This overnight tater tot casserole is packed with flavor and super easy to make. Make it the night before a holiday or early morning and wake up to a cooked breakfast that's both hearty and filling.
This casserole is loaded with veggies, meats, cheeses, tater tots, and eggs giving you a full flavor dish with little effort to make.
We love waking up to easy breakfasts around here, especially on holidays because I am NOT a morning person. I'm more of a mid/early afternoon person so Brunch is definitely more my thing. But when it's an overnight meal like this or my Cinnabon Clone Cinnamon Rolls, I can handle the morning prep because it's as easy as preheating the oven.
Why This Recipe Works
- Simple, yet delicious. You're going to love this easy tater tot breakfast casserole because it's such a simple recipe for even those most hectic of mornings.
- Great for holidays. Perfect for any occasion, including holidays. Some of the biggest traffic boosts to this recipe happen around Christmas, which tells me that I'm not the only person who enjoys simple mornings, haha.
- Customizable. This egg bake with tater tots is always a nice idea, and its even nicer when you realize that you can customize it to suit your own tastes. Change up the meats, veggies, cheeses, seasonings, etc.
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🥘 Ingredients
Bacon- Adding cooked bacon to this recipe helps to please the masses.
Pork Sausage- This is a great meat option for adding flavor and protein.
Onion- Cooked onions give us a nice depth of flavor.
Bell Pepper- You can use any colored bell peppers you want, but for a festive touch, you can stick with red and green.
Milk- Use milk (whole fat, nonfat, etc.) to get the mixture to the right consistency.
Cheeses- We use a blend of Monterey Jack Cheese and Cheddar Cheese.
Sour Cream- By mixing in some sour cream, we can make this casserole richer in taste.
Eggs- Use eggs as the main ingredient and binding agent.
Seasonings- You will want a combination of salt, black pepper, and cayenne powder for a simple seasoning combo.
Frozen Tater Tots- This is the base of the recipe, and these tots, once cooked, will feel more like hashbrowns, giving us a filling serving and one full of our breakfast favorites.
Green Onions- For added color and flavor, you can add some green onions to your breakfast casserole.
For the exact amounts needed, please see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make overnight tater tot breakfast casserole with these simple step-by-step instructions:
Grease a 9x13 baking dish and then set it aside.
Brown the sausage, onions, and bell pepper in a skillet on the stove. Make sure to crumble the sausage into smaller pieces as you go.
Set the mixture aside and return your pan to the stove. Cook your bacon and then chop it into small bits, draining grease as needed. Add to meat mixture.
In a mixing bowl whisk together the milk, ½ cup of each cheese, sour cream, and eggs until well combined. Stir in the seasonings.
Add in the cooked meat and veggies once cooled and stir to combine.
At the bottom of your baking dish, arrange the frozen tater tots into an even layer on the bottom.
Pour your egg mixture over the top.
Sprinkle the remaining cheeses on top.
Cover the baking dish and place it into the fridge overnight.
When ready to cook in the morning, let the pan sit on the counter as the oven preheats to 350 degrees F.
Sprinkle the green onions on if desired. Bake covered with foil for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Top with salsa if desired.
🍴 Recipe Tips
Make it today instead of yesterday
If you want to make this overnight breakfast casserole with tater tots on the same day that you bake it, and not wait the 8+ hours you'd be sleeping then you certainly can do that by thawing the tater tots first.
I recommend laying them out flat in the baking dish as you preheat the oven so that they can warm up and thaw before being turned into a casserole. You could also just cook them like normal.
If you do not cook the tater tots beforehand or do not thaw them, then you will need to extend your baking time. This is because as they thaw and bake, they will release liquid which then causes the moisture ratio in the casserole to go up and take longer to cook to a safe temp. Remember you want the eggs cooked to 165 degrees F before eating.
🧾 Substitutions
You can use regular tater tots or even tater tot coins or hashbrown sticks if you have them available near you, as they will all cook up the same once thawed.
👩🏻🍳 Storage
You can store your leftover casserole in the fridge (well-covered) for up to 3 or 4 days. Reheat before serving.
💭 FAQs
Yes, if desired you can simply omit the meat in this casserole for a meatless variation. It will still taste great!
Yes, it can be frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Note that eggs seem to dry out or change texture slightly when they're frozen and reheated so it may not taste as great as when the casserole is served fresh.
You can reheat a single serving of casserole on a microwave safe plate for about 1.5-2 minutes in the microwave. Larger servings may take a little longer. For multiple servings, place the casserole in the oven and allow it to reheat for about 10 minutes at 350F.
More great breakfast recipes to try
- Banana Orange Muffins
- Crustless Veggie Quiche
- Sheet Pan French Toast Breakfast
- Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread
- Cinnamon Roll Waffles
- Cookies and Cream Cinnamon Rolls
📖 Recipe
Overnight Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked bacon, chopped ($0.89)
- 16 oz pork sausage ($3.32)
- 1 cup diced onion ($0.70)
- 1 bell pepper, diced (any color) ($0.83)
- 1 cup milk (or half and half or heavy cream) ($0.19)
- 1 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded ($0.93)
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded ($0.93)
- ½ cup sour cream ($0.23)
- 8 large eggs, beaten ($0.64)
- ½ teaspoon salt ($0.05)
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper ($0.02)
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne ($0.02)
- 6 cups tater tots, frozen (24 ounces) ($1.68)
- ¼ cup green onions, chopped ($0.04)
- salsa for serving *optional
Instructions
- Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Set aside.
- In a skillet on the stove, brown your sausage with onions and bell peppers. Make sure to crumble sausage into smaller pieces as you go.
- Set mixture aside and return pan to stove. Cook bacon and chop into small bits, draining grease as needed.
- In a bowl, whisk together the milk, ½ cup of each cheese, sour cream, and eggs until well combined. Stir in seasonings.
- Add in the cooked meats and veggies once cooled. Stir to combine.
- In the bottom of a baking dish, arrange your frozen tater tots into an even layer.
- Pour the egg and meat mixture over the top of the tater tots.
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.
- Cover the baking dish and place in the fridge overnight.
- When ready to cook, let the pan sit on the counter as the oven preheats to 350 degrees F.
- Sprinkle on green onions if desired. Bake covered in foil for 30 minutes and then remove the foil and continue cooking uncovered for 30 more minutes.
- Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Top with salsa if desired.
Kim B. says
This was incredible! I love that it was so easy to make and didn't take long the next morning either. I used a mix of green and red bell peppers because it's what I had on hand and it totally gave me Christmas vibes. I have to remember this for Christmas morning, it's going to be so much fun waking up to a hot meal without prepping so early in the morning. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I'm so glad I found it!