Sausage, Egg & Cream Cheese Breakfast Casserole Recipe (2024)

This easy breakfast casserole is packed with ALL the good stuff! Sausage, egg, potatoes, and cheddar and cream cheese are baked together to make one ofour family’s absolute favorite breakfasts. Complete deliciousness!

Update- This recipe has been so popular that I made a little video to show you how simple it is to make and of course how delicious it is to eat!

Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole Recipe

This is one of those recipes that wasn’t supposed to get blogged. Each year since we moved into Utah we have hosted a Christmas Eve brunch at our home. Since we are so far from family, we figure this is a great way to gather the friends we hold dear and celebrate the season together without imposing too much on celebrating with our little family.

My menu had fruit, apple cinnamon muffins, cinnamon rolls, green chile egg casserole, and pigs in a blanket, but I knew I needed something a little hearty that had some meat in it. I did what any reasonable person would do and turned to Pinterest. There were pages and pages of casseroles, but none of them reached out to me and said “MAKE ME!” I wanted sausage and eggs, but I also wanted it to have something a little different about it that would leave my guests saying, “Oh my goodness, that was good!”

I decided I would just whip something up since nothing was really sticking out. I knew I wanted hash browns in it since I was feeding a crowd and this was my hearty dish, they would help to really fill it up. I knew I wanted sausage since it goes well in a casserole, and I knew it had to have eggs. The only thing left was something to make it special. I looked in the fridge and knew it was going to be cream cheese!

I whipped it up, and set it out on the table and kind of forgot about it. Throughout the morning though I had no less than 6 people at my small brunch ask me what was in that casserole because it was so good. So I decided it needed to be blogged.

What to Serve with Breakfast Casserole

This Breakfast casserole is a meal in itself since it contains, meat, eggs, potatoes, and cheese. If you want to add a little something to round out the meal though, here are some of my favorite side suggestions:

• Fresh fruit– strawberries, blueberries, bananas, apples, melons, etc
• Breakfast breads– Muffins, banana bread, cinnamon rolls, biscuits etc
• Finger foods– Pigs in a blanket, sausage balls, etc.

How to Make Breakfast Casserole- Step by Step

Follow along below for the recipe and all of my notes and thoughts on how to make it! Scroll down to find a full printable recipe card if you want to skip straight to the recipe.

Breakfast Casserole Ingredients:

• Shredded hash browns, thawed– I used Ore Ida because I think they are delicious. If you forget to throw them in the fridge the night before, then just put them in the bowl and microwave it for 30 seconds, stir and repeat.
• cream cheese, cubed– I use regular Philadelphia, but you can also use light, just don’t use fat free because it doesn’t really melt well.
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sausage– I use Jimmy Dean original. If you like to spice it up, you could use spicy too!
• Sharp cheddar cheese– I really think sharp cheddar works well herebecause it helps the cheese to stand out a little more without using a ton.
• Eggs
• Milk
• Flour

Sausage Breakfast Casserole Instructions:

1. Cook Jimmy Dean sausage in a skillet over medium high heat working it into crumbles with a spatula until it is cooked through. Drain the sausage and pat any excess great off with paper towels. Then set aside.
2. Combine the hash browns and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Then gently mix in the cream cheese until evenly distributed throughout the hash browns.I like to cut my cream cheese into cubes that are about 1/2″ big. You could go a little smaller though. When you stir it in, try to stir the cheese just to distribute it though out the hash browns. Do not stir it so much that it just mushes into the hash browns. This will give you nice chunks of cream cheese all throughout the casserole and biting into one is like finding hidden treasure!
3. Spread the hash browns into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish then top evenly with the sausage and 1/2 (4 oz) of the cheddar cheese. You could also mix this in with the hash browns, just add it in before the cream cheese so that you don’t have to stir so much that you mush the cream cheese in. (I really don’t know a better way to describe that ha!)
4. In a separate bowl, place the flour in the bowl and slowly add milk while whisking to keep the mixture smooth until all milk is added. Then crack each of the eggs into the mixture and whisk again until the mixture is smooth. Pour the egg mixture over the top of the sausage, hash brown dish.It is important to place the flour in the bowl first, then mix the milk in just a little at a time. This will let you get the flour nice and smooth instead of it being lumpy. No one wants lumpy flour! Worst case scenario, if it does get a little lumpy it will most likely bake out even, but it just goes together better if you get it nice and smooth.
5. Spread the remaining cheese over the top of the casserole.
6. Bake on the middle rack for 35-45 minutes or until the casserole is cooked through.

Can you make this Breakfast Casserole ahead of time?

Yes! This breakfast casserole is easy to make the day of, but if you know you will be short on time, you can also prepare it up to 2 days ahead of time in the refrigerator or up to 1 month ahead of time in the freezer (see directions below.)

To make breakfast casserole ahead of time, just prepare as directed. Instead of placing it in the oven, put plastic wrap over the top and refrigerate up to 2 days. When you are ready to bake it place it in the oven and cook as directed adding 10-20 minutes to the cooking time since it is cold.

How long to bake Breakfast Casserole

Baking time for this breakfast casserole as directed is 35-45 minutes. You will want the casserole to be cooked through in the middle to be done, reaching an internal temperature of 160˚F.

If you prepare this breakfast casserole ahead of time and put it in the oven cold from the refrigerator, you will need to add an additional 10-20 minutes of baking time.

Ovens can vary on how they cook due to size, heating elements, climate and more. You may find some variation in baking time. I always bake my breakfast casserole uncovered so that it will get the nice crispy top, but if you find that it is getting more browned than you prefer you can loosely cover it with foil.

Can I Freeze Breakfast Casserole?

Yes! As a matter of fact it freezes beautifully before or after cooking, and can be used for easy breakfast meal prep.

To freeze breakfast casserole before baking:

1. Prepare recipe as directed.
2. Wrap tightly in a layer of plastic wrap, then a layer of foil to cover.
3. Place in the freezer up to a month.
4. When ready to bake let thaw in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours or until completely thawed.
5. Remove plastic wrap and bake as directed adding 10-20 minutes to the cook time since cooking from cold.

To freeze breakfast casserole after baking:

1. Prepare and cook recipe as directed.
2. Allow the breakfast casserole to completely cool.
3. Freeze in one piece by wrapping as instructed above, or my preference, divide the breakfast casserole into meal sized portions and place in air tight containers or zip top bags in the freezer.
4. To reheat, you can place the breakfast casserole covered with foil in the oven, or covered with a paper towel in the microwave.

Is Breakfast Casserole Gluten Free?

This breakfast casserole is not gluten free as written. You could leave the flour out of the recipe and it would then be gluten free and you would still have a good result. I also have a few other breakfast casserole recipes that are written gluten free if you prefer! Try my:

• Loaded Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole
• Breakfast Casserole with Bacon
• Jalapeno Popper Breakfast Casserole

I really hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you do get a chance to try it, I would love it if you let me know! You can leave me a comment below, or if you post a picture on Instagram, make sure to tag me @easyfamilyrecipes so that I can see what you are cooking up! It makes my day to see others enjoying the recipes that I share!

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