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.
How to Make This Recipe
- Cook the diced bacon until crisp. Drain and set aside.
- Spray the sides and bottom of Crockpot. Spread half of the hash browns in the bottom then sprinkle over half of onions, then half of the cheese, then half of the bacon. Repeat with the remaining ingredients: hash browns, onions, cheese, bacon.
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with half-and-half, salt, garlic, black Pepper. Pour eggs over. Low 8-9 hours
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
- Easy Peel Eggs
- Whole30 Hashbrown Sausage Breakfast Casserole
- Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl
- Vegan Breakfast Pita Pizza
- Instant Pot Eggs
- The BEST Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
- Vegan Biscuits and Gravy
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Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 26-ounce bag frozen hash browns no need to thaw
- 3 cups shredded cheese
- ⅔ cup white onion chopped
- 1 pound bacon diced, see Notes for sausage or vegetarian versions
- 12 large eggs
- 1 cup half-and-half see Notes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the diced bacon until crisp. Drain and set aside.
- Spray the sides and bottom of Crockpot. Spread half of the hash browns in the bottom then sprinkle over half of onions, then half of the cheese, then half of the bacon. Repeat with the remaining ingredients: hash browns, onions, cheese, bacon.
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with half-and-half, salt, garlic, black Pepper. Pour eggs over. Cook on Low 8-9 hours
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
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Cheryl Malik is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind the healthy, flavorful, family friendly recipes at 40 Aprons. She’s been a blogger for 10+ years and is known for her delicious recipes and detailed recipe instructions. Cheryl is a mom of three who lives in Memphis, TN.
Janet says
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?
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
You can cook on low for 4-6 hours and see how that works! You can always cook longer if needed. 🙂
Natalie says
Would full fat coconut milk work ok? I want to try this as a Whole30 compliant version (sadly w/o cheese).
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
Sure! Let us know how it goes! 🙂
Suzanne Tan says
Can you use corned beef instead?
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
We’ve never tried that, but it sounds like it could work!
Kathleen Marie says
If I wanted to make this in my crockpot instapot how would I do that?
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
Hi 🙂 Do you mean you would like to cook it in the Instant Pot?
Linda says
What size crock pot?
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
8 quarts. 🙂
Kristen Slaby says
Can i use fresh grated potatoes instead of frozen hashbrowns? If so, would it cook for the same amount of time?
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
Freshly grated potatoes should work!
Kathleen Kagay says
Can you cook this on High for a shorter period of time?
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
We haven’t tried that way, but make sure the eggs don’t burn!
AMBER SKVARCA says
Could you substitute the Obrien Frozen hashbrowns instead? I made this for thanksgiving morning and the family loved it!
Heidi says
The second time I made this I didn’t have an onion but still wanted that onion flavor. I ended up adding a small can of cream of onion soup (normally I don’t like using cream soups)… it was amazing! I mixed the soup and cream together first before adding the eggs in and left out the salt and garlic since the soup had that already. Really yummy! Easy recipe! Thank u!
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Linda Johnson says
I like using dehydrated onions for this purpose. It’s best though to soak dehydrated onions in a little water to RE-hydrate them when adding them into recipes for more real onion texture.
Lori Chapman says
Do you think cream of mushroom or cream of chicken would be good?
Brenda says
If I wanted to double the recipe does it still cook for the same amount of time?
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
The recipe may require additional cooking time if doubling the recipe. We suggest cooking it for at least 9 hours, then just checking every 30 minutes or so from that point on. 🙂
Katrina says
This sounds wonderful! Have you ever tried doubling the recipe? I have a very large crowd to feed.
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
We haven’t, but just cook on low for 8 hours or until eggs are completely set! It may take longer.
Linda Johnson says
I’m gonna make this for Easter adding in asparagus this time. How long do you think the asparagus needs to cook? If I added it for the whole time, do you think it’d get overcooked? TIA for sharing your tips.
BTW when we served this Christmas Day with our adult kids, it was a huge hit. It’s fun surprising them with new recipes (& I love how easy to please they are). They went back for multiple servings (& they really don’t ever over eat) which says allot, right?
Tricia Roderick says
UPDATE: Assembled this in my slow cooker on Christmas Eve using sharp cheddar, sausage crumbles and added a large chopped green pepper, also sprinkled some extra sharp cheddar cheese on top. Absolutely delicious! We had it for brunch with mimosas after opening presents. Looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow morning!
Summer says
Has anyone tried this and not added the cheese?
Anna Claire | 40 Aprons Team says
Let us know if you try this, Summer, and how it turns out!
T. Roderick says
Hello Cheryl!
This looks absolutely delicious and is my kind of cooking. I love my slow cooker and this is definitely going to be Christmas morning breakfast this year with sausage crumbles and sharp cheddar. I can already imagine having a big piece with a cup of coffee while wrapped in my warm & snuggly robe! Thank you for this simple and delicious recipe, the kind that makes you want to hop out of bed early! Lol
Merry Christmas & best wishes in the new year,
Tamar