Potato, Sausage & Cheese Breakfast Casserole

By Foodiewife

When coworkers 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!

NOTE: I used half of a bag of large frozen hash browns, to serve about 6 people.

Ingredients

• HOMEMADE CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP:
• 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 to 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, if you prefer.)
• 1 cup sour cream (I used lite, because it's what I had)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped (I used red bell pepper)
• 1 garlic clove, 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
• 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
• 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)

Preparation

Step 1

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 & 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 9x13-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.