Light Sausage Spinach Egg Casserole
This Light Sausage Spinach Egg Casserole is an easy breakfast casserole that’s made with frozen hash browns, eggs, sausage and spinach. This will become your go-to casserole for entertaining at breakfast–perfect for a feeding a crowd, allergy-friendly, and can be made the night before or the morning of. As an added plus, this breakfast casserole is Paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free and can easily be made Whole30 compliant.
Christmas morning brunch is one of my favorite holiday traditions and this year, I’m the hostess with the mostess. It’s a big job, but I’m super excited to have my family over for a festive mouth-watering meal before ripping into the gifts! When I’m hosting any type of breakfast get-together, my light sausage spinach egg casserole is always on the menu!
Why This Egg Breakfast Casserole Is So Dang Good
This breakfast casserole is the perfect dish for entertaining because:
- it can be made in advance
- easily adaptable to gluten allergies, Paleo diets and can easily be made Whole30 compliant
- feeds a crowd
- incredibly easy to make
- very inexpensive
- And absolutely delicious!!
How To Make A Breakfast Casserole With Sausage and Hash Browns
This hash brown breakfast casserole is almost TOO easy.
Step One: Simply start by browning your lean Italian turkey sausage, drain and then add in the bell pepper, onion and garlic to cook until soft. Once that’s cooked, stir in the thawed and drained spinach.
Step two: While the sausage mixture is cooking, you can be whisking the eggs with the milk, basil, salt and pepper.
Step three: Mix that yummy seasoned sausage with thawed hash browns in a 9×13 glass baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
Step four: Last step! Pour the egg mixture over the sausage and potatoes in the baking dish. You can either cover with foil and store in the fridge overnight or cover with foil and bake immediately. Bake for 1 hour at 350ºF, uncover and bake for another 15 minutes and until center is set. Allow casserole to cool for about 5-10 minutes before slicing into squares.
My family often enjoys this meal with a side salad for brinner (breakfast for dinner). You can prepare it on Sunday night and then when you get home from work on Monday, just pop it in the oven. So easy!
Make Ahead Sausage Egg Breakfast Casserole
If you are looking for an overnight hash brown breakfast casserole, this recipe is perfect for you!
Many times, I’ve made this breakfast casserole the night before baking. Just assemble as you would, cover and refrigerate overnight. You may need to add an extra 10-15 minutes to the total baking time in the morning.
Easy-peasy and perfect for when you are entertaining and especially wonderful to enjoy Christmas morning!
Is This Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole Paleo and Whole30 Compliant?
This sausage hash brown casserole can easily be made Whole30 compliant. There are just a few things you need to watch out for.
- Make sure the sausage is gluten-free. I love organic chicken or turkey sausage because there are very few fillers used and it will be easier to find a brand that is gluten-free and MSG free.
- Check that the hash browns are gluten-free. Some brands contain gluten and ingredients that would not be Whole30 approved. Another option is to make your own hash browns.
Bottom line: If you are serving this breakfast dish to gluten-free guests be sure to carefully read both your sausage and hash brown ingredient list.
Make Without Sausage
Turkey or chicken sausage are my favorite options for this casserole, but any breakfast sausage will work. If you don’t like sausage, omit meat altogether or use diced leftover ham or crisped up bacon.
Other Tips For Making This Breakfast Casserole:
- If you would like to make your own hash browns for this dish, which I often do because it is so easy, here is a great step by step recipe for homemade hashbrowns from Country Cleaver.
- I’ve use shredded hash browns and cubed hash browns for this recipe. Even a variety with peppers and onions is a great choice.
- Are you’re a cheese lover? Try adding sharp cheddar over the top of the sausage breakfast casserole, Gruyere, Swiss, Gouda, or Mozzarella would all be tasty choices.
- Make sure you squeeze the water out of your thawed spinach, otherwise you’ll end up with a watery mess! If you do forget, just sauté the veggie mixture longer or until the water is evaporated.
- To FREEZE this breakfast casserole for later use, bake and cool before freezing in a freezer safe pan (like a foil disposable pan). Wrap well in foil and freeze. Defrost in fridge the night before you’re planning to eat and then cook for 30 minutes at 350º or until warmed through.
