- Hey, guys, today I'm gonna show you how to make the best breakfast casserole. This is one loaded breakfast
casserole filled with eggs, sweet potato, crispy
bacon, breakfast sausage, green bell pepper, onion, garlic, and the perfect amount of seasoning. And while I do add a smidge
of cheese in today's recipe, you can make it completely dairy-free. This breakfast casserole makes for a delicious weekend breakfast. It's ideal for meal prep, and it's perfect for special occasions and holidays like Christmas, which is right around the corner, because you can make it ahead of time and feed the entire family. So let me show you how to make it. To get started, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. There are a few items that
you'll precook in the oven before assembling the casserole. And that includes bacon and sweet potato. I'm sure many of you know by
now that my preferred method for evenly crispy bacon
is to cook it in the oven. All you have to do is lay
eight ounces of bacon flat on a baking sheet. And if you'd like, you
could also place the bacon on top of parchment paper,
but it's not required. And once that's done
just set the bacon aside. Along with the bacon, you'll
place another tray in the oven and that's for roasted sweet potatoes. Other recipes online we'll use store-bought frozen hashbrowns
in their breakfast casserole, but we're keeping things fresh, and swapping the white
potato with sweet potato. Just peel, slice, and dice
one pound of sweet potato into small half-inch cubes. I find it's easiest to
just stack a few slices on top of each other
and then dice them up. And once that's done, place
those cubes on the baking sheet. (cheerful music) Drizzle the sweet potato with
a little bit of olive oil, and then add the seasoning, which includes a quarter
teaspoon of garlic powder, a quarter teaspoon of paprika, a quarter teaspoon of cumin,
and some salt and pepper. Use your hands to toss
all of that together so that the sweet potato cubes are fully-coated in a little
bit of oil and seasoning, and then lay them out
in a single flat layer. You can cook both of
these items in your oven at the same time. The bacon will cook faster. It usually takes about 18 to 20 minutes, and the sweet potato usually
takes about 35 minutes. Now, as every oven cooks differently, do keep an eye on your
bacon so you don't burn it. But I know in my oven, it's
perfect after 20 minutes. While the bacon and
sweet potato are cooking, you can prep the other veggies. Just deseed, slice, and
dice one green bell pepper. You could really use any
color bell pepper here. It's up to you. But I think the bright
green is a nice contrast to the orange sweet potato. And once that's all diced up, just add it to a bowl. Next, you'll slice and dice
half of a medium to large onion. If you have a smaller onion,
you could use the whole thing, especially if you love
onion as much as I do. And for those who gave tips for not crying while slicing onions on a previous video, thank you so much for that. I'm going to try them all, one by one, until I have no more tears. But when you're done dicing up this onion, just place it in a bowl and
then transfer those items over to the stove. At this point, my timer for
the bacon just went off. So I'll remove the bacon from the oven, and then just give the
sweet potato a quick toss to stir it all up. (cheerful music continues) The bacon should be
perfectly golden and crispy. If it's not, you can always
cook it a few minutes longer. And use tongs to remove
the bacon to a paper towel to cool and drain. The hardest part about making this recipe is honestly not sneaking
a few slices of the bacon and shoving them in your mouth. But do try to keep most of the bacon for the breakfast casserole. Continue cooking the sweet
potato for another 15 minutes in the oven. And while that's happening, you can cook one pound of
breakfast sausage on the stove. Feel free to use either sweet
or spicy breakfast sausage. It's up to you. Just add that to a pan on medium-high heat and use a special to break it up. Cook the sausage until it's
browned and no longer pink, and then use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked breakfast sausage
to a 9x13" casserole dish. Once that's done, drain
off any excess grease, leaving about a tablespoon
or two in the pan in order to saute the veggies. So, add the bell pepper and onion, and cook them for about
four to five minutes, or until they're softened and the onion has become translucent. Add two minced garlic cloves,
stir it for another minute, and then transfer these
veggies to your casserole pan with the breakfast sausage, (cheerful music continues) All this multitasking really
makes this recipe a breeze, because right about now the sweet potato should be fully cooked and
ready to come out of the oven. And you can immediately pour
the roasted sweet potato cubes into the casserole pan
with the other ingredients. Now don't think I've
forgotten the bacon either. At this point, it should be cooled, making it nice and crispy
so you can crumble or slice the bacon and add it to the pan. As a pro tip, I'll usually
reserve two pieces of bacon and add to the very top after
I've poured the eggs in, just for presentation purposes. But you don't have to do that. You can add all of the
bacon now if you'd like. And then season with any
additional salt and pepper. All right, it's time for the eggs. You'll need 12 large
eggs and just crack those into a mixing bowl. I love to use this batter bowl, which is essentially just
a very large eight-cup measuring bowl, because
it has a poor spout and makes pouring liquids easy. I actually use it for a lot
of recipes in the kitchen, from pancake batter, to cake batter, and large batches of scrambled eggs. And I will link it below for you. To the eggs, add a third cup of milk. And you can use dairy or dairy-free. Then whisk it all together. The goal here is to stir and mix, but not add a ton of air bubbles. So don't whisk too vigorously. Give all of the ingredients
in the casserole pan a stir to mix the flavors together, and then pour the egg mixture on top (cheerful music continues) At this point, I'll add bits
of those two bacon slices that I reserved, just as
it makes it pretty on top. And, if you'd like, you can
add a little bit of cheese. You could have actually
stirred some cheese in with the sausage and veggies
before pouring the egg mixture, or you can simply add it on top like I do. Cook the breakfast casserole in your 400-degree Fahrenheit oven for about 25 to 30 minutes. When it's done, the sides
should be more golden and slightly pulling
away from the pan edges, and the middle should be fully cooked. You can always test to make
sure the middle is fully cooked with a toothpick, as you
don't want it liquidy at all in the middle. Before serving, you can add a
sprinkle of sliced green onion for a fresh pop of green. And then slice the breakfast
casserole into 12 portions. The great thing about this recipe is that it's perfectly
seasoned with the spices on the roasted sweet potato and sausage. Smells exactly how breakfast should smell, thanks to the bacon, and is
filled with savory goodness from the onion, bell pepper, and garlic. This truly is an all-in-one
breakfast that will keep you full and get your morning
off to a roaring start. It's definitely one of
my favorite recipes, really for any meal of the day. And, as I mentioned at the beginning, it's perfect for meal prep. So even if you're one person, absolutely still make this recipe. Just place any leftover pieces
in a glass storage container with parchment paper in between, and then place it in the freezer. It will keep for months
and you can just reheat individual pieces when
the craving strikes. I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe. And if you did, make sure
to give it a thumbs up, share it with your family and friends, and I will see you
again in the next video. (cheerful music continues)
