Hearty Breakfast Casserole is a complete breakfast with bacon, eggs, potatoes, peppers, chiles, and plenty of flavor – great for special occasions.
This Hearty Breakfast Casserole is a no-fail combination of classic breakfast foods that’s perfect for a special occasion, get-together, or just a special breakfast. Note that it’s also great leftover.
In my family when I was growing up, our idea of hash browns was cubed potatoes about half the size of dice all fried up in bacon fat so they were a little crispy and browned around the edges and soft in the middle. When I moved to Colorado to go to college, I discovered that many people thought hash browns were shredded potatoes fried up with not much seasoning – big disappointment. Well, I put my old style hash browns on the bottom of this casserole and ended up with a very satisfying full breakfast dish. The addition of green chiles makes it extra special.
About the green chiles – I used Sandia green chiles from last season’s harvest. These are a hot chile (but not x-hot), generally too hot for people with moderate tolerance. But I found that baked into a casserole dish like this they tone down some and come across as just a bit hotter than a medium chile. They add that distinctive chile flavor without dominating the dish. If you want a lot of chile flavor without blowing people away, I would use a mild or medium green chile and double it to a half cup.
You can also double this recipe and use a 9×13″ glass baking dish. You may need to bake it an extra 5-10 minutes. Hope you like this one! It’s a new family favorite in our home.
- 6-8 slices bacon
- 6 eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp milk
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp freshly ground pepper
- ¼ cup minced onion
- ½ red bell pepper , diced
- ¼ green bell pepper , diced
- ¼ cup diced green chiles
- 1½ cup diced potatoes
- ½ tsp cumin, or to taste
- ½ tsp dark chili powder, or to taste
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8x8’’ or 9x9" pan with cooking spray.
- Cut bacon into about ½" pieces.
- Combine the eggs, sour cream, milk, half the cheese and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk or mix on low speed with electric mixer, just until combined. Set aside.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until lightly browned, stirring as it cooks so it cooks evenly. Drain most of the grease into a container and add the bacon to the bowl with the egg mixture.
- Add the potatoes, bell pepper and onion to the same skillet the bacon was cooked in, turn heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes to soften, stirring to cook evenly. Sprinkle with cumin and chili powder, add the red and green bell peppers and green chiles, mix well and cook another 3-4 minutes. Spread in an even layer on the bottom of the baking dish.
- Pour mixture into greased 8x8’’ pan, top with remaining shredded cheese and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the edges are set and the center is just barely jiggly.
- Leftover casserole can be stored in the fridge and enjoyed within 3-4 days. Leftovers are delicious reheated in the microwave.
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