Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole is an easy, delicious breakfast loaded with peppers, breakfast meats, and eggs! Perfect for serving a crowd!
Hands down, it is the BEST easy breakfast recipe ever. It is a delicious casserole recipe, perfect for easy weekend breakfasts, and it has it all! Featuring frozen tater tots (in place of hash browns), eggs, sausage, bacon, onions & peppers, and cheddar cheese, this all-in-one meal is simple, savory, and satisfying!
An EGGS-cellent Casserole for Everyone!
Breakfast casseroles are the bomb, and our Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole is no exception! It’s perfect for feeding your in-laws on big breakfast Saturdays, your besties for champagne brunch Sundays, or your family for a delicious weeknight supper – I mean, who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner?
It’s also a fantastic make-ahead meal that makes your life easier! With 15 minutes of prep to cook the bacon & onion and assemble the casserole, it will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days. When you’re ready, set the casserole out for an hour, then pop it into a preheated oven until it’s golden and bubbly. Easy!
Other Recipes to Serve with Tater Tot Casserole
- Cinnamon SugarBerry Breakfast Pizzas – sweet cream cheese and fresh berries on an English muffin – yes, please!
- Raspberry Lemon Coffee Cake has bright flavors to add to your breakfast menu!
Ingredients
Protein: This breakfast casserole is loaded with protein. Eggs, thick-cut bacon, and precooked sausage make this meal savory and satisfying!
Potatoes: A large bag of frozen tater tots is the perfect EASY foundation for this recipe!
Veggies: We’re adding yellow onion, red & green bell pepper, and diced scallions for loads of nutritious flavor!
Dairy: Cheddar cheese and whole milk add the creamy, cheesy goodness to pull this dish together beautifully!
Seasoning: A little garlic powder, salt & pepper add just the right touch to make every bite of this breakfast perfectly delicious!
How to Make Tater Tot Casserole
STEP ONE: First, spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large non-stick skillet, cook the chopped bacon for 3 minutes. Then add the diced onion and cook until the bacon starts to crisp and the onions are translucent. (While they’re cooking, chop the bell peppers and green onions and grate the cheese.) Transfer the bacon, onions, and grease in the skillet to a large mixing bowl.
STEP TWO: To the bowl with the bacon, add the chopped peppers, green onions, chopped precooked sausage, and grated cheese. Then, stir in the tater tot and pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Spread things out into an even layer.
STEP THREE: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, garlic powder, pepper, and salt. Pour the egg mixture over the other ingredients in the baking dish.
STEP FOUR: Bake for 40 minutes, remove the dish from the oven, and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.
STEP FIVE: Bake for another 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove the casserole from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the casserole with sliced green onions for garnish, cut it into portions, and serve warm.
Tips for Success
- If you like the flavor of the peppers but not the texture, try grating them instead of dicing!
- Make sure you spray or grease your pan to prevent the eggs and potatoes from sticking.
- For a creamier result, buy block cheese and grate it yourself. (Preshredded cheese contains additives to prevent it from sticking together.)
- This casserole is very customizable! Try ham instead of sausage or bacon. Or leave out the meat for a vegetarian option. Toss in some fresh spinach or chopped broccoli. Swap out the cheddar for mozzarella or pepper jack. It’s easy to make this different every time!
How Long Can You Keep Breakfast Casserole Leftovers?
Whether you have leftovers or you’ve made an extra casserole for later, simply allow the casserole to cool and seal it airtight with a lid, plastic wrap, or aluminum foil. Refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months! When you’re ready for the second casserole, thaw it in the fridge overnight and rewarm it in the oven at 325 degrees F until the cheese is bubbly.
What Goes with Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole?
The beauty of this recipe is that it has everything—eggs, meat, cheese, potatoes, and veggies—for a casual family breakfast. You don’t need anything else! However, if you’re making a “big breakfast” for a crowd, great side dishes would be biscuits or toast, cinnamon rolls or a French toast bake, and fresh fruit or a baked berry compote. You can’t go wrong if you try for a balance. Enjoy!
Other Scrumptious Potato Casserole Recipes
- Cheesy Potato Casserole
- Sausage Hash Brown Casserole
- Crack Chicken Tater Tot Casserole
- Crock Pot Sausage and Potato Casserole
- Cheesy Bacon and Jalapeno Hash Brown Casserole
- Taco Tater Tot Casserole
*This post originally posted on 02/16/2018.
Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- ½ pound thick-cut bacon chopped
- 1 yellow onion peeled and diced
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and diced
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and diced
- 1 bunch green onions thinly sliced (plus more for garnish)
- 2 ½ cups cheddar cheese shredded
- 7 ounces precooked sausage links chopped
- 32 ounces frozen tater tots
- 6 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Place a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the diced onion to the bacon. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes or until the bacon is cooked and the onions are translucent. Use this cooking time to prep your other ingredients.
- Transfer the bacon, onions, and any grease in the skillet to a large mixing bowl. Stir the bell peppers, green onions, 2 cups of cheese, and chopped sausage in with the bacon and onions.
