Breakfast Sausage Casserole You Assemble the Night Before

9:40 p.m. the night before, the dishwasher is humming, and you are crumbling sausage into a skillet like someone who plans ahead. This breakfast sausage casserole recipe does the work while you sleep, so night-before you gets to do the effort and morning-after you gets all the credit. Overnight guests will assume you were up at dawn.

Assemble tonight, bake tomorrow, hand out squares like you have been up for hours.

Sausage browns in a skillet, cubed bread goes into a greased 9x13 dish, and the sausage and cheddar go on top. Eggs whisked with milk and dry mustard pour over everything, plastic wrap goes on, and the dish goes in the fridge. In the morning the oven does a final 40 to 45 minutes, and the top comes out golden and the center set.

It is a breakfast with a long fuse and a short wick. Almost all of the time on the clock, 305 minutes in total, is the dish sitting in the cold doing its soaking, which means your hands are busy for only a short stretch. That makes it a good fit for holidays, houseguests and any morning where you would like to be reasonably human before the coffee kicks in.

How to make it

1. Crumble the 1 lb breakfast sausage into a large skillet and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes until browned. Drain the excess grease.
2. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and spread the 6 cups cubed bread evenly across the bottom.
3. Scatter the cooked sausage and 2 cups shredded cheddar over the bread layer.
4. In a large bowl whisk the 6 large eggs with 1.5 cups milk, 1 tsp dry mustard, salt, and black pepper for about 2 minutes until smooth.
5. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the bread and sausage in the dish.
6. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
7. When ready to bake preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the plastic wrap and bake uncovered for 40 to 45 minutes until the center is set and the top is golden.
8. Let the casserole rest 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Notes

Cooked leftovers keep three to four days refrigerated, per USDA FSIS. Cut the leftover casserole into squares and store them in a covered container. Reheat in a skillet or in the oven until hot through, since the soft bread tolerates a gentle warm-up better than a blast of microwave heat.

It freezes in wrapped individual squares, and they reheat better from thawed than from frozen. The bread texture changes a little, going from fluffy to a bit denser, but the flavor holds.

Cube the bread evenly so every piece soaks at the same rate. The bread is the sponge here, and the casserole is only as even as the cubes are.

A few small habits make it smoother. Drain the sausage after browning so the casserole does not come out greasy. Whisk the eggs, milk, dry mustard, salt and pepper for the full two minutes so there are no streaks of white. And let the dish rest ten minutes after it comes out, because the squares hold together only once the custard has settled.

The dry mustard is easy to overlook in a breakfast sausage casserole recipe, and easy to love. One teaspoon does not make the casserole taste like mustard. It gives the egg and cheese a quiet sharpness that keeps the dish from tasting flat.

Peel the plastic wrap off before the dish goes in the oven. The method bakes it uncovered, so the cheddar and the top layer of bread can brown.

Swaps that actually work

The point of this breakfast sausage casserole recipe is the overnight rest. Everything else can bend.

Bread that is a day or two old works well, since drier cubes absorb more. Any plain sandwich bread will do, and a sturdier loaf holds its shape better under the custard. The recipe uses six slices, and a soft loaf can be torn instead of cut when you are short on patience.

The sausage can be mild or spicy, pork or turkey. Bacon or diced ham stand in if you prefer, though cook bacon first and drain it. Turkey sausage is leaner, so you may want a little less draining. Whichever you use, it should be cooked through before it goes into the dish, and ground sausage should reach 160°F, per USDA.

Cheddar can share the dish with pepper jack or Swiss. If dry mustard is not in the cupboard, a teaspoon of Dijon whisked into the eggs gets you close, though it adds a little liquid.

The swap that costs you the dish is a smaller dish. Cramming the bread and custard into a pan smaller than a 9x13 means the middle takes much longer to set than the method says, while the edges overcook. Let the agent do the shopping, and the bread, eggs, milk and sausage arrive in one cart, so Saturday-night you can start cooking without a mid-recipe dash.

If it goes wrong

The top is dry and the bottom is wet. The bread did not soak long enough. Chill for the full four hours or overnight next time, and for now, tent the dish with foil and bake a few more minutes until the center sets.

The center jiggles after 45 minutes. The custard is not done. Keep baking and check every five minutes, and wait for the middle to set before you pull it out. Ovens vary, and a cold dish straight from the fridge can take a little longer.

It is greasy. The sausage fat went in with the meat. Drain the skillet before you add the sausage to the dish, and blot the top of the baked casserole with a paper towel if you need to.

It tastes flat. Usually it is salt. Season the egg mixture properly, and set out hot sauce at the table for anyone who wants a little more fire.

What to serve with it

The default is coffee and a plate of fruit. Orange slices and berries cut the richness without trying very hard.

To make it better, add something green and fresh: a handful of arugula with lemon, or sliced scallions on top of each square. Maple syrup on the side is a divisive move and a surprisingly good one, since the sweet and salty parts get along.

It works as lunch the next day. A square warmed in a skillet is better than most desk lunches, and it keeps your afternoon uncomplicated.

Why this one earns its place

You want to be someone who has breakfast handled without being someone who is awake at dawn. This breakfast sausage casserole recipe gets you there: assemble when you have energy, bake when you do not, and serve it to a crowd. It is comfort food with a head start, the breakfast equivalent of a first date you prepared for: the effort happened the night before and the payoff is all yours.

If you want to line up a week around one big dish, weekly meal planning is a good place to start. For a heartier brunch, there is biscuits and gravy. And for something with the same bacon, egg and cheese energy, try the firecracker bacon egg breakfast pizza.

More like this: all American recipes in Crave Corner.