, but how would it impact cooking time?
You can cook on low for 4-6 hours and see how that works! You can always cook longer if needed. 🙂
Would full fat coconut milk work ok? I want to try this as a Whole30 compliant version (sadly w/o cheese).
Sure! Let us know how it goes! 🙂
Can you use corned beef instead?
We’ve never tried that, but it sounds like it could work!
If I wanted to make this in my crockpot instapot how would I do that?
Hi 🙂 Do you mean you would like to cook it in the Instant Pot?