Cinnamon Raisin Sausage Breakfast Bake is an easy mix of sweet raisin bread, savory sausage, and a crunchy pecan topping. Perfect for holiday mornings!
Making casseroles or breakfast bakes, like this one, is the perfect way to make Breakfast Recipes to serve a crowd. For more sweet breakfast bakes try Easy French Toast Bake and Sheet Pan Pancakes.
CINNAMON RAISIN SAUSAGE BREAKFAST BAKE
Whether it’s Christmas morning or just a weekend, making a big family breakfast is always wonderful. Unfortunately, so many breakfast recipes can be time consuming. If you spend the whole morning flipping pancakes or manning the waffle maker, you might not even have a chance to sit down until after everyone else finishes. Making this Cinnamon Raisin Sausage Bake means that it will all be ready in one dish. Take it out of the oven, and sit down to a relaxing breakfast for a change!
If you’re serving Cinnamon Raisin Sausage Breakfast Bake for a special occasion be sure to make some equally delicious and easy side dishes to go with it. Fresh fruit, Blueberry Crumb Muffins, coffee, and juice will taste amazing with this savory and sweet combo. You can put maple syrup over the top or enjoy it as is.
Of course if you’re taking things easier, Cinnamon Raisin Sausage Breakfast Bake has enough flavors and texture to be plenty on its own. The cinnamon raisin bread is soaked in a deliciously spiced egg custard. The custard is a combination of eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, and half the pecans and sausage. The sweet ingredients blend perfectly with the slightly spiced and savory flavor of the sausage. Then on top of that you have the crunchy pecans along with the soft breading. It’s all the texture and flavor you could want for breakfast baked together in one dish!
PREPARING BREAD FOR CINNAMON RAISIN SAUSAGE BREAKFAST BAKE
When it comes to making a bread pudding or breakfast casserole, it’s best to use slightly older bread. Ideally your cinnamon-raisin bread will be a few days old and slightly stale. Using bread that has dried out a little means it will do a better job absorbing the custard.
If your bread is more fresh, try leaving it at room temperature overnight to dry it out a little. If you forgot to prep it the night before, just toast the bread for about 15 minutes in your oven at 250 degrees.
MAKE-AHEAD CINNAMON RAISIN SAUSAGE BREAKFAST BAKE
This is also an excellent breakfast recipe to make ahead of time. There are two options for this. You can either bake the whole casserole as usual and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months, or you can do the prep work the night before so all you have to do in the morning is put the casserole in the oven.
Frozen Breakfast Bake
- Either prepare the dish exactly according to the recipe, or double up the recipe to make two breakfast bakes. If you make two, you can enjoy one casserole on the day of and save the other in the freezer.
- Once it’s baked, let the it cool to room temperature.
- After it’s cooled, put a lid on if you have one or cover tightly in tin foil.
- Write the date on the tin foil so you know how long it’s been in there, and put it in the freezer.
- When you’re ready to reheat the bake let it defrost in the fridge overnight. Reheat it in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
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Overnight Breakfast Bake
- Brown the sausage, whisk together the custard, and combine it with the bread as usual.
- Put the bread mixture in your prepared baking dish, and put the remaining pecans on top.
- Cover the dish and put it in the fridge overnight.
- In the morning all you’ll have to do is put the dish in the oven.
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VARIATIONS ON CINNAMON RAISIN SAUSAGE BREAKFAST BAKE
- Meat: If you don’t want to use sausage, try out some other meat options. This breakfast bake would also taste great with ham, bacon, or turkey bacon.
- Bread: You can also exchange the cinnamon raisin bread for other breads like sourdough, brioche, wheat bread, Texas toast, or rolls. If you use a bread without raisins in it, just add a cup of raisins to the custard mixture.
- Spicy Sausage Casserole: To add a bit more flavor to your Cinnamon Raisin Sausage Breakfast Bake, try using spicy Italian sausage.
- Streusel Topping: For some extra sweetness combine the chopped pecan topping with some cinnamon sugar streusel. To make the topping mix together 2 tablespoons cold butter, ¼ cup flour, 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, and half the pecans. Coat this mixture over evenly over the bread.
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HOW TO STORE CINNAMON RAISIN SAUSAGE BREAKFAST BAKE
- Serve: Don’t leave your breakfast bake at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: Once it’s cooled, cover the Cinnamon Raisin Sausage Breakfast Bake and store it in the fridge for up to a week.
- Freeze: Stored properly, you can keep this dish in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Ingredients
- 16 ounces ground pork sausage
- 8 large eggs
- 2 cups whole milk , (or evaporated milk)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar , packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup pecans , chopped
- 16 ounces cinnamon-raisin bread , cubed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 8x10 baking dish with vegetable oil spray.
- Cook the sausage in large skillet on high heat, breaking it apart as you cook until well browned.
- Drain sausage from pan and discard fat.
- In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, half the pecans and the sausage.
- Add in the bread and gently stir until custard is soaked in.
- Pour mixture into baking dish and top with remaining pecans.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.
I have made this recipe several times for Christmas breakfast, book clubs and especially for my husband. Everyone loves it and wants the recipe (except my husband). Thank you for making a lot of people happy at breakfast time!
Aw, you’re welcome Lynn and thanks for the five star review!
OMG!!! I made this with Homemade Sweet Rolls (because that’s all I had) and maple sausages (its all i had too! Lol) and it was the best casserole/Bake ever! Thank you for the recipe!
OMG!!! I made this with Homemade Sweet Rolls (because that’s all I had) and maple sausages (its all i had too! Lol) and it was the best casserole/Bake ever! Thank you for the recipe!
My kids went crazy for this! I love all of these flavors together.
Yay! Thanks for the 5 stars, Donna.
I’m usually one for sweet things but my husband loves the savory so this was the perfect combination to satisfy us both. Definitely a keeper!
Glad to know you both loved it! Thanks for the 5 star rating.
Such an amazing recipe. A perfect thing to have for breakfast, easy to make, and tastes fantastic!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Matthew.
This looks so delicious and tasty! I can’t wait to give this a try! My family is going to love this recipe!
Enjoy!