Breakfast foods tend towards being high in carbohydrates and low in protein. That’s okay for a couple of people in my family, but several of us really need a high protein breakfast, especially if it’s going to be a long day of school or work.
Muffins are great for a quick breakfast, and I often put nuts in them to boost protein, but I prefer to eat eggs with a muffin. Some mornings I want a simple one dish meal that includes both protein and carbs. Most egg dishes, however, include cheese. Since I’m not eating real cheese now, I felt the task was even more difficult.
In the end, I decided to make something very similar to this breakfast casserole, but simply omit the cheese. I made the recipe larger to fit a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and since I was leaving out the cheese, I added more seasoning for flavor. I think this would be fantastic with some onions, peppers, and maybe mushrooms, but since I was preparing it the night before I was just too tired.
You could also vary the meat in this dish. Any breakfast meat would do, just be sure it is pre cooked. I used sausage links, but browned sausage, ham, or bacon would work also.
Breakfast Casserole (Dairy Free)
Ingredients
- 4 thick gluten-free bread heels, cubed (or enough bread to cover the bottom of the dish)
- 12 cooked gluten free sausage links (or other breakfast meat to cover the bread, be sure it's gf)
- 10 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups milk or milk substitute (I used Almond Breeze original almond milk)
- 1 teaspoons herbes de Provence (or other blend of herbs that you like with eggs)
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Place the gluten-free bread cubes in the bottom of the dish.
- Put the sausage or other meat on top.
- In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, herbs, salt & pepper. Beat well with a fork, whisk or immersion blender.
- Pour over top the bread and meat.
- Cover and refrigerate until morning.
- Bake at 350° F for about 30 minutes or until the egg is set.
Love this, Linda! Bet it doesn’t sit in one’s tummy like those cheesy dishes tend to do either. 😉 Glad I have you making these delectable dairy-free recipes for me! 🙂
Hugs,
Shirley
This looks fantastic, Linda! What a great breakfast. Yum!
Looks great! I might try this next week when my husbands family comes to visit! Thanks!!
I have only ever made a breakfast casserole using ham. This looks like a yummy one using sausage. The boys in my family will like this one!
Angie.
Your recipe looks fantastic! Never thought about putting herbes de provence in a breakfast casserole! This is one of my favorite easy DF meals!
Wow this is a lovely idea for breakfast…looks very inviting
ooo this looks delicious!
I just made this for breakfast — it’s delicious! I thought I might miss the cheese, but it’s a pleasant change not to have that stickiness in it. In honor of Mardi Gras, I used Cajun seasoning instead of herbes de Provence 🙂
One thing I miss is breakfast dishes, but you just changed that! Going to buy all the ingredients today, so I can get it in the oven today. 🙂
Oh, what is herbes de provence? I am always learning something new in the kitchen.
Herbes de Provence is a blend of herbs which can vary slightly. Many contain lavender, but I used a blend I made myself which contains thyme, basil, oregano, and rosemary. You could just add in a little of each of those.
Ok this recipe finally motivated me to find another supplier for duck eggs! My daughter and I can’t do chicken eggs, and I really miss the easy protein at breakfasts… can’t wait to try this!
Linda,
my daughter cannot have milk protien, and I am so glad to see your recepies are dairy free as well! We discovered that she can tolerate sheep or goat milk products. This opened up a world of possibilities. We still rely on unsweetened almond milk for cooking and baking. We found that many dairy substitiutes contain milk protien. Thank you for all your ideas! You are my #1 go to website.
I’m glad I can be a resource for you. You will find that some of my older recipes are not dairy free since I only went dairy free a little over a year ago. Most of the recipes have been easy to adapt. Like you, I use almond milk as a substitute in many recipe. Thanks for your comment.
Hi,
I need to eat gluten free, but since I’m also ADD, I don’t like to cook! This is very frustrating. Plus, I’m only cooking for 1 and am on a tight budget. I’m also worried about eating nitrites/nitrates, too. Maybe I could substitute chopped ham for sausage? Hmmm maybe BOTH of them have nitrites. ???
Help!
Diane, I think any processed meats can have nitrates, but not all do. You have to read the labels.
