Cracked Out Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole – seriously the BEST! Only 6 ingredients – hash browns, bacon, cheddar, ranch, milk, and egg. You can make this ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze until ready to bake! Great for overnight guests and holiday mornings.
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Pin This RecipeBreakfast Casserole with Cheddar, Bacon & Ranch
This Cracked Out Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole is a favorite at our house. Hash browns, eggs, milk, cheddar, bacon, and ranch. So simple, yet SO delicious! Even though this is called a breakfast casserole, we love this any time of the day – breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. This is also great for overnight guests and holiday mornings. Whip up some biscuits and grits and you are set!
How to Make Cracked Out Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
This casserole is very easy to make. Start with cooking the bacon in a large skillet. Remove the bacon but leave all the drippings in the pan. Place the hash browns in the skillet and cook them until they start to brown. Put the hash browns in a baking dish. Top with bacon and cheddar cheese. Whisk together eggs, milk, and ranch dressing mix. Pour over the hash browns and bake.
You can use precooked bacon in this recipe. One pound of cooked bacon is about 4-ounces or 1 cup. I like to buy the big bags of pre-cooked bacon pieces at Sam’s Club and Costco. It works great in casseroles like this one.
Can Bacon Breakfast Casserole be Frozen?
You can make this casserole in advance and refrigerate or freeze for later. If you are baking this right after taking it out of the refrigerator, you may need to add a few minutes to the cooking time. To bake the casserole after freezing, thaw completely and bake as directed below.
You can even split this casserole between two pans. Bake one now and freeze one for later.
What to Serve with Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
This Cracked Out Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole is one of our all-time favorite casseroles! You just can’t beat this flavor combination. This casserole is great for overnight guests and office potlucks. We love to serve this with some biscuits, grits, and fruit. Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this yummy casserole:
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Cracked Out Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients:
- 2 lb bacon
- 1 (30 to 32-oz) bag frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
- 1 (1-oz) package ranch dressing mix
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 8 large eggs
- 2 cups milk
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray.
- In a large skillet, cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon from pan and chop. Leave most of the bacon drippings in pan.
- Add hash browns to skillet and cook until lightly brown. Place hash browns in the prepared baking dish. Top with chopped bacon and cheese.
- Whisk together eggs, ranch dressing mix, and milk. Pour over hash brown mixture.
- **Cover and refrigerate at this point if baking later.**
- Bake, uncovered, for 60 to 70 minutes.
Notes:
Steph
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Can I use half and half instead of milk?
sure
Can I used ham instead of bacon?
sure
If I am cooking this using half the ingredients, would I still need to cook for the same time frame of 60-70 minutes?
I made this when we had company for the weekend. It was a HIT. My wife’s fitness freak cousin even went back for seconds, which she never does!
Can I use actual ranch dressing to substitute for the powder?
You can make this however you would like. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I usually make a breakfast casserole with cubed bread. This was a nice change of pace with ghe hash browns. However, my family and I agreed, it would have been good to sauté some chopped onion then adding the potatoes. Next time I plan to do that, maybe even a little garlic for more flavor.
Do you have to
Pre cook the hash browns
You can make this however you want. This is how I made it and how it looked.
I would love to try this recipe out!
Can I substitute ground Italian sausage for the bacon, or do half & half?
Also, can I bake this ahead, then refrigerate leftovers? My boyfriend is an over the road semi driver, so I wondered if he could take this with him. He has a refrigerator and a microwave in his sleeper cab.
(3 stars because it sounds so good, will update later!)
It’s a hit! My family and friends totally loved this casserole. I used extra sharp cheddar cheese which was really good!
Love this recipe!! We love bacon at our house so I use that, I usually put on extra bacon because we love it so much also while Im browning the potatoes i add frozen peppers and onions you can buy in the freezer section at the grocery, I have even used 2 packs of ranch mix to give it alittle extra and it was great as well!!
What if I were to use only egg whites? How many more eggs would I need to use?
Thank you for any help.
Think this would go over well in the crockpot?
you can make this in the slow cooker
My mom made it once in the crockpot and it was awesome
If you cut the recipe in half, would the baking time need to be reduced?
maybe a few minutes – you will just have to check it
Love this! I gave it a try when my brother was visiting… big mistake because now he DEMANDS I make it whenever he comes around! Its def a staples in our house now 🙂
Hello, can you use ground sausage instead of bacon? If so, how much?
2 lbs bacon, when you only substitute 2 cups pre-cooked bacon? A typo, maybe?
This looks very good, but I question two lbs of bacon. Please clarify
Thanks
MC
NO typo. One pound of cooked bacon is approximately 1 cup of chopped bacon.
Used Alexia 28 oz. frozen hash browns, and only 1 lb. bacon. The ranch dressing was a nice change in seasoning. Can see substituting chopped ham or cooked sausage crumbles for the bacon. This will definitely go into my permanent file.