Bigly Breakfast Casserole
Prep
20m
Cook
55m
Total
75m
Bigly says
Listen to me. Breakfast casserole. The BIGLY breakfast casserole. The greatest breakfast casserole ever assembled in a 9x13 dish — and there's been a lot of 9x13 dishes, more than anyone can count, the 9x13 is the workhorse of American cooking and nobody gives it the respect it deserves. This casserole respects the dish. The dish respects the casserole. They are partners. They are a team. Together they are UNSTOPPABLE.
My grandmother made a version of this. Tough woman. Hands like leather, will of iron, would slap a wooden spoon out of your hand if you stirred the eggs wrong. She fed twelve people on Christmas morning out of one pan and never once broke a sweat. She knew what most so-called chefs today have FORGOTTEN — that breakfast is a logistics problem, and the solution is one tremendous pan that does everything at once. Eggs. Cheese. Sausage. Hash browns. Bread. More cheese. Did I say cheese? CHEESE. It is a one-pan miracle and it has been a one-pan miracle since before most of these lifestyle influencers were BORN.
The key — and this is the secret, the real one, no hidden fee, no upsell — is the overnight rest. You let it sit. The bread drinks the custard. The eggs and the dairy become ONE THING. It's chemistry. It's beautiful. It's also breakfast. People come up to me, big tough men, tears in the eyes, men who have not cried since 1987, they say 'Bigly, the casserole, my whole family sat down at the same time, the teenagers put the phones away, my father-in-law said something nice to me.' I tell them: of course. That's the casserole. The casserole brings peace. It's just a fact.
Ingredients
- 1 lbbulk breakfast sausage
- 1 mediumyellow onion, diced
- 1red bell pepper, diced
- 1 lb (about 4 cups)frozen shredded hash browns, thawed(thaw them, do not skip this)
- 4 cups (about 1/2 loaf)day-old country bread, cubed
- 2.5 cupssharp cheddar cheese, shredded(shred it yourself, the pre-shredded has anti-caking dust on it, sad)
- 10large eggs
- 2 cupswhole milk
- 1 tbspDijon mustard
- 1.5 tspkosher salt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 1 tspgarlic powder
- 1/2 tspsmoked paprika
- 2 tbspfresh chives, chopped (for serving)
- 1 tbspunsalted butter (for the dish)
Steps
- 1
Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- 2
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and break it apart with a wooden spoon. Cook 5-6 minutes until browned.
- 3
Add the diced onion and bell pepper to the sausage. Cook another 4-5 minutes until softened. Drain off excess fat. Let cool slightly.
- 4
Squeeze the thawed hash browns in a clean kitchen towel to remove as much moisture as possible — this is critical for a non-soggy casserole.
- 5
Layer the bread cubes evenly in the bottom of the buttered baking dish. Scatter the hash browns on top, then the sausage mixture, then 2 cups of the cheddar.
- 6
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, Dijon, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika until fully combined.
- 7
Pour the egg mixture evenly over the layers in the baking dish. Press down gently with a spatula so the bread soaks.
- 8
Cover with foil and refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight (up to 24 hours).
- 9
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Let the casserole sit on the counter for 20 minutes while the oven heats.
- 10
Bake covered for 30 minutes. Uncover, top with the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar, and bake another 20-25 minutes until the center is set and the top is golden and bubbling.
- 11
Let rest 10 minutes before cutting. Sprinkle with fresh chives and serve.
One more thing
You assemble this on a Friday night, you wake up Saturday a CHAMPION. Eight people fed in twenty minutes of actual labor. The leftovers — and there will be leftovers, even with teenagers in the house, locusts in basketball shorts who eat their own weight in carbs — the leftovers reheat like a dream. Cut a square, fry it in butter the next morning, top it with a runny egg, you're a person who has WON the weekend. Your family thinks you slaved. You didn't. The casserole worked while you slept. That's the Bigly way. Tell your friends.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Bigly Breakfast Casserole.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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