You can get bacon and other meats without nitrates/nitrites. Harris Teeter sells bacon without and even walmart sells sandwich meat (ham) without these. I believe it’s called “Naturals”. Of course you can also get these at Whole Foods but more pricey.
I am unable to eat nitrates/nitrites without becoming sick. I have found that natural choice meats do not have the added nitrates/nitrites. There are also brands of sausages that I buy at Costco that don’t have them either. it really is about reading the labels. Good Luck!
Diane, look for breakfast or sandwich meats labeled “uncured.” These rarely have nitrites other than those that occur naturally, which most people have no adverse reactions from.. They can be spendy, so I use them more for special occasions. Otherwise I stick to single-ingredient foods, like apples, celery, pork chops, etc.
Have you ever made this with egg replacer? My nephew’s are allergic to eggs too.
Katie, I have not used egg replacer in this recipe. I don’t think it would work very well for this though. It might work in baked oatmeal.
Omg I made this casserole but used a 14 oz tube of sausage and crumbled it in a skillte.’once browned and cooked i added diced bell peppers and red onions and simmered on low occaisionally tossing. I used adoboe to season the eggs and then combined over the extra loaf of gluten free white bread I’d baked ( and was wondering what to do with until I found this recipe) Yumm Yumm. My whole house smelled wonderful to the point of distraction and it tasted like heaven. Thx so much for this recipe.
I’m glad you liked it. Your version sounds great!
Thanks ! Made this for my sis who must eat dairy and gluten free. Everyone are it !
I am looking forward to trying this but wondering if you could cut it into squares and freeze it – then just pull out as you want, heat it up for a quick breakfast
I haven’t tried freezing it, but I bet it would work. That’s a great idea.
This was my question. Traveling with allergies is HARD. Thinking if I can make this tonight and freeze so at the hotel we can just pull it out and microwave to reheat. Reheated eggs sound nasty…but I guess a casserole is different. Maybe will try just half the recipe. I’ll report back!
Thanks for reposting this Linda. This recipe is timeless & terrific for over the holidays. Now my tummy is rumbling!!! Thanks again!
This looks like it would lend itself well to using leftover cooked ham. Since my local grocery stores tend not to be too “up” on the gluten-free idea, I will have to substitute our leftover Christmas ham (I’m so glad you posted this, I was looking for a use for that!) and plan this for New Year’s Day morning! What a wonderful recipe…thanks for sharing!! ??
It may also be good with potatoes o’brien for the bottom layer. It would just require a light salting on the potatoes
Thank you for GF and dairy free recipes. I am new to this way of eating.
Hi! Would love to make this for a family get together this weekend, but have a nut (almond) and dairy allergy (goat and sheep milk is off limits to us temporarily, as my daughter was just recently diagnosed with a milk allergy and we were told to remove all dairy for a month before testing other milks.) in the family. What other “milk” could I use as a replacement? Thanks in advance!
You can use rice milk. I too have that allergy. Works well for me.
This is not dairy free. Milk is dairy.
She said she used Almond Milk. Re-read it again. People use coconut milk, cashew, almond and sometimes cashew/coconut or almond/coconut. There is more than one alternative.
Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but do you cook and slice the sausage before adding it to the casserole? I’m going to make this for a gang coming to hunt for Easter Eggs in our back yard tomorrow morning. Glad I can make this tonight and heat in the morning! Jennie
Yes, the sausage should be cooked first.
How is this dairy free if it has MILK in it?
It is dairy free when the milk substitute is used. I just included milk to let people know that they don’t have to make it dairy free.
I made this with turkey sausage and instead of spices I used organic cinnamon and vanilla with almond milk. It came out so good. My daughter loved it. Gave it a french toast twist.
Can I make this with regular white bread? Or should I substitute Hash brown potatoes?
Most of us are not allergic to gluten.
You can use regular bread.
Great recipe! I used oat milk, which didn’t have an overpowering flavor. I used stuff I had on hand (like Italian sausage), and I didn’t let it rest, because I didn’t read the instructions properly before so began! I ended up cooking right away and it still came out great! Will be making again!