This easy overnight casserole is layered with bread, cheese, crumbled sausage and green chilis, and soaked in a seasoned egg custard overnight. It couldn’t be simpler to put together and the best part is in the morning when your kitchen is clean and your dishes are done and all you have to do is pop it in the oven! The popular casserole is a staple on many people’s holiday tables. At my house, it’s been our Christmas morning breakfast for over 40 years, and we love it on Easter and other special occasions, too. Wouldn’t be a holiday without it!
Ingredient Notes
- Bread – No need to get fancy. While most similar casseroles call for dried out french bread, I actually recommend basic everyday soft white sandwich bread fresh from the bag.
- Cheese – You’ll need a lot of cheese! I call for a mix of Jack and Cheddar. That’s my favorite combination, but in a pinch I’ve also used Colby Jack, and it would also be great with some pepperjack in there. Experiment if you’d like to, but the classic way is terrific! My one tip: I do not recommend pre-shredded cheese in a bag for this recipe. Shredding directly from a block of cheese will produce better results.
- Green Chilis – You find tiny cans these near the jarred salsa at the grocery store. I don’t bother draining the tiny can, just use your hands to grab the chilis from the can and sprinkle onto the casserole, the juice that comes with it is just fine.
- Sausage – There are always a lot of questions when I have recipes that call for sausage of any kind. It’s probably because there are so many different types: breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, sausage in links, sausage in castings, sausage in tubes, sausage in 8 different sections of the supermarket! You’ll find this sausage in the fridge section, usually near the bacon. Avoid sausages with flavors like maple. I only use Jimmy Dean because that’s what my Mom always used and we like the flavor the best! It looks like this (you may use their low-sodium/low-fat version if you prefer):
How To Make Overnight Sausage and Egg Casserole
- Make sure your sausage is cooked before you begin assembling your casserole. You’ll start with the bread. Cut off the crusts, butter one side, and place the pieces butter-side-down in a 9×13 baking dish.
- Sprinkle on your shredded cheese, followed by the cooked sausage crumbles, and green chilis (no need to drain).
- Finally you’ll whisk together eggs, milk, and some spices and seasonings. Stir the egg mixture immediately before pouring on top of the assembled casserole. Otherwise all the spices will all gather in one spot and drop onto one single piece of casserole!
- It then goes in the fridge overnight (no, you may not skip this step) and in the morning you just pop it into the oven and have a gorgeous breakfast or bunch in under an hour!
What to Serve With Overnight Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole
- We love serving this with a platter of fresh fruit.
- For a fun special drink, try our Sparkling Citrus Punch or Virgin White Peach Sangria
- Want some other overnight ideas? Sometimes we’ll do one sweet and one savory and serve this Overnight Sasuage and Egg Casserole along side this Overnight Strawberry Lemon Croissant French Toast (SO good!) or Cinnamon Rolls (see overnight directions in notes.)
- Check out our index of dishes for Breakfast and Brunch for more great holiday ideas!
FAQs
- How long does this HAVE to sit? How far in advance can I prep this casserole? I would consider 4-6 hours the minimum rest time, and up to 24 hours the max. This doesn’t mean it wouldn’t still work if left in the fridge beyond that, but I have not tried it.
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Overnight Sausage and Egg Casserole
Description
An easy overnight casserole with crumbled sausage, eggs, and cheese.
Ingredients
6–8 slices plain white sandwich bread
Very soft butter for buttering slices
2 cups shredded jack cheese (not pre-shredded from a bag)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (not pre-shredded from a bag)
12 oz pork sausage, crumbled and browned (I use Jimmy Dean)
1 4-oz can green chiles
6 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
Instructions
Start by removing the crusts from your bread and lightly buttering one side.
Place bread butter side down in a 9×13 baking dish. You want the bottom of the pan covered with no big gaps, so cut up some pieces like a puzzle to cover the whole pan.
Grate your cheese and sprinkle it evenly over the top of the bread. Spread the browned sausage on top of that. Open your can of green chilis and use your hands to sprinkle them over the top of the casserole.
In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk eggs. Add milk and then seasonings and whisk to combine well. Give the mixture a final whisk before immediately pouring evenly on top of the assembled casserole.
Cover well and place in the refridgerator overnight.
In the morning preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake (uncovered) for 50-60 minutes. You’ll want the center to be puffed and set and the outside edges to be golden brown. Let cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge and reheated in the microwave.
made this over the weekend for guests- it went fast!! So good and easy to make! I was heavy on the spices which made it even better!!! Thanks for sharing.
Just in time for me to pop it in the fridge on time this morning! Thank you for the wonderful recipes!
Yes that would work, as long as you make it early enough in the morning that it can sit for at least 8 hours, longer if possible.
If you’re making this for dinner instead, can you make it in the morning and let it refrigerate all day? Would that work as well?
Does this have to be refrigerated overnight? I’d like to use this recipe in my cooking class, but I can’t leave it overnight.
It’s MUCH better if left overnight. If you don’t give it time, the bread won’t soak up the egg mixture and you’ll get dry bread with an eggy mixture on top.
I just made this recipe for the first time and I wanted to mention modifications: I used white wheat instead of straight white and turkey sausage and I think we didn’t lose any flavor (I’ve tried other very similar recipes before). Next time, I will omit the salt b/c we all felt it was too salty. We ate it with grits, which helped balance the richness. Thanks for the great recipe!
