4 Ingredient Swaps To Shake Up A Typical Breakfast Casserole

A typical breakfast casserole likely consists of eggs, cheese, meat and/or veggies, and pieces of bread — all of which are baked in the oven, making for a super easy yet delicious breakfast option that's perfect for serving a crowd. Many recipes resort to white sandwich bread, but others switch it up — our breakfast casserole with sausage, for example, uses potato rolls while our artichoke-spinach strata uses seven-grain bread.

While bread is certainly delicious in just about any dish, it's also not the only option when it comes to rounding out a breakfast casserole. In fact, there are quite a few swaps you may want to try out if you're in the mood for a more unique and interesting dish — one that is sure to impress any guests at a brunch you're hosting. These substitutions feature some of the most beloved breakfast ingredients out there, including potatoes, pastries, and sweet breakfast dishes.

Who doesn't love potatoes? Not only are they delicious in just about any form — from fries to hash browns and so on — but they can also be enjoyed at any mealtime, including breakfast. All of this is to say that they are the perfect ingredient to use instead of bread for your next breakfast casserole.

If you happen to have a bag of frozen tater tots in your freezer, take them to the next level with a cheesy breakfast bake. Paired with eggs, cheese, and any meat or veggies you like, tater tots are a great base for a casserole — they're filling, crunchy, and delicious.

While using a bag of frozen tater tots is a super easy way to add potatoes to a breakfast casserole, it's not the only way. If you're willing to put in a bit more effort, you could also use sliced potatoes (like you would for another baked dish, potatoes au gratin) or grated potatoes as we do in our recipe for a smoked salmon and potato breakfast casserole.

For many, having a bagel in the morning is more exciting than a piece of toast — so why not consider this when making a breakfast casserole? Sure, you could use regular sandwich bread, but you could also take the casserole to the next level by reaching for a bag of bagels instead.

This is the basis for our recipe bagel and chorizo breakfast casserole, which integrates bagels that have been toasted and cubed. The flavor possibilities here are endless — just like with any breakfast casserole, you can customize any meat and veggie add-ins, but, with this iteration, you also get to decide between the many bagel types out there.

You could, of course, stick to plain bagels or opt for a more complex flavor. Use jalapeño cheddar bagels for a kick of heat and cheesiness or everything bagels for extra savoriness. You could even turn this breakfast casserole into a savory-sweet combination if you use a sweeter bagel type, like blueberry or cinnamon raisin.

Another way to integrate sweetness into your breakfast casserole? Use French toast or pancakes in place of the bread. Many French toast casseroles combine French toast ingredients in a dish and bake it from there, which is certainly a great idea — these casseroles make for a sweet breakfast that tastes quite similar to a regular stack of French toast. But you can also use premade pieces of French toast in place of the pieces of bread you would combine in a casserole — this results in more of a sweet-savory combination because the eggs remain more prominent. You can also replace pieces of French toast with pieces of premade pancakes for a similar outcome. You can even use frozen pancakes or frozen French toast — or even French toast sticks since you'll be tearing it up into smaller pieces — to save you some time and energy.

However, using French toast or pancakes does limit your add-in options. While eggs and sausage or bacon will still work — just as you may have those on the side of your stack of pancakes — you likely won't want to add veggies. After all, veggies and pancakes don't exactly mix, nor do they go well with French toast. But if you're not someone who wants veggies in the morning — and would rather integrate some sweetness into their morning — the French toast or pancake option is perfect for you.

Croissants are arguably one of the best pastries out there — they're buttery, flaky, and simply delicious. With all that in mind, you might as well add torn-up pieces of croissants to your next breakfast casserole in place of regular bread — they'll take the dish to the next level. When made with croissants, the casserole will be a bit more buttery and subtly sweet, with each bite tasting just a bit more decadent.

If you're feeling very ambitious, you can make the croissants from scratch — ideally, the day before you make the breakfast casserole — but if you don't want to go to that length, there are plenty of other simpler options. You can buy some from your local bakery or grab a box at the grocery store. 

However you acquire them, all you have to do is tear them into smaller pieces, and then add them to your breakfast casserole as usual. And if you want to highlight the croissants a bit more, you can also make the pieces a bit bigger than you would with regular bread. Combine with eggs and your choice of meat and veggies for the ultimate breakfast casserole.