This Sweet Potato Egg Bake is fluffy, delicious and a perfect make ahead healthy breakfast casserole. It’s loaded with vegetables, sharp cheese and flavorful seasonings!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This sweet potato egg bake has layers upon layers of creamy sweet potatoes, fluffy eggs, tender spinach and gooey cheese. It reminds me a lot of my cottage cheese sweet potato quiche.
It’s gluten-free and every healthy enthusiast’s dream because we all know how hard it is to eat complex carbs, lean protein and not a lot of sugar in the morning. This sweet potato egg casserole contains 1.5 pounds of sweet potatoes and 4-5 cups of baby spinach.
You can make it ahead of time for a week of healthy breakfasts and enjoy year round, hot or cold. Its ingredients are also very budget-friendly!
Reader’s Review
I have now made this recipe 3 times and we love it! We use kale grown from our garden and it is the best! I love that it’s filled with so many good things, including cheeses, and that we can enjoy reheating a slice here and there over the next few days. Thank you!
Susan
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Egg Bake
- Sweet potatoes: Yams and sweet potatoes are 2 different things but you can use either. You will need 1.5 pounds or 3 large sweet potatoes. I like to buy organic and not to peel them because skin contains good-for-you vitamins and nutrients and will not be noticeable once shredded. Just wash well and grate. However, you can peel sweet potato, if you wish.
- Eggs: 12 large eggs.
- Cheese: Grate some hard sharp cheese like cheddar, gruyere or swiss. I have also used marble or Tex Mex cheese with great results. I often use Kerrygold Dubliner as it adds unbelievable punch of flavor to bland veggies. I know it’s not everyone’s favorite, like blue cheese, but I love it so had to share!
- Spinach: I like to buy pre-washed baby spinach.
- Milk: Any dairy or non-dairy milk works. I like to use almond milk in this dish because it’s tasteless and saves a few calories.
- Seasonings: Taco seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Green onions or cilantro, and jalapenos: For a lot of flavor with almost zero calories.
How to Make Sweet Potato Egg Casserole
- Prep: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, line 9 x 13-inch casserole dish with parchment paper and grease with cooking spray. Grate sweet potatoes, cheese and chop other veggies.
- Whisk: In a large bowl, first add eggs, taco seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Then whisk in milk, cheese, green onions and jalapenos.
- Mix: Stir in the sweet potatoes and spinach. Mixture will be very thick!
- Pour: Transfer the sweet potato egg mixture into a baking dish lined with parchment paper and flatten it down.
- Bake: Bake sweet potato breakfast casserole for 1 hour. At the end, sprinkle more cheese on top and continue to bake until cheese has melted.
- Cool: Let the casserole cool for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve warm.
Variations
- Got butternut squash: You can use entirely butternut squash and turn it into a butternut squash breakfast bake, ha! Just peel and grate it. Easy-peasy!
- Adding meat: Adding turkey sausage or baked bacon is totally optional. If you do, saute sausage in a skillet before adding to the final mixture with sweet potatoes and spinach.
- Other veggies: Kale with stalks removed and chopped will work instead of spinach. You can also add bell peppers and mushrooms, sauteing them prior in a large skillet with a bit of oil or cooking spray.
- Up the protein content: If you would like to make casserole higher in protein, use 6 large eggs and 2 cups egg whites.
- Make it dairy-free: Omit the cheese completely, casserole will still hold together. And use almond milk.
How to Make Ahead
This healthy sweet potato egg bake is extremely durable in terms of time. You don’t have to worry about any ingredients to become soggy and can make it ahead of freeze.
Assemble the dish the night before, then wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate overnight. Just bake in the morning and serve, perfect for all those holidays and brunches.
How to Store and Reheat
Freeze: If you would like to freeze the casserole, cook it first, cool completely, cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil on top, and freeze it.
You can also slice it in individual servings and freeze separately. You can choose how many servings you want to defrost at a time – convenient.
Freeze either way for up to 3 months. Then thaw it completely in the fridge and reheat in a microwave.
Store: Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator (covered) for up to 5 days.
FAQs
You can use regular potatoes. Peel, shred and give them a good squeeze as they contain more moisture than sweet potatoes. You can use store-bought hash browns as well. I would reduce salt to 1/2 teaspoon and keep in mind the bake will be not as healthy.
