Jimmy loves making breakfast casseroles. They’re delicious, leave a lot of room for creativity, and can be made the night before and still impress family and friends for a breakfast or, our favorite, Christmas brunch!
This recipe may by my favorite casserole BREAKFAST casserole to date – his best are his chicken and rice cheesy casseroles, but more on those later. This casserole combines all things amazing about breakfast. There’s savory and sweet sausage, onions and cheese combined with sweet pancakes and, yes and, waffles all melted together in an egg scramble that makes a light, fluffy but oh so decadent bite. The key is making it the night before which not only makes you look like a wizard with a perfectly clean kitchen as guests arrive, but also allows for the egg mixture to fully penetrate the ingredients making a cohesive bite. It can be done the morning of but, be warned, you may have a dry bite here or a mushy bite there.
There are a few ways of doing this. I have been mostly gluten free for the past 5 years so my hubby adapted to meet my needs. Feel free to use more easily found non-gluten free pancakes and waffles. Also, you can choose to make the pancakes from scratch – see our recipe here, from a box or even use frozen ones. The same goes for the waffles. We chose to do a combination of both since gluten free waffles are so readily found and we had gluten free pancake mix at home already. I like to add some cinnamon and a dash of vanilla to the pancake and waffle mixes. Just gives them a little extra something.
Casseroles are a great place to start if you are new to cooking or just want to try new things. They leave a lot of room for creativity and a lot of grace for error. The measurements don’t have to be precise and, as always with our recipes, if you don’t like something leave it out. Let’s get to it
Everything Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 4-6 waffles (frozen or homemade)
- 4 medium size pancakes (frozen or homemade)
- 16ounces of breakfast sausage – we used jimmy dean maple and added a dash of red pepper flakes
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheese – triple cheddar
- 8 eggs
- 1 cup almond milk (or any milk you have on hand – half and half makes it extra creamy!)
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- Sprinkle of cinnamon
- Splash of vanilla
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook pancakes and waffles according to package instructions (or use your favorite recipe – see my recipe for gluten free pancakes). Or reheat frozen waffles and/or pancakes according to instructions. Tear them all into chunks- nothing precise, just tear away.
- Cook sausage in skillet over medium heat until brown. About 10 minutes. We like leaving bite size chunks for this recipe. Make sure you drain the fat off!
- Combine the eggs, cheese (leaving about a quarter cup to sprinkle on top), milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla and salt and pepper. Whisk.
- Butter a 13x9 baking dish and place a layer of the torn waffles and pancakes on the bottom, add half the sausage and half the egg mixture. Do another layer of pancakes and waffles and top with remainder of egg mixture. Sprinkle cheese on top
- Cover with foil and place in refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours but preferably overnight.
- Bake covered at 325 for approximately 45 minutes then uncover for last 10 to create a golden brown crust.
- Serve with some additional maple syrup drizzled over top and a dash of cinnamon
Want to stay updated on delicious new recipes?
