Sausage hash brown casserole with cream of chicken soup

When coworkers would bring a breakfast potato casserole, I loved them! There’s something so comforting in biting into a creamy hash brown potato casserole with plenty of cheese and sausage. I don’t buy canned cream soups, so I made my own. My rendition of this casserole is creamy, cheesy and full of flavor, after a few attempts and tweaking various recipes I found on the internet. You can even make this the night before, and bake it the next morning. Comforting and delicious!

For my last post, I shared how to make your own cream of chicken soup— specifically for making recipes that lists “one can cream of chicken soup”.  This version is so quick, and so simple to do. So what did I make with this? I made a sausage potato casserole. I sure did.  It was triggered by a company potluck, where someone made a  casserole similar to this, and I had to see if I could create my own recipe.

I finally did it, after two attempts to get the recipe tweaked to just the way I wanted it.  The first go-round, I didn’t have canned cream of chicken soup, so I tried some other ingredient. It turned out watery, and while it tasted okay, it didn’t rock my world.

On my next attempt, I made my own cream of chicken soup and decided to add sour cream.   I filled a large bowl with with frozen shredded potatoes.  On top of the potatoes, I piled some cooked Italian sausage (with a little red pepper flakes tossed in for some zip).

Next, I sauteed onion, red bell pepper, garlic and a little thyme, and piled that on top.  I also added sour cream.  Let’s keep layering more gooey flavor, shall we? Shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack Cheese…

… then the homemade cream of chicken soup (I won’t judge, if you go with the canned stuff).

I added the filling into a baking dish, sprayed with olive oil, then added some more cheese on top.

I baked the casserole for about 45 minutes, until it was hot, bubbly and the cheese was melted.

Will you look at that?!  Creamy, gooey, delicious hot breakfast, and the aroma was making the two of us very hungry. This is perfect on a lazy, chilly,  Sunday morning.

TASTING NOTES:  I had to quickly write down how I made this, because I know this will be Christmas morning breakfast for my men…and for me!  I love hash browns, anyway.  Combine that with sausage, onions, bell pepper– and the tang of sour cream, and plenty of melted cheese… it’s a hearty and very satisfying breakfast dish.  To make things go fast, for Christmas morning, I’ll cook the sausage and veggies ahead of time, then assemble the casserole in the morning.    This made about 8 servings, and can easily be doubled to feed a larger crowd.  This reheated so well, that we enjoyed it for a few more breakfasts.

Okay, so I have Christmas morning breakfast figured out.  Over the next week, or so, I hope to share some Christmas treat recipes that I’ve made.  My Winter Break vacation starts in one week, so I’ll have more time to do more baking and to share more posts with you.

Potato, Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Casserole, from Scratch

When coworkers would bring a breakfast potato casserole, I love them. There's something so comforting in biting into a creamy hash brown potato casserole with plenty of cheese and sausage. I don't buy canned cream soups, so I made my own. My rendition of this casserole is creamy, cheesy and full of flavor, after a few attempts and tweaking various recipes I found on the internet. You can even make this the night before, and bake it the next morning. Comforting and delicious!

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time45 mins

Total Time1 hr 15 mins

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, main

Cuisine: American

Servings: 6 servings

HOMEMADE CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP:

• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth divided as 2 cups and 1/2 cup (canned or boxed is fine, but homemade works, too)
• 1 1/2 cups milk I used whole milk
• 3/4 cup flour

Seasoning Mix for Cream of Chicken Soup:

• 1 tablespoon seasoning mix or on your own, 1/2 teaspoon. onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt

For the Casserole:

• 4 cups frozen hash browns about half of a large bag NOTE: I let them sit in a large bowl for about 30 minutes and that worked fine.
• 4-5 Italian sausages casings removed (I buy mild and add red pepper flakes to it)
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
• 1/2 cup butter melted (optional, see note)
• 11 ounces of homemade cream of chicken soup can substitute canned commercial soup, if you prefer.
• 1 cup sour cream I used lite, because it’s what I had
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1/2 medium bell pepper chopped (I used red bell pepper)
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme optional
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese I used a combo of sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

For the homemade cream of chicken soup

• (NOTE): leftovers freeze well for future use)

• Combine the chicken broth and ½ cup of the milk in a large saucepan. Bring to a low boil.

• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the flour and seasonings into the remaining 1 cup milk until a smooth, thick mixture forms.

• Pour the flour and milk mixture into the saucepan with the broth mixture over low heat and stir continuously, whisking as the mixture simmers.

• Continue to simmer and stir/whisk until the mixture is smooth and thick, 5 to 10 minutes. The mixture will thicken a bit as it cools.

For the casserole:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F

• In a large bowl add the frozen hash browns while preparing the other ingredients.

• Place a small amount of olive oil in a frying pan (I use my cast iron pan) and turn on medium-high heat.

  Brown the sausages, limiting how much you stir so that it becomes crunchy and brown. Pour on top of the hash browns.

• On medium heat, in the same pan, add a little more olive oil, and saute the onion and bell pepper, until soft (about 3 to 5 minutes)

• Add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook for about 1 minute. Add to the bowl.

• Add salt and pepper.

• Add the sour cream, and half of the grated cheese. Gently stir to combine.

• Add the cream of chicken soup and combine.(I didn't combine the sour cream and cream of chicken soup together, because the soup was still warm. Otherwise, go ahead and whisk that together.)

• Pour into a 9×13-inch casserole dish, sprayed with non-stick spay.

• Cover the casserole with the remaining cheese.

• Bake for about 45 minutes until hot and bubbly.

• NOTE: I forgot to add the melted butter, and I didn't even miss it. The casserole tasted just fine without it.

• VARIATIONS: This casserole has room for customizing it the way you prefer. You can use bacon, instead of sausages, or the meats out altogether. Some people top the casserole with either crumbled corn flakes mixed with melted butter (sounds delish, but I never have that cereal on hand) or with potato chips. Go Mexican, and replace the bell pepper with mild green chilis. Have fun with it.