Sausage gravy breakfast casserole is layers of diced potatoes, fluffy beaten eggs, rich country sausage gravy, and layers of cheese baked until piping hot and bubbly. It can even be made in advance and frozen!
Sausage Gravy Breakfast Casserole is also dubbed 'Hangover Casserole', but you don't need a hangover to enjoy it. Nor does it need to be breakfast time.
We eat this from the afternoon to dinner time. It's great to pop in the oven on a lazy weekend morning and graze on leftovers for dinner.
This is also a perfect dish to make in advance to keep in the freezer, then transferred directly to the hot oven from frozen.
See the recipe notes section at the end for more tips on freezing this dish.
It's the best kind of comfort food. Warm, layered, savory, and satisfying.
Ingredients
The ingredients for this breakfast casserole are minimal. All you need is:
Sausage- country style.
Potatoes- russet, peeled, and diced.
Eggs- large or medium.
Cheese- mild to medium cheddar, Monterey jack, or similar.
Milk- whole milk is preferred, or 2% (although 1% can be used, the gravy won't be as rich. Skim milk is not advised.)
Flour- all-purpose, for thickening the gravy.
The Gravy
Begin by making the sausage gravy. It's the only thing that needs to cook outside of the oven.
As it is cooking, you'll be able to prep all the other ingredients for assembly.
Fry the sausage in a hot skillet until it's browned and super crispy. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the grease.
Remove the pan from the heat to pour the milk in.
Whisk together the flour and milk to form a thickener, then whisk that into the milk and sausage.
Return the pan to heat.
Simmer the gravy on medium to medium-high heat, whisking constantly until thickened and the flour "taste" is no longer detectable.
Once the gravy is finished, remove it from the heat and set it aside.
Prep
Peel the potatoes, rinse and slice into ¼ inch cubes.
Beat the eggs in a medium bowl and season lightly with salt and pepper.
Shred the cheeses.
Spread a spoonful of the sausage gravy over the bottom of a casserole dish to prevent sticking.
Layer
Start by layering the diced potatoes evenly on the bottom of the casserole dish until they reach halfway up.
Pour the beaten eggs over the potatoes evenly.
Sprinkle a light layer of cheese over the beaten egg layer. This provides a slight barrier to the sausage gravy.
Using a large spoon or ladle, spoon the gravy over the casserole evenly, trying not to disrupt the structure of the casserole too much.
Sprinkle the top with plenty of shredded cheese, and bake for one hour in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven.
The breakfast casserole is done when the potatoes are fork-tender, and the cheese is melted and golden on the edges.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- To cut the cooking time down, microwave the diced potatoes for 3-4 minutes on a plate, or fry them until they are partially cooked, before layering in the casserole.
2. If the casserole looks really full, bake it on a baking sheet lined with foil to catch any spills.
3. If the cheese is getting too browned, cover the dish loosely with foil and remove it at the last 5 minutes.
4. To make and freeze for later, assemble the casserole as you would to bake it, but instead cover it tightly with foil and freeze for up to 4 weeks.
5. Cook the frozen casserole, covered in foil for 1 hour 15 minutes in a 325°F oven, removing the foil during the last 15 minutes.
Try these other comforting casseroles and country skillets, or keep scrolling to get to the recipe card.
Did you try this recipe? Leave a rating or comment below!
Sausage Gravy Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
For the Country Sausage Gravy
- 1 lb ground pork
- 4 cups milk
- ½ cup flour whisked into ¾ cup of water until lumps are completely gone
- salt and black pepper to taste
For the Rest of the Casserole
- 3 lbs russet potatoes peeled and diced into ¼ inch cubes
- 6 large eggs beaten, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste
- 8 ounces cheddar cheese Monterrey Jack blend (or similar blend, shredded )
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk together flour and water until smooth and lump-free. You'll have something that is about the consistency of pancake batter.
- Dice the 2 pounds peeled potatoes into ¼ inch cubes, and whisk the 6 eggs along with salt and pepper to taste.
- In a heavy skillet on medium high heat, add ground sausage and cook until completely browned and very crispy. It should look very dark in areas, and have a lot of crisp texture to it. The crispier the better, (without burning). Remove from heat, drain excess grease.
