Instant Pot 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 Pot, Ninja 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. 

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. 

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.

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:

• Cherry Breakfast Risotto is a unique and wonderfully creamy rice porridge with fresh, sweet cherries. 
• Crustless Meat-Lovers Quiche is another breakfast casserole loaded with ham, bacon and sausage. 
• Cranberry Baked French Toast is a sweet casserole with tart cranberries over fluffy layered French toast.
• Instant Pot Breakfast Burritos from 356 Days of Pressure Cooking are a fun DIY breakfast with veggies, eggs and tortillas.