Things have been a little crazy at my house as I’m running around getting everything ready to host Thanksgiving for my family next week. That’s what makes this new breakfast casserole recipe such a lifesaver!
This holiday breakfast casserole is made in a slow cooker, so you can get it started right before bed…and in the morning breakfast will be ready! This is what I plan to make on holiday mornings, so breakfast is effortless and I can spend time with my family.
This casserole is made with layers of yummy veggies (spinach, onions, bell peppers!), pastured eggs, cheese, and organic sausage. It makes the perfect breakfast to feed a crowd of up to 8 people. Serve it with some fresh fruit and perhaps some organic sourdough toast…YUM.
To make this casserole, I used my 360 Cookware 4-Quart Slow Cooker*:
This stainless steel slow cooker* is incredible for making soups, stews, meats, and I use the smaller 2.3 Quart Slow Cooker* to make my steel cut oats every night before bed.
You have to be very careful about the cookware you choose because many brands use coatings that contain toxic chemicals that can leach into your food. This is why you want to avoid all slow cookers with a ceramic insert – which is almost every brand out there.
There have been tests that show that every single ceramic slow cooker on the market may leach lead. (1) Also, if they get scratched, it’s worse. Even if a slow cooker brand says it was tested for lead at the time of manufacture, they can leach lead over time. (1)
We don’t want lead in our food and we don’t want lead in our bodies. As I write about in my new book, Food Babe Family, heavy metals can be especially harmful to children and babies. Exposure to heavy metals during childhood has been linked to ADHD, behavior problems, and learning disabilities. (2)
With 360 Cookware*, I don’t need to worry about any of that. Their products are stainless steel and free of any harmful coatings such as PFAS, PFOS, PFOA and PTFE.
Since I love their products so much, I was able to partner with them for an incredible discount for the Food Babe Army:
Click here: 25% off all 360 Cookware and Bakeware with code FOODBABE*
This discount includes their amazing slow cookers (in 3 different sizes!), stainless steel cookie sheets, pots, and pans… which I all love.
Now is the perfect time to stock up so you’re ready for the holidays!
How to choose the best ingredients to make this Holiday Breakfast Casserole:
1. Sausage
This ingredient is optional, but I use Bilinski’s Chicken Breakfast Sausages to make this casserole. These are made simply with organic meat and spices, and my family loves them. If you can’t find these near you, you can use another organic brand of breakfast sausage.
You want to especially avoid breakfast sausage that is made with conventional meat, which is raised in a factory farm where it’s pumped up with growth-promoting drugs and antibiotics.
When I was kid, I loved Banquet Brown n’ Serve Sausages, but man, those ingredients are atrocious! It’s made with “Mechanically Separated Turkey”, which is a paste-like meat product generally made from extra parts of turkey, which may include bones, nerves, and blood vessels. If that isn’t bad enough, these sausages are preserved with some risky chemicals: BHA and BHT, which are both linked to cancer in some animal studies. Stay far, far away from brands who use ingredients like this!
2. Cheese
I use Laclare brand raw goat cheddar cheese in this casserole, which you can find in natural food grocery stores. This is cheddar cheese, but from goats instead of a cow, which is easier to digest for many people. You can also use grass-fed organic cheddar cheese, just shred it yourself to avoid anti-clumping additives like “cellulose” that is added to pre-shredded bags of cheese.
3. Eggs
The best eggs for this casserole are pastured organic eggs. You don’t want your eggs from chickens who ate antibiotics and GMO corn their whole life. Nor do you want to purchase eggs from chickens that are being raised in crowded hen houses with no light and horrible conditions. There are a few good organic pastured options in stores like Vital Farms, or try your local farmers.
4. Milk
You can use either organic grass-fed milk (such as Organic Valley) or an organic nut milk. If you use nut milk, I like to use the MALK brand, as it is organic and has minimal additives, it is the closest I’ve found to homemade!
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and shredded
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ red onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 8 Bilinski's chicken breakfast sausages, diced (optional)
- 12 eggs
- 1 cup milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups loosely packed baby spinach
- 2 cups shredded goat cheddar cheese
- Toppings: sliced avocado, chopped scallions, fresh chopped parsley, etc
- Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell peppers and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sausage and mix to combine. Take off the heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and spices.
- Grease a 4 quart slow cooker. Place half the shredded sweet potatoes, onion mix, spinach, and cheese in the slow cooker. Repeat the layers once more. Pour the egg mixture on top. Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours.
- Serve with sliced avocado or toppings of choice.
I hope you enjoy this holiday breakfast casserole with your family this year! If you know anyone who would love this recipe, please spread the love and share this with them.
Happy Holidays!
Xo,
Vani
P.S. Don’t forget to enter the code FOODBABE at checkout to get a whopping 25% discount* on 360 Cookware. Their safe cookware and bakeware also makes an amazing gift!
*At Food Babe we only promote products we love to use. If you buy a product we link to, we may earn commission.
Why would anyone want a slow cooker without a timer???
I bought The 360 4 qt slow cooker. I did not realize it didn’t have a timer. I do love cooking with it it’s high quality and I am happy with it but The timer would be an awesome asset. It also doesn’t have a warm setting. Without these two features, it is very pricey for what you get.
Am I incorrect when I say I thought in a previous email about one month ago you stated the wolf is your choice of slow cookers for dinner meals? You did however, say it comes with a big price tag.
You also mentioned the 360 slow cooker for overnight oats. Do you have both?
I’m curious because I splurged and bought the wolf. It’s not as big as it appears in the ads. My lead filled crock pot def holds more. I’m wondering for the size…. If the 360 hold as much as the wolf maybe I should exchange. Appreciate your thoughts!
Hi Cheryl! Vani has both brands of slow cookers. She has the large Wolf brand one (7 quarts), and the Cookware 360 slow cooker comes in 3 different sizes. She uses the smallest one for overnight steel cut oats and a larger one (4 quart) to make this breakfast casserole. I hope that helps!
Love this recipe, especially for the holidays and my family would devour it(have to do half of it vegetarian tho). Wish this recipe came with a baking option – I don’t use slow cookers and I don’t want any more kitchen appliances.
I will try to adapt it to oven baking? – think I may have to sauté quite a few of the ingredients.
Thank you for posting, such a good idea. Hope I can make it work. 😉
I would like to know this also!
Instead of using a slow cooker, you can place in a casserole dish at step 3 – and bake it at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until the eggs are set.
Hey, if I were to try this in the oven, I’d cook everything about 90% through except for the eggs in a skillet together, then put it all in a 13×9 glass pan. I’d mix all the eggs in a bowl and then pour over the other ingredients in the pan. Try cooking at 350 for maybe 30 minutes? Just a guess.