- Add the 4 cups milk, flour slurry (½ cup flour+ ¾ cup water), and salt and pepper. Return to heat and simmer on medium until the gravy bubbles and thickens. Taste that salt and pepper level is to your liking. Turn off heat.
- Grease a 13x9 inch, or equivalently large casserole dish with either a small amount of butter, or a bit of the gravy. Layer the diced potatoes first, in an even layer, press down into the dish.
- Pour beaten eggs evenly over potatoes.
- Sprinkle with half of the shredded cheese.
- Spoon on the sausage gravy over the cheese, in an even layer.
- Top with remaining shredded cheese. If it looks pretty full, put it on a baking dish, to catch any overflow or drips.
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until potatoes are completely tender. Test by piercing them with a fork. If you notice that the cheese is getting too dark, cover with foil or a lid, and continue to bake until done.
- If you are making this ahead, complete the entire assembly instructions; cover and freeze. Frozen casserole will need to add 20-30 minutes cooking time.
Notes
- Pre-made, frozen casseroles will cook at the same temperature of 350 degrees plus about 30 minutes.
- If top of casserole is browning too quickly, cover with foil.
- Shred cheese by hand; any blend of cheddar, Monterrey jack, or similar cheese of your liking is great.
- Test that the casserole is done by piercing potatoes with a fork; they should be tender. If they feel to firm, continue to cook, covered, at 10 minute intervals.
- Recipe can be doubled or increased as needed to make more make-ahead breakfast of brunch dishes for later. Freeze either in casserole dish or disposable aluminum baking trays.
Michelle Long says
I made it for the first time today. I split it into 2 smaller baking dishes. It is really a great casserole. The only thing I will do different next time is sauté and season the potatoes before adding them to the dish. I had skimmed milk on hand, so I added 2 c of milk and 2 c of heavy cream - the gravy was incredible. My mom has a red meat allergy, so no beef - I used seasoned turkey sausage. I know that I will be making this many, many times. Delicious!
Jacque says
This was delicious as a gluten free breakfast and so easy to prepare. Delicious!
Erin says
Hi Jacque! I'm so glad you liked the recipe, I just want to note it's not entirely gluten free because of the flour in the sausage gravy, BUT, that can totally be made gluten free by substituting corn starch instead of flour. It usually takes about half the amount of cornstarch as flour to thicken.
Shannon says
A little confused. Recipe ingredients lists 3 lbs russet potatoes. But instructions say 2 lbs.
So use 2 or 3 lbs?
Thanks!
Raquel says
I make something very similar to this, except I take biscuits and 1/4 them up and place on bottom then add all the other things on top! (Cheese, egg, sausage, gravy). Love it! This is the best casserole either with or without the biscuits!
Erin says
That sounds really delicious too!
Kelsey Cleary says
I made this followed the recipe and it took 3 hours for the potato’s to cooked I weighed the potatoes made sure they were the correct weight I don’t understand what went wrong?
Erin says
Hi Kelsey 🙂 I'm so sorry to hear that you didn't have a good experience with the recipe. Can I ask a question- did you dice the potatoes uniformly small in 1/4 inch cubes? If they are too large they will take quite a bit longer too cook. But- if you like them a little larger, (or just want to speed them up) sauté them in the skillet with a little extra butter until they start to soften, like you would hash browns. This will give them a jump start with direct heat which should soften them up, even if it's just halfway cooked through, it will lessen the baking time for you. I hope you try it again, or try this, and let me know! I really think you'll love this casserole. Feel free to email me too, I'll make a note of this in the recipe notes too, so that others don't run into the same problem.
Shannon says
So, I made this on Thanksgiving morning and it was *chef’s kiss*.
I did all of that meat/gravy part the night before. In the morning, I cubed the potatoes -unpeeled because I’m lazy- then assembled and baked it in a Dutch oven so it stayed toasty warm.
It was served buffet-style along with sautéed fried apples, yogurt parfaits, homemade cranberry walnut granola bars, bacon and mimosas. FYI, it makes a great buffet/pot luck dish.
The tree-assembling crowd devoured it.
Thanks for the recipe. There are already requests for a repeat on Christmas morning.
Erin says
Shannon I'm so glad, thank you!
Sara says
Can I make this with hash browns?
Erin says
Hi Sara! Yes you can make this with hashbrowns. No need to thaw them first if using frozen.