- Double this recipe to feed a crowd.
MORE BREAKFAST RECIPES YOU’RE SURE TO LOVE!
Gluten Free Banana Oat Waffles
If you try this breakfast casserole, let me know! Leave a comment and if your family loves this dish as much as mine does, be sure to give it a five star rating! Also, tag @kimscravings on Instagram with a picture of your creation. It’s so fun to see what you’re cooking up! Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive more healthy delicious recipes straight to your inbox.
Light Sausage Spinach Egg Casserole
Ingredients
- 12 ounces lean Italian turkey sausage,, casings removed
- ½ medium onion,, chopped (1/2 cup)
- 1 medium red bell pepper,, chopped (1 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic,, finely chopped
- 1 bag/box, 9-10 oz. frozen chopped spinach or kale, thawed and drained well
- 4 cups shredded hash brown potatoes, (can use frozen or refrigerated or make your own (thaw if using frozen)
- 12 eggs
- ¾ cup almond milk, (any milk will work)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- foil
Instructions
- If baking immediately, heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray a 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium to large skillet, cook sausage over medium to high heat, stirring occasionally and breaking up, until no longer pink; drain sausage and return to skillet. Add onion and bell pepper; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes longer or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in spinach or kale and remove from heat.
- While sausage mixture is cooking, in a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, basil, salt and pepper until blended.
- In baking dish, mix cooked sausage mixture and shredded potatoes. Pour eggs over mixture in baking dish. Cover with foil; refrigerate 8 hours or overnight but no longer than 24 hours.
- If you wish to bake right way or whenever you're ready to bake; bake at 350 degrees F., covered for 1 hour. Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer or until center is set. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Cut into 12 square pieces and enjoy!
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I plan on making this dish this week and would much prefer the fresh baby spinach….how much should I use?
I would use a 6 ounce bag of baby spinach and cook until wilted. Enjoy!
This is a great recipe. It’s easy, can be made ahead and you can easily add or change some of the veggies. I use a bag of fresh spinach rather than frozen. It’s easier than thawing and draining frozen. Also added some green pepper since I had that as well as the red. I ha e some cheese fans in my house so added cheese on top of half as well. This will be a staple for sure.
Yay! I’m so glad you loved it! Thanks so much for taking time to leave a comment!
So many delicious foods in this casserole. My family will eat this up and not even care or know that it’s Turkey sausage.
Oh my goodness. What a delicious breakfast! I love the addition of hash browns. 🙂
Hubby and I are trying to cut out sugar and have moved to savory breakfast after years and years of sweet stuff only – all that fruit does have sugar too. This one is definitely going on the list of things to try to keep us motivated! It sounds delish!
This is a wonderful casserole that I have made for years! I began using it at Christmas but loved it so much, I now make it all year long. The only thing I change is that I use fresh baby spinach. I always have it as I like to throw it in my scrambled eggs (with salsa) and I really think it is vastly superior (not so wimpy) LOL Thanks Kim
Oh, I’m so glad you love this recipe as much as I do and I love that you use fresh spinach. I’ll be trying that soon! 🙂
This is the second eggy make ahead breakfast thing I’ve done so far, and though it was a pain to put together it was totally worth it! The sausage came in a larger amount than the recipe called for but I figured I’d throw it in anyway. I’m definitely going to have to plan ahead more if I make this again. I had to thaw the potatoes and spinach in warm water because I didn’t get them in the fridge long enough ahead of time. The actual putting everything together, though, was rather simple. It was a bit tricky to stir the potatoes and sausage/veggie mix in the baking dish, but I managed while only losing one piece of sausage. The end result? DELICIOUS. I love the texture, and I love the diverse nutrients the variety of veggies bring into my diet! I’ve been trying to get more vegetables into my diet (I totally do not eat enough), and this is a quick and easy way to help that goal in the morning. It’s also great for my boyfriend. This is probably the healthiest thing he eats all day. lol Thanks so much for the recipe!
I absolutely love this recipe! Always a crowd-pleaser!
The French Toast Casserole sounds fabulous. You should probably make both! 🙂