I try a different recipe from the internet each year for our Christmas gettogether, and we all agreed this is the best by far! I will be making this again. However, we used the pre-grated cheese and we still liked it.
Just made this and is was FANTASTIC! Everyone asked for the recipe, always a good sign…I heart you girls.
I made this for Easter Brunch and it was amazing! Everyone was raving about how delicious it was! Thanks!
Good morning Sara… This is a great recpe. After baking I add 2 cups of crushed corn flakes., with butter dizzled over it and bake for a extra 10 minutes or until a golden brown… Adds a wonderful flavor and a crunch.. Plus it looks so pretty. This recipe is so yummy it really needs nothing extra.. But these little additions just make it so much more unforgetable… You all have a wonderful year….. God bless
Yes Jess- bake uncovered! I'll make that more clear in the instructions. I'm glad you liked it!
Made this for Christmas morning and LOVED it! The only thing was that I ended up having to bake it for about 1hr 20min – I think b/c I left the foil on when I put it in the oven? I'm a complete co-dependent when it comes to following recipes, so if it doesn't say to remove the foil, I don't 😛 It's a problem I have! It came out great though – next time I'll bake UNCOVERED! Thanks!
I made this two days ago and popped it in the oven yesterday (christmas morning). I had to modify it a little because I did a small square dish for my little family, but it came out great. My husband raved over it, and he's a picky guy. This is a new Christmas tradition in our house, thanks so much for sharing!
made this for turkey day brunch & everyone LOVED it – now will make for our xmas breakfast!
This got RAVE reviews and multiple requests for the recipe at the baby shower. One lady makes something almost identical and grilled me on what spices I used because, as much as she likes hers, mine was better! The Sunrise Punch was also a hit. Huge Thank You for the recipes, and the blog in general! I can't wait until your book comes out.
Ang, that menu sounds great! It's a 9×13 pan, so just visualize depending on how big you want your pieces. You can get 12 good-sized ones or 16 smaller ones.
I'm making this for a baby shower brunch (instead of quiche, hoping I'm not crazy but it sounds delicious and a bit easier than quiche) – how many servings do you get out of one pan? Looks like about 12 medium servings, maybe? I'll be serving with the Sunrise punch, a fruit platter, and a variety of mini-muffins. Thanks for the yummy recipes!
Jesse I've actually never tried freezing it. If you give it a shot, let us know!
Does this recipe freeze well? Or at all? If so, do you freeze it before or after you bake it?
This is the same recipe that my family makes every single year for holidays, etc. Except we don't use a lot of spices or green onions because we don't like them, lol! Such a tasty and easy meal!
This is almost identical to the casserole our family has consumed every Christmas morning for as long as I can remember. One year, when I was in college, my granny tried to not make it, and my cousin and I completely flipped out. "WHAT?! You aren't making the Christmas casserole? It isn't even Christmas without the casserole! How could you even THINK such a thing?!" Yep. It's that good.
Thanks for posting this. We wives get make this occasionally for our hubbies to take down to a men's homeless shelter. Since my hubby is gone so much, I haven't been asked to make it and lost my copy!
Watch out or your kids may start threatening to take your kitchen knives away like mine did! After many minor cuts that took more than tape or just a few stitches, I filleted a finger so well that it took a $17,000 surgery to reattach the nerves and artery. Only half the feeling came back, but better than nothing , , it's the one that I push the needle back up with when I'm quilting 😉
Stacia, ya I imagine that would work, but I've never tried it. You could also try some veggie sausage like Morning Star Farms- that stuff isn't half bad!
I've made this a handful of times and love it! Here's a question though: my sister-in-law is vegetarian…do you think if I replaced the sausage with some frozen shredded hashbrowns, maybe like 2 cups, would it still be good? would it work? any suggestions?
Made this for Mother's Day for all my extended family and it did not disappoint. My non egg loving family said that this was the best breakfast egg dish they'd ever had! I made a few tweaks – added 1 cup leftover chopped bell pepper (three colors) and sauteed a cup of onion with the sausage, and added one more egg to make sure it covered the extra toppings. Not only was this super colorful and pretty, but it tasted really yummy with the chiles and the meat. SLAM DUNK!! Thanks for all the great recipes. I've loved this website and am now dubbed the family cook.
Nicole, for years my Mom made 2 of these each Christmas morning. One with green chiles and one without (for my brothers who won't eat them!) It's still super yummy so leave them out if you need to. Or you could just put them on half as well.
My husband hates green chiles. Any ideas for a substitution? Or if I just left them out altogether would it be flavorful enough?
Been making this for years – it's pretty awesome with spicy breakfast sausage for those who like a little kick. 🙂
I hesitated to try this because the idea of soggy bread just grossed me out, not to mention I'm not a big fan of eggs… so soggy bread and eggs I thought would equal super disgusting.
I finally tried it and I was amazed! I used Texas Toast for the bread and it made the eggs super light and fluffy, I couldn't even tell there was bread in it. A small confession is that I only used 2.5 cups of cheese, because that is all I had, but it was still super. Thanks for pushing me to try something new.
My family LOVED these. Thanks for the great recipe!