This croissant breakfast casserole is rich, buttery, and cheesy. Delicious layers of toasted croissants, Italian sausage, green onions, and the complex nutty flavor of Gruyère. This wonderful breakfast casserole is wonderful to serve for any holiday or brunch with friends.
Hey, if you love a great breakfast casserole as much as I do, I hope you’ll try our tater tot breakfast casserole, easy breakfast casserole, crockpot breakfast casserole, or my easy-peasy Bisquick breakfast casserole next!
Do I Have To Toast The Croissants
Yes! Croissants by nature are tender and delicate. Toasting them helps them maintain their structure in the casserole. It also adds delicious notes of caramelization to the dish.
Make-Ahead Croissant Breakfast Casserole Ingredients
- Butter: You can use salted or unsalted butter.
- Croissants: It’s best to weigh these on a food scale to keep the custard-to-croissant ratio correct.
- Vegetable Oil: Any neutral flavored oil will work.
- Green Onions: Add a lovely, mild onion flavor.
- Sausage: Remove the casing before cooking and crumbling.
- Sage: Fresh sage is wonderful in this casserole. This is a recipe I always splurge on buying fresh rather than using dried.
- Eggs: I use large eggs.
- Milk: Use whole not a lower fat version.
- Cream: Again, don’t use a lower-fat substitution. This is never going to be a low-calorie recipe!
- Gruyère: This is a Swiss type of cheese with a slightly nutty flavor.
- Salt + Pepper
Storing + Freezing + Make-ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? This overnight breakfast casserole with croissants will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Be sure to cover it well.
- Can This Be Frozen? Yes. There will be some textural compromise but it freezes in the covered baking dish or your freezer-safe container of choice! It will maintain its quality for 2-3 months.
- Make-Ahead: Since this croissant breakfast egg casserole needs to sit for 4 hours up to overnight, it’s already make-ahead ready.
- Food Safety: If you’d like more info on food safety check out these links for casseroles with eggs, and general freezing and refrigerating.
Variations
- Meat: I make this with Italian sausage but it’s fabulous with breakfast sausage, country sausage, or bacon instead.
- Green Onions: Use yellow onion or shallots instead.
- Herbs: The recipe calls for sage, but thyme or rosemary can work well, too.
- Cheese: You can use cheddar, mozzarella, or pepper jack.
Serving Recommendations
I like to serve this croissant sausage breakfast casserole with a strawberry spinach salad, or Mediterranean salad, hashbrown casserole, and any of my coffee cakes such as my blueberry coffee cake, my sour cream coffee cake, or my Bisquick coffee cake.
If you prefer scones, my must-make maple pecan scones are perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas and my strawberry scones are fabulous for Easter. My Bo berry biscuits, lemon poppy seed muffins, or blueberry muffins are also lovely for an Easter or spring brunch!
How To Make Savory Croissant Breakfast Casserole
- Cut the croissants in half and arrange on the baking sheet.
- Bake the croissants until golden brown.
- Tear the croissants into bite-size pieces.
- Cook the sausage until well browned. Add scallions.
- Add fresh sage, remove from heat and cool.
- Combine toasted croissant and cooled sausage mixture.
- Mix.
- Whisk together eggs, milk, cream, cheese, salt and pepper.
- Pour the croissant-sausage mixture into the baking dish. Spread evenly.
- Pour the egg-milk mixture over the croissant sausage mixture. Press the croissants gently. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Top casserole with cheese and bake until golden brown.
- Garnish and serve.
***See the full instructions below.
More Yummy Breakfast Recipes
- Sausage Balls With Cream Cheese
- Bisquick Sausage Balls
- Bacon Wrapped Smokies
- Apple Coffee Cake
- Bisquick Blueberry Muffins
- Bisquick Sausage Muffins
- Gingerbread Muffins
- Cinnamon Roll Casserole
- Spinach Mushroom Quiche
- Breakfast Egg Muffins
Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Croissant Breakfast Casserole
This make-ahead croissant breakfast casserole is rich, buttery, and cheesy. Layered with toasted croissants, Italian sausage, green onions, and Gruyère.
Servings: 12 servings
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 pound croissants, about 5 to 7, split in half lengthwise
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 bunch scallions, 6 to 7, white and light green parts thinly sliced, greens reserved
- 3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
- 2 teaspoons, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish fresh sage, divided, finely chopped
- 8 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 8 ounces, (2 cups) Gruyère, grated
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Grease a 9X13 inch baking dish with butter (1-2 tablespoons); set aside. Preheat oven to 350ºF (177ºC).
