Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole

With the Instant Pot, a breakfast casserole is ready even faster. Few things feel better in the morning than the timeless, classic combination of meat, eggs, cheese, and taters. A casserole is perhaps the best iteration of this A-team, as the seasoning of flavor-dense, fat-laced breakfast sausage is given time to permeate the satisfying canvas of eggs and shredded potatoes. A lacing of gooey cheese crowns this brunch or breakfast king … and you as the morning meal champ for having made it.

While it sounds time- and labor-intensive, with an Instant Pot on your counter, it’s anything but. With simple ingredients you can get at any supermarket, easy finishing touches for plating and a fresh pop, and only 20 minutes of prep, the hardest part of this recipe is letting it sit for the prescribed five minutes before digging in. 

Ingredients for Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole

This Instant Pot breakfast casserole is mainly comprised of sausage, eggs, cheese, and potatoes—the anchor ingredients of any cozy, comforting brunch.

• Sausage: Rich, fatty breakfast sausage, laced with sage and black pepper, provide the most assertive flavor notes of the dish—the backbone, if you will. You can use any kind of breakfast sausage, from everyday brands like Jimmy Dean or Smithfield to gourmet blends from butchers like Porter Road. Turkey breakfast sausages will give you all the flavor and texture you need while cutting out some of the fat. Chicken sausage can taste great, too, but tend to be firmer and bouncier. Maple variations will be a real treat, and Italian-seasoned ones will amplify the casserole’s heartiness.
• Eggs: Fluffy eggs, made even more so with milk, flesh out the casserole and provide the bulk of the dish. 
• Milk: Adding milk to scrambled or beaten eggs help to keep them soft and contribute a mellow richness that’s not quite as overwhelming as other dairy, like butter or cream. Full-fat whole milk will give you the best results, but half-and-half or reduced fat milk will edge you in just a tad in either direction, making them acceptable swaps as well.
• Potatoes: Shredded potatoes add heft and bulk to the casserole … and what’s more satisfying than that? Russet is a great choice because they’re starchy with lower water content than, say, red or new potatoes. This means they’ll stay dry and get fluffy as they cook and your shreds will stay more distinct.
• Cheese: Cheddar cheese is prized for its ooey, gooey meltability, and choosing extra-sharp makes it stand out against the strong flavors of the meat. Feta is another good choice for its tang and the semi-solid way it melts. If you want even more kick, feel free to swap in some pepper jack instead. And if you’d prefer your cheese to take a back seat, mozzarella would work well. However, American is not recommended, as it will liquefy rather than melt properly.
• Spices: Breakfast sausage has a distinctive, assertive flavor, so adding spices to the background ingredients can help them rise up to the challenge of meeting its deliciousness. Salt, black pepper, garlic, powder, and paprika give the eggs more dimension and complement the flavors of the meat and cheddar. 
• Hot sauce and herbs: That little bit of acid from the hot sauce and the cilantro and scallions help brighten—and lighten—the dish’s heavy of the eggs, meat, and cheese. Give it a little zip with the hot sauce of your choice. Even just a dash can add just the right amount of heat. 

Do I Need a Casserole Pan for My Instant Pot?

Unfortunately, one thing most Instant Pots don’t come with is a baking pan, so you’ll have to buy one. The brand offers several options.

The good news is that your Instant Pot likely already comes with the necessary trivet you need to cook this casserole. It will elevate your pan so that it doesn’t touching the bottom and scratch your inner pot, and help prevent scalding your breakfast casserole.

How To Make Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole

To make this Instant Pot breakfast casserole, you'll need to follow the full recipe that's further below. Here's a brief outline:

• Step 1. The first step of any breakfast casserole is sautéing the ingredients first. Browning the meat is necessary for the right texture and helps extract some oil so that it won’t leak grease all over the casserole as you pressure-cook it. It’s advised to cook the meat and scallions together first.
• Step 2. While that drains, combine all the seasonings, eggs, and other liquids together. Allowing it to sit as you shred the potatoes lets the eggs come closer to room temperature, which will result in more evenly mixed eggs when you give them a final whisk before pouring them in the baking pan. You don’t want to prep your potatoes too early before cooking anyway, lest they turn gray. 
• Step 3. Even though adding the cheese is the last step and a topping, eggs can be notoriously sticky in and of themselves. To keep your casserole neatly sliceable, a spritz of the pan with cooking spray is necessary. The water beneath the trivet will help to keep the cooking environment moist. 
• Step 4. Cook, and then release the pressure to get your freshly cooked breakfast casserole from the multi-cooker.

How To Serve Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole

And when you are ready to dig in, you’ll want the sides to come together just as quickly as the casserole does.

Consider a crisp green salad. There’s nothing quite like cool, light, leafy greens in a sharp vinaigrette to wake up your palate, and then cleanse it between the rich, hot bites of hearty breakfast casserole.

Some nice whole-wheat toast, crusty sliced bread, or—for a sweet and Southern twist—a square of cornbread make for easy accompaniments and palate-cleansers as well for Instant Pot breakfast casserole served by the slice. In the summer, grilled tomato halves won’t come amiss for even more wake-up flavor.

Can You Make This Casserole Ahead of Time?

Yes, get ahead with this simple make-ahead guide: Brown the meat, whip the eggs, add the potatoes, then cover and store in the refrigerator overnight until you’re ready to pop it into the Instant Pot the next morning.

How To Store Leftover Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole

While eggs are always best enjoyed freshly cooked—being they often dry out and therefore toughen when stored—Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole can keep for up to four days of delayed gratification seconds when stored properly. It’s best to cut the remaining breakfast casserole into slices for individual, on-demand reheating, then placing them in airtight containers in the refrigerator. You can microwave the slices with a wet paper towel to reheat. If freezing, wrap the portions tightly and separately, and consume within three months. 

Tips for the Best Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole

• To prevent sticking, make sure to grease the pan first, even if it’s nonstick (which is preferred), and do not attempt to maneuver the ingredients after you pour it into the pan. 
• For a lovely brunch centerpiece, try the Springform pan, which will allow you to present it and cut it in triangles-like cake slices.
• The casserole should be set when you finish cooking it, but it may be challenging to detach it from the high rims of the baking pan. Allow it to cool slightly, enough to fully set, slide a knife around the edges, then cut it into slices. If the bottom of the pan was properly greased, invert the pan and giving it a slight tap should be enough to loosen the slices. Less risky, though, is to cut a small test slice out to provide leverage for the other more perfectly sliced pieces!

Editorial contributions by Su-Jit Lin.