Instant Pot Caprese Breakfast Casserole

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Make an Instant Pot Caprese Breakfast Casserole with Italian sausage, eggs, sundried tomatoes, parmesan, and mozzarella for a delicious savory and cheesy morning meal for a crowd. 

white baking dish of pressure cooked breakfast casserole with basil

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This is an easy crowd-pleasing make-ahead breakfast recipe. The casserole is dense, satisfying, and packed with classic Italian flavor from cheese, sausage and tomatoes. And there’s nothing to watch over on the stove!

We love the flavors of caprese––tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil––so we decided to combine them with eggs for a delicious Italian-inspired breakfast dish. We even bulked it up with ground sausage and bread cubes for a hearty breakfast with fresh flavors. 

pinterest button for caprese breakfast casserole

How to Make Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole

This Instant Pot Caprese Breakfast Casserole recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant PotNinja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL

We first made a breakfast casserole in the Instant Pot for the Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook. And we realized it’s such an easy and versatile way to feed a small brunch. You can easily mix up the flavors like we did here. 

You’ll need a small round cake pan to “bake” the casserole in your pressure cooker. A 7-inch pan fits perfectly inside a 6-quart pressure cooker. 

Start by cooking the sausage in the pressure cooker pot. Then you don’t need to rinse it out at all to cook the casserole, just add the water and cake pan and seal it up. 

Note: You’ll need to use a sling to lower the casserole pan onto the trivet. See here for how to make your own sling with aluminum foil

mixing bowl with the eggs for caprese breakfast casserole

Ingredient Swaps

If you don’t have all of the ingredients for this casserole, you can make some easy swaps:

  • You can use any kind of bread for the recipe! We like brioche because it’s buttery and soaks up flavor well. Our favorite substitute is challah bread or a mixture of croissants and white bread. However, you an use regular sandwich bread, French bread, or dinner rolls as well. 
  • If you can’t find Italian ground sausage, you have options. You can use cased Italian sausage and simply remove it from the casing and break the sausage up with a spoon. Or choose a different style of ground sausage. 
  • For a richer casserole, swap the milk for half and half or cream. 
  • If you don’t like sundried tomatoes, feel free to use diced cherry tomatoes!
  • You can swap shallot for minced sweet onion or scallion. 
  • Feel free to use extra mozzarella cheese instead of the parmesan for a more classic caprese flavor. 
overhead of a glass bowl with all of the ingredients for caprese breakfast casserole

Make-Ahead Breakfast Casserole

Yes, this instant Pot breakfast casserole stores well. In fact, it gets even more flavorful if you let it sit overnight! 

To store, let the casserole cool fully out of the pan, then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap  (or seal in an airtight container). It will keep in the fridge for up to five days. Or freeze it for up to three months. 

When you’re ready to serve, you can reheat the casserole in the Instant Pot for a few minutes on a trivet with 1 cup of water in the cooking pot. If you freeze it, let the casserole defrost overnight in the fridge.

overhead of an instant pot with an uncooked casserole with cheese on top

More Instant Pot Breakfast Ideas

Your pressure cooker is a great way to make large, easy breakfasts for hungry guests. Here are some of our other favorite breakfast and brunch recipes to make in an Instant Pot:

close up on a baked caprese breakfast casserole

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white baking dish of pressure cooked breakfast casserole with basil

Instant Pot Caprese Breakfast Casserole

Yield: 8 Servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Additional Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

This Caprese Breakfast Casserole features sundried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil for a satisfying make-ahead breakfast. 

Ingredients

  • Nonstick cooking spray
  • 2 cups brioche bread cubes
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound ground Italian sausage
  • 8 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup diced sundried tomatoes (I used oil-packed)
  • 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
  • 1 small shallot, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • Fresh basil, to serve
  • Balsamic reduction, optional, for serving

Instructions

  1. Spray a 7-inch (18 cm) round cake pan with a generous amount of nonstick cooking spray. Place the bread cubes in the prepared pan.
  2. Select Sauté to preheat the pressure cooking pot. When hot, add the vegetable oil and sausage. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until brown and crumbled. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a paper towel–lined plate. Drain any excess fat from the pot.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Stir in the sundried tomatoes, parmesan, shallot, basil, and browned sausage. Pour the egg mixture into the prepared pan and stir to combine with the bread cubes. Sprinkle the top with mozzarella.
  4. Put a trivet in the bottom of the pressure cooking pot and add 1 cup water. Center the pan on a sling and carefully lower it onto the trivet. Lock the lid in place.
  5. Select High Pressure and 25 minutes cook time. When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and finish with a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
  6. Lift out the dish. If desired, broil until the cheese is lightly browned. Top with fresh basil and a drizzle of balsamic, if using, and serve warm. 

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 367Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 239mgSodium: 791mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 22g

Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.

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