- Arrange croissants (1 pound) on a large baking sheet, cut side up, then bake, for about 2-4 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, tear into large bite-size pieces.
- In a skillet, set over medium-high heat, heat the oil (1 tablespoon). Add the sausage (3/4 pound) and cook and crumble, until the mixture is well browned, about 6-8 minutes,
- Add the scallions (1 bunch). Continue to cook until scallions soften.
- Add the fresh sage (2 teaspoons), and remove from heat. Cool for 7-10 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss together the torn and toasted croissant and cooled sausage mixture.
- In another mixing bowl, whisk together eggs (8 large), milk, heavy cream (1 cup), 1½ cups cheese, salt (1 1/4 teaspoons) and pepper (1 teaspoon).
- Pour the croissant/sausage mixture into the prepared baking dish, spreading it out evenly over the bottom of the baking dish.
- Pour the egg/milk mixture over the croissant/sausage mixture pressing the croissants down gently to help absorb the liquid. Cover with plastic cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC).
- Top casserole with remaining cheese (1/2 cup). Bake casserole until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 45 minutes. Remove the casserole from the oven and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.
- Garnish the top of the casserole with green onions and extra chopped sage (1 tablespoon) and serve.
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I made this and used Champagne Cheese – I have been asked, begged, pleaded with to make it again. I also used vegetarian sausage and salt substitute.
I also made it with bacon and mushrooms (washed and dried real good) for my sister’s family.
Thank you for such a good recipe.
Hey Pam. Your comment made my day! Im so happy you like this recipe. I love the tweaks you made. Thanks so much for sharing how you made it and the 5 star rating.
I have looked at several recipes for a similar casserole and this is my favorite based on the ingredients. I prefer sausage over bacon. One question- your recipe says to soak 4 hours or overnight. My other top recipe recommends pouring the egg custard mixture just before baking. I’m stumped. Will it be too soggy if I soak overnight?
Overnight won’t make this casserole soggy — it actually makes it better! Since the croissants are toasted first, they absorb the custard without turning mushy, and the long chill helps the whole pan bake up evenly (no dry pockets). The “pour right before baking” method just gives a different texture with more distinct bread pieces.
If you soak overnight, just bake until the center is fully set (no jiggle). If the top browns early, tent with foil. You’ll get a rich, creamy, set casserole — not soggy. 😊
Hi Kathleen! I’m thinking of making this for a crowd so will probably need to do about four casseroles total. Do you have a suggest for another type of cheese? Also, would it still be ok if the casserole is refrigerated for almost 24 hours vs just overnight?
Hey Jennifer, I’ve only made this overnight. I cant imagine it would pose an issue. As far as other cheeses go, I’d try Gouda or smoked Gouda or cheddar. Let me know how it goes!
I used a mixture of Swiss and Gruyere and it turned out great! Thank you!
Sounds delicious, Jennifer. Thanks so much for leaving a comment with how it worked for you, and the 5 star rating, too!
Can this recipe be frozen?
Can This Be Frozen? Yes. There will be some textural compromise but it freezes in the covered baking dish or your freezer-safe container of choice! It will maintain its quality for 2-3 months. My favorite make-ahead breakfast casserole is goat cheese and prosciutto breakfast casserole. It’s made with ciabatta bread so it holds up very well.
Why is everything so difficult? I just wanted a recipe. I am not filling this and that form or prompt out simply to get a recipe! Bye!!
Gosh Joanne. I’m truly sorry you thought navigating the site was difficult. You don’t need to fill anything out. The recipes are completely free, no strings attached. There’s even a button at the top of every post that you can press to go directly to the recipe without reading the accompanying article. if you’d like, I can send this recipe directly to you.
You are lovely, Kathleen. 🥰 Thank you for sharing your recipe. I can’t wait to try it!!
Thank you so much Joni! I hope you love it!!
Am I to use croissants that are already baked or am I using Pillbury croissants in a can?
Hi, E. Kindly use the already baked croissants 🙂
your recipe does call for you to make croissants, so want to verify that you can use alread backed croissants.
Thank you
Anna
Hi Anna. No I do not make my own croissants. I buy them, already baked. I got this last batch from Costco. They work great!!!