Ham and Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole - Heart's Content Farmhouse

Prep Time:10

Cook Time:1 10

Total Time:1 20

Ingredients

1 30 ounce bag of frozen shredded hash browns
½ cup 1 stick butter, melted plus additional butter for greasing the pan
1 ¼ teaspoon salt divided
1 teaspoon pepper divided
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
½ cup mozzarella cheese
2 cups diced leftover ham or from a ham steak
9 eggs
1 can evaporated milk, 12 ounce size 1 ½ cups
½ teaspoon onion powder
⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
⅛ teaspoon paprika

Garnish

chopped green onions or chives

Instructions

Prep. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9x13 pan with butter or butter spray.
Season and pre-bake hashbrowns. Place frozen hash browns in the prepared pan. Pour melted butter over the top of the potatoes and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Stir ingredients together and then lay flat. Bake hashbrowns for 25 minutes and remove from the oven.
Add ham and cheese. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread all shredded cheese and ham over cooked hashbrowns. Stir slightly to mix in.
Make egg mixture and pour on top. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, evaporated milk, ¾ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. Pour egg mixture over hashbrowns.
Bake. Carefully place the casserole in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until eggs are set. Check at 30 minutes and cover with aluminum foil to prevent too much browning.
Cook and serve. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes. If desired, garnish the casserole with chopped green onions or chives and cut into the desired amount of serving pieces. Serve warm.

Notes

This is a wonderful use for leftover ham, but when I haven’t had leftover ham, I have purchased a ham steak from the store.

Here's a great twist on the recipe: Try using a variety of breakfast meats like ham, bacon, and sausage for a tasty change! Trust me, it's amazing.

I personally always recommend shredding cheese by hand for the best flavor and texture. Hand-shredded cheese melts better as well. (Rotary cheese shredders are the best and I always use them). However, I’ve used bagged cheese in this recipe and it worked fine when in a hurry.

I’ve used recipes where you thaw the hashbrowns in advance or don’t precook them. This method, though, gives the potato layer so much more flavor that it is not bland and helps prevent the potatoes’ texture from being too mushy, for lack of a better word.

The casserole can brown a little on the edges, and to prevent excessive browning, I do recommend checking earlier, around 30 minutes, and covering with foil.

Occasionally the middle of the casserole doesn’t seem quite done at 45 minutes. 50 minutes should be plenty, but you may need to cook slightly longer to ensure the casserole is cooked sufficiently.

You could very easily add chopped onion and/or peppers to the casserole if desired, which I generally do with sausage, but opted not to with the ham and used onion powder and an optional chive or green onion garnish instead.

Nutrition

Servings:

Calories: 335kcal

Author: Katie