I haven’t tested this recipe in the slow cooker but you can loosely follow this slow cooker recipe directions. Please let me know how it comes out.
More Breakfast Casseroles to Try
Healthy Breakfast Casserole (Egg Bake)
Cottage Cheese Egg Bake
Low Carb Breakfast Casserole with Sausage
Baked Egg Tortilla
Sweet Potato Egg Bake
Ingredients
- 1.5 pound sweet potatoes or yams, shredded
- 12 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning, low sodium
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup any milk, I used unsweetened almond milk
- 1 cup any sharp cheese like gruyere or cheddar, shredded & divided
- 1/2 cup green onion or cilantro, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons jalapenos, seeded & minced
- 4 cups baby spinach or kale, packed
- Cooking spray, I use Misto
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, line 9×13 baking dish with unbleached parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add eggs, taco seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper; whisk for 30 seconds. Add milk, 2/3 cup cheese, green onions, and jalapenos; whisk to combine.
- Add sweet potatoes and spinach, and stir well to mix. Mixture will be thick, and it might look like it needs more eggs but it doesn’t. Transfer to prepared baking dish, flatten with spatula and bake for 1 hour.
- Sprinkle with remaining 1/3 cup cheese and bake for a few more minutes until cheese is melted.
- Remove from the oven, cool for 10 minutes and cut into 12 squares using long serrated knife. Serve warm (great for holidays) or cold (awesome for meal prep).
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days
- Freeze: Freeze up to 3 months.
- Make ahead: Assemble, cover and refrigerate for up to 48 hours. Bake as per instructions.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you use frozen waffle sweet potatoes?
I am sorry but what is that? 🙂 Frozen fries or homemade sweet potato waffles? Please explain. 🙂
I think she might have meant the waffle-cut sweet potato fries that are in the freezer section of the grocery store.
Thanks! And I don’t think those would work.
How many grated potatoes cups you think 1.5 lb would be?
1.5 lbs of sweet potatoes is ~3 LARGE sweet potatoes. Hope that helps.
It does, thank you
This was good! I didn’t have time to wait the hour for it to bake—very hungry people waiting—so I made half the recipe and microwaved it in a glass 10×10 pan for 15 min, then browned it up in a 400 degree oven for 5 min. Happy people. I didn’t have a jalapeño, so put in a sprinkle of cayenne. I also can’t use taco seasoning due to the sulfates and potential gluten contamination, so I used 1/2 teas cumin. Next time, I’ll use a serrano or jalepano pepper, I can see how it needs the extra acidity and kick.
So happy this recipe was enjoyed!
Morning Dawn,
I also don’t buy store taco seasoning. I make my own. Google it.
You can also check out my taco seasoning recipe!
https://ifoodreal.com/taco-seasoning-recipe/
This was delicious fresh from the oven. However if you want to freeze it and bake it later it didnt taste as good. I heated the oven to 375F for 20-25 min and mine came out soggy. Maybe from the spinach?
I didn’t make this recipe, but my daughter made it for me when I was spending a lot of time with my mother on hospice. It was a healthy and delicious meal when I didn’t have time to cook! A definite win if you want to gift someone with an easy meal!
Would this be able to be made in the slow cooker? How long would it need to cook?
Hi Jessica, I haven’t tested this recipe in the slow cooker.
Omg! Felt inspired by this recipe when the grocery store was out of regular potatoes and only had sweet ones! Also forgot to buy spinach so I used about 2 1/2 cups of broccoli instead. Added some chiltepins from my garden and voila! Tasted delicious.
Good morning! This looks amazing! I want to make it for my MOPs group tomorrow. I was wondering if you have ever tried it woth kale instead of spinach? I wonder if kale would need to be sauteed a little before baking because it’s not as tender as spinach. Thank you for your help!
Hi Jeannie. I Would get rid of a middle rib and cut into thin strips and no need to sauté. Absolutely kale works.
Can you bake this without the cheese?
Yes.
I wish I’d read the comments before making this recipe. I didn’t have enough spinach so I used the small amount (not nearly enough) I had. I also didn’t have green onions but I had Cilantro. The mixture wasn’t as thick as due to the lack of spinach yet had I read the comments I could have used broccoli, being I had plenty of it. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Iris
Don’t be shy to leave a comment when you make the recipe again!
This looks delish and healthy! Many thanks! I’m going to give it a try.
You are very welcome. Great time of year to make this one.