- Add the tater tots to the meats and veggies and mix everything together. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, garlic powder, pepper, and salt. Pour the egg mixture over the top of the tater tot mixture.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the casserole with green onions, and then cut it into portions and serve warm.
I made this recipe for a brunch at church. I swapped out ham for the sausage, and it turned out delicious!
Could you please clarify if you mix the tater tots in with everything else or put them on top like a traditional tater tots casserole. I read in the recipe to mix it all together, but in the picture, it appears the tots are on top. Thank you for your help.
Hey Ang! Everything is mixed together. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
I’m from Canada so just want to make sure that I use the right sausage links. Do you mean small breakfast sausages?
Wow, this was really really good!!! Easily the best breakfast casserole I’ve had in a long time. I had to bake it longer than 50 minutes, otherwise I followed the recipe as written. Thanks for posting.
I made this twice now. I made the recipe the first time according to the direction to a T. The second time I put 1/2 lb bacon, onion, garlic, diced zucchini, diced carrots and everyone was loving it. Thank you so much!
This recipe is awesome. I substituted veggie tots just to have vegetables in it, which I baked first so they would hold up better in the casserole. May not have been necessary with regular tots. My wife immediately demanded I make more soon. We have a winner!
Is it ok with skim? I never have whole. 🙁
Cryssi, that should work just fine!
This was amazing!! I needed a good breakfast casserole dish for this week to make sure my husband had breakfast each day since he’s working every day the last 2 weeks. I didn’t have time to run to the store so I used ground beef since that’s all I had (cannot wait to try with bacon). THIS IS SOOOO GOOD!!!!! It did take me 20 minutes extra baking, but totally worth it!! Yum!!!!
Do you think this can be made without adding the bacon and sausage? I don’t eat meat, but it looks good.
Amber it should work! Let us know if you try it!
Easy to make and I have 5 grown son and they can eat 2 pans easy
I am also a busy mom of two boys and have made lots of breakfast casseroles over the years! This recipe far exceeds any of the others that I’ve tried! I used jalapeño link sausage and cut it into small cubes in place of the breakfast sausage. Besides that, I followed the recipe to a T and it was absolutely delicious! A keeper for sure!
Thanks so much Dianne!
Does it matter if the tater tots are frozen or thawed when you put it in the oven?
Hello Katie! This recipe calls for frozen tots. If yours aren’t frozen just don’t bake it as long.
I loved everything about this recipe. I found I needed to bake it almost a half hour longer than 40 minutes so the middle was cooked. I will definitely be making this again!
This is sooooo delicious. I followed the recipe exactly (except I had uncooked sausage that I started cooking at the same time as the bacon), and the flavors were amazing. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars is because it took about an hour and twenty minutes to bake, when I expected it to be done much sooner. Great recipe!
I’ve now made this twice. Once exactly following the direction, and a second time with some tweaks. The first time, everyone LOVED It, except me… but that’s because I don’t care for bell peppers (I know, I’m the odd one out!)
The second time, I replaced the peppers with mushrooms and tomatoes… and replaced the salt/pepper with Herbes de Provance. The second time, everyone (including me, the picky pepper-hater) loved it again. I think next time I’ll swap some of the cheddar cheese for feta… but overall, this is a great base that can be easily changed up depending on your personal tastes. It’s for sure been added to my recipe box!
Thanks so much, Michael!
Ohh Using tater tot is really an huge advance for breakfast casserole!! I love it so muchhhh ? Thanks for sharing 🙂
– Natalie
Thank you!
Can you freeze this to have on hand ahead of time? Thanks
If you are looking to freeze before the baking process then yes, I would wait on the egg mixture. The only issue with that would be you would have to pull it out of the freezer and let it come to room temp before adding the eggs then baking. If you wanted to cook, then freeze that could work too, but it would just depend on your opinion of frozen eggs being reheated.
Can this be prepped the night before? Add eggs in the morning?
Absolutely.
Best breakfast casserole ever!!! Thanks, I tried to post earlier but it didn’t post so I’ll try again….I made a few modifications…I used crispy crowns instead of tater tots, slightly less than 1/2 tsp of onion powder, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1lb ground pork country sausage, 8 slices of thick bacon, 1/8 tsp of ground mustard, and 2 cups of cheese on top. Everyone loved it and says they would definitely have me make it again and that includes 2 picky children ?
Thanks so much!!
How do I make it less oilly? Once I was done baking it it was just bubbleing with oil.
Hard to say since there are a couple of different ingredients causing a more oily content. I would say while cooking the bacon and onions before adding to the casserole dish just be sure to drain off as much of the fat as possible. (That goes for any breakfast meat you choose to use) The cheese could also cause a bit of an oil issue, so just be conscious of the type you are using as well as the amount. We all love it but adding more than the recipe calls for can create a slight problem.
I microwave the bacon ( from a local producer/smokehouse)
then use the paper towel from the bacon to grease my pan,
Just as one would use the butter wrapper if not using parchment
Used a wee slice of a Scotch Bonnet chopped very finely.
My extra old cheddar works well. Used Padano to top.
Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to have my “tater tot mockers” to revisit their “ orgueil.” In this use it means puffy, snooty, pride.
Nice food
Thank you!