Sausage & Butternut Squash Breakfast Casserole
Are you looking for an AMAZING breakfast casserole to serve over the holidays? You’ve come to the right place. I’ve created the most delicious, hearty and easy breakfast casserole recipe you are going to LOVE. If your family is anything like mine, they will gobble it up faster than you can say “Christmas”!
All good recipes start with quality ingredients, in my opinion. The star of this Sausage & Butternut Breakfast Casserole is Mann’s Culinary Cuts Butternut Squash Zig Zags. Culinary Cuts are relatively new to Canada although they have been in the USA already for a number of years. I found their products at my local Metro grocery store.
I love their versatility. Seriously. I had so many ideas for how to use them in a recipe. I could serve them straight up like French fries and maybe add a little maple syrup for an extra sweetness boost. I thought about adding them to a dessert recipe. How does a Butternut Squash & Maple Cheesecake sound to you? Then, there was chili, soup, bruschetta and the list goes on and on. I settled on making a Butternut Squash & Sausage Breakfast Casserole since I knew people would be looking for delicious recipes to serve to their family on Christmas morning.
Another bonus of this recipe is that you can prepare it the night before and pop it in the fridge until the next morning. When you wake up, all you have to do is put it in the oven. The prep work is fairly minimal and as an added bonus, you won’t have to chop up any butternut squash since Mann’s does all the work for you with their Butternut Squash Zig Zags.
The first step is to brown the sausage. I used mild Italian sausage, but any kind will work. If you like spicy, go for hot Italian sausage.
I sautéed the Butternut Squash Zig Zags in the leftover grease from the sausage and a little bit of butter. It cooks for about 5 minutes and then I added 1/2 cup of water to soften them even more. Don’t worry, the water evaporates in the pan.
Once the Butternut Squash Zig Zags are at your desired tenderness, add in the spinach and let it wilt in the pan. It looks like a TON of spinach overpowering the pan at first, but after it wilts, you’ll see it’s the perfect amount. I was tempted to eat it at this point and glad I held back. Side note – this would make an excellent side dish with chicken or beef for dinner!
Eggs will bind all the ingredients together and you’re going to need a full dozen. Whisk the eggs with some half and half cream.
Add in freshly chopped tomatoes and sliced green onions. I seasoned the mixture with garlic powder and dried oregano.
Now it’s time to add in your cooked ingredients. The sausage goes in first.
And then it’s time to add in your pan of Butternut Squash Zig Zags and spinach.
Finish off with some shredded cheddar cheese. This would be the point that you would cover the dish and place it in the fridge till the next day if you were doing the overnight casserole thing. I couldn’t wait and made mine immediately.
Bake the casserole for 40 to 50 minutes, depending on your oven. You’ll want the topping to be golden and the eggs to be set.
Let it cool for about 15 minutes before serving so it doesn’t burn your mouth and firms up a bit.
Cut the casserole into large pieces and serve. You could call it a loaded breakfast casserole because it’s packed full of so many yummy ingredients. You have the creamy eggs, melted cheese, spicy sausage and perfectly sweet Butternut Squash Zig Zags. SO, so good!
It was just the four of us eating this casserole so we had some leftovers. It tastes good even the next day heated up in the microwave. This recipe is one that I’ll be making again and again. I can’t wait to serve it over the holidays to my extended family.
I hope you’ll give it a try over the holidays. I’d love to hear how it turned out and what you thought of the Culinary Cuts Butternut Squash Zig Zags!
You might also like this Sausage Egg McMuffin, Scrambled Egg Casserole, Bacon and Egg Biscuit Casserole or Overnight Bacon Breakfast Casserole.
Disclosure: I was compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.
Sausage & Butternut Squash Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 package Mann’s Culinary Cuts Butternut Squash Zig Zags 284g/10oz package
- 6 mild Italian sausages casings removed
- 1 tsp unsalted butter
- ½ cup water
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 12 large eggs
- 1 cup half and half cream
- 2 tomatoes diced
- 2 green onions sliced
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a 9-inch square casserole dish and set aside.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook sausage, stirring frequently to crumble, about 6 to 7 minutes. Once sausage is fully cooked, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to absorb some of the grease. Leave remaining grease in the pan.
- In the same skillet, heat 1 tsp butter over medium high heat. Add in Mann’s Culinary Cuts Butternut Squash Zig Zags and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in water and continue to cook until tender. Add in spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and cream. Stir in tomatoes, green onions, oregano, garlic powder, salt and 1 cup cheddar cheese. Add in sausage and butternut squash mixture and stir to combine.
- Pour mixture into casserole dish. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until eggs are set and cooked through.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Can I use frozen butternut squash or fresh? I do not get that zig zag product and can’t seem to order them.
Either one will work. Just cut into cubes instead of zigzags.
Thank you for the idea. I am going to try to somehow substitute squash from our garden since we have it in abundance.
Wow,another way to enjoy Butternut squash thanks so much !
The Sausage & Butternut Squash Breakfast Casserole recipe looks astounding. I cannot wait to taste your special recipe. I thank you so much for the directions on making this.
I love this recipe my granny use to fix this for me before she passed, I love to try this, great recipe and easy instructions
Wow! Breakfast casserole is my favorite & with butternut squash, even better! Can’t wait to try this recipe 🙂
I would absolutely devour this delicious dish. I’m wild about butternut squash and think this combo is totally amazing. So glad you shared.
What a great breakfast casserole, I love your Butternut in the recipe. Hope you have a fantastic weekend and thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday!
Miz Helen
This looks so amazing!I love butternut squash and can’t wait to try it.Thank you for the post.
Sounds delish – wholesome ingredients – my family will enjoy it.
This looks great! I wonder if I can substitute the sausage for some other protein?
Yes, you can! Maybe bacon or ham?
I would love to be able to find the precut squash in our local store! that looks so convenient!
This looks like the quintessential winter treat and I honestly cannot wait to recreate it at home for the weekend- going to shop for the ingredients and follow your recipe- thanks so much for the inspiration!
This looks amazing! I’m so sick with a headcold right now but I’d love to dive into that for breakfast this morning