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January 26, 2012

Sunday Morning Breakfast Casserole


I've had a lot of breakfast casseroles. I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the country, but in the south I feel like just about everyone I know has their own version of a breakfast casserole. In my family we've always used my grandmother's. Her breakfast casserole has been on the table for Christmas brunch since before I was born. It's a good, no gimmicks breakfast casserole. My family doesn't like it when people throw onions or peppers in, that ruins a perfectly good casserole (though I wouldn't object to mushrooms). My grandmother does it just right. I tell you this because I want you to realize that saying a recipe is better than my grandmother's is going against my entire upbringing. I blame Paula Dean.

This casserole has potatoes in it, something not in my grandmother's, and I think those really add to the overall makeup of it. It's incredibly cheesy and rich, and absolutely amazing. Will I try to get my grandmother to start serving this? Oh goodness no. Her recipe will be in my recipe book for the rest of my life..but it will be right beside this one, and this is the one that I will be using.

As a side note, Paula Dean's cookbook The Southern Cooking Bible is fantastic. I've linked to it on Amazon, so if you're feeling in the mood to buy a new cookbook today this is a great choice!

Sunday Morning Breakfast Casserole
Recipe from Paula Dean's The Southern Cooking Bible

Ingredients

6 slices day-old white bread (french bread works best)*
1 lb breakfast sausage
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced cooked, unpeeled red potatoes
1 1/2 cups mixed shredded Cheddar & Monterey Jack cheese
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
black pepper

Directions

1. Grease a 2.5-3 quart baking dish (attractive enough to bring to the table) with butter, oil, or cooking spray. Cube the bread and place in the dish in a single even layer.
2. In a large skillet, cook the sausage, breaking it up with a spoon, until it's almost cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drain off the fat. Layer the sausage over the bread, and top with potatoes. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, mustard powder, salt, and black pepper to taste. Pour the egg mixture over the sausage and potatoes in the casserole. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
4. When ready to cook the casserole, preheat the oven to 350. Bake the casserole until set and golden about 30 minutes. Serve hot.

*Recipe as written calls for two slices of bread. I adjusted this based on reader comments. If you are using big slices of thick bread you can go down from six. I would recommend using a sturdy, day-old white bread for best results. Regular sandwich bread won't give the same crunch of the crust, and it is more likely to get mushy.
 
 




23 comments:

  1. Now this is my kind of Sunday morning. It looks so delish.

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  2. I love a good breakfast casserole also, this one sounds yummy.

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  3. Dev'essere delizioso... un abbraccio e buonissima serata

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  4. Greetings from New Zealand. I've never heard of a breakfast casserole... it seems weird - how can you eat something so heavy first thing in the morning? Or is it more of a brunch dish? I'm going to give it a go!

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    1. Oh goodness, in America we do heavy breakfasts all the time. I guess that's one of the many reasons we aren't regarded as a very healthy country (to say the least!). I would recommend this for brunch if you aren't used to heavy breakfasts. I usually only make casseroles to feed a crowd. This one in particular I made for a beach trip my family and two other families took. It was great for that, and it'd be a good, big weekend breakfast, but during the week I usually stick to a bagel or a bowl of cereal! Regardless, I feel sure you'll love this!

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  5. I LOVE that this has to sit overnight!! I plan to make this Thursday for my MOPS meeting and it will be great to prep it the night before!

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  6. I should have paid more attention to the pictures. I used a 2.5 quart Corningware baking dish, which is deep. It looks like you're using a shallow dish. After 30 minutes, mine is still liquid but I just put it back in for another 15 in an attempt to save it. Fingers crossed!

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  7. This looks really delicious and easy to make. I definitely will give this a try next weekend!

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  8. I used pillsbury crescent rolls instead of the bread and it was the best breakfast bake i have every had!!!

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    1. Were the crescent rolls baked before adding to ingredients or was it the fresh dough? Did you also use the whole can?

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    2. I'd like to know that as well... Cooked before or not? And did you just lay the sheet in there or roll them as you would?

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  9. Can you use 2% milk instead of whole?

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  10. Yes, if you'd like to use 2% you can.

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  11. Could you use frozen hashbrowns in place of the red potatoes?

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  12. We followed these directions and Mrs. Dean must have some dry milk because after 30 minutes it was still very liquidy :( Not the way I wanted my morning to start, but I have my ever reliant coffee to fix that :) Thanks for posting the recipe!

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  13. I'm currently making this and after 30 minutes my casserole is also still very runny. It's now been in for another 15 minutes and still very liquidy

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  14. Similar recipes use 6 slices of bread. That could be why some people have having problems with too much liquid

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  15. tried it but my bread was mushy. Any suggestions?

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  16. It looked great on top but after cutting into it after more than 45 min of cooking, the bottom half of the pan was submerged in a eggy-milky liquid. I used 6 slices of bread.

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  17. I'm so sorry that many of you have had issues with this recipe! There is nothing worse than getting your hopes up for something and having it not turn out despite following the recipe exactly as written.

    My guess would be that the issue could stem from variations in oven temperatures or cooking time based on the dish. For instance, if you are using a glass dish it will take longer to heat up, so you would need to extend your cooking time. A positive in glass bakeware is that once it does heat up it will hold the heat more evenly than metal pans. The recipe as written only calls for two slices of white bread, so I adjusted it in July to call for six slices instead (based on comments above!). If you leave it in the oven longer and it the top is starting to get too brown, just cover it loosely with tin foil for the remainder of the time. I will make the recipe again soon to see what other advice I'm able to give on adjusting the recipe!

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