Green Chili Egg Casserole is an easy overnight breakfast casserole that is perfect for Christmas or Easter morning or any brunch occasion all year long!
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Some of our other favorites for holidays or weekends are Crepes Recipe (How to Make Crepes and Crepe Filling Ideas), Copycat Waffle Love Liège Waffles, or Biscuits and Gravy Casserole!
If you’re looking for the Christmas egg casserole recipe, THIS IS IT. It’s so easy that you can throw it together in just minutes or even make it the night before and leave it in the fridge so all you have to do is pop it in the oven on Christmas morning.
Not that a fantastic overnight breakfast casserole needs to be reserved for Christmas morning though.
A few years ago I went to a Back-to-School Brunch, which is where all the mom's get together on the first day of school after drop-off to celebrate and/or cry. Even though I love my kids and we have amazing vacations together, I'm solidly in the celebrate category. My girls are too and I'm glad for it because I never understood kids who didn't look forward to the start of a new school year and learning! Because yes, I was (and still proudly am) a huge nerd with a strong bent toward being a workaholic.
I don't know about you, but at brunches I gravitate towards the savory breakfast dishes. I just love to sample all the delicious breakfast casserole recipes that people bring! You know, the kind that are loaded with ham, sausage, or bacon, and often have hash browns or bread as a base.
I love them all, but when I tried this green chili breakfast casserole that my friend Cheryl had brought, it was my immediate favorite. Afterwards I asked Cheryl to send me the recipe, which comes from a Taste of Home recipe for green chili egg puff. I've since modified it a bit (decreasing the butter and cheese a bit, adding some eggs, doubling the green chilies, etc.).
One reason I love this easy breakfast casserole is that it doesn't have bread or potatoes in it.
Not that I have anything against that, but since this is really just a baked eggs recipe that is packed with extra protein (thanks cottage cheese!) and not bulked up with bread or potatoes, it means I can also enjoy my sister-in-law Deborah's knotted orange sweet rolls or a cinnamon roll or monkey bread with it without feeling like I'm eating carbs on carbs. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
This recipe is incredibly easy, which means more time relaxing with family and less time in the kitchen missing out on the fun!
Occasions to Make Overnight Breakfast Casseroles
Make ahead breakfast casseroles are a staple for any holiday or special occasion for lots of reasons:
- Breakfast casseroles are quick to throw together, can be made in advance, and easily feed a crowd.
- They are savory and delicious, which is a nice change of pace from all the sweets.
- Overnight egg casseroles are packed with protein so they are filling.
I think this green chili egg casserole is perfect for Christmas and Easter, as well as Mother's Day (seriously dads, you got this one - it's crazy easy), brunches, or even on nights when you don't know what to make and want to do breakfast for dinner (who's with me loving breakfast for dinner?!).
Is this an overnight breakfast casserole?
Yes! You can take one of two approaches if you want to make this green chili egg casserole in advance. You can mix up the ingredients and pour them into the pan the night before, then cover it and leave it in the fridge to pop in the oven in the morning.
Or you could actually go ahead and bake this make ahead breakfast casserole and then just reheat until warm. It actually heats up great!
How to Make Green Chili Egg Casserole
- Beat the eggs. I find it easiest to just do this in my stand mixer, but you could really do this whole thing by hand using a whisk.
- Mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add in the cottage cheese, shredded cheese, butter, and diced green chilies, stirring just until combined.
- Pour into a buttered 9x13-inch baking dish, then bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes until browned around the edges and set in the center.
- Wait just a few minutes for it to cool and set up a bit, then slice and serve warm!
Tips for this Easy Breakfast Casserole
- If you are hung up on the addition of cottage cheese in this green chili egg casserole, it really bakes into the casserole and the texture (which seems to be the issue for some people) is hardly noticeable (and a non-issue if you already like cottage cheese).
- The eggs get a little rise and structure from a combination of just ½ cup of flour and a little baking powder. The flour to egg ratio is really small and doesn't even come close to making this more like a German pancake.
- I love Tillamook's shredded farmstyle cut cheese. It is so good and melted better than any other pre-grated cheese that I have tried.
- You can totally change things up to make any flavor combo you feel like or use whatever cheese or other mix-ins you have on hand. Sub in mozzarella cheese, add some bacon or cooked and crumbled sausage or veggies.
- I set aside a little of the cheese and green onions to sprinkle over the top of my casserole, just to make it look a little bit nicer for these photos, but honestly, usually I just mix it all in.
- You can slice the cooked green chili egg casserole and freeze it individually for quick morning breakfasts. It's not as great as when it is freshly made, but it's still pretty good.
- This is really like a crustless quiche and the diced green chilies are really mild, so there is no need to worry about your family thinking this is too spicy. Unless you get the hot diced green chilies on accident!
More Egg Recipes for Breakfast
- Peppery Scrambled Macaroni & Eggs (sounds weird, tastes amazing, trust me - it's legitimately our favorite breakfast)
- Cheesy Overnight Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole from the Food Charlatan
- Easy, Ultimate Breakfast Frittata
- Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole from Simply Whisked
- Caprese Quiche from The Life Jolie
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
More Favorites from House of Nash Eats
Green Chili Egg Casserole
Ingredients
- 12 large eggs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour, scooped and leveled (70g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 pint cottage cheese (about 2 cups)
- 3 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend (or any combination of cheddar, monterey jack, and pepper jack)
- 6 Tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 8 ounces mild diced green chilies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat eggs until light.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
- Add cottage cheese, Mexican cheese blend, butter, and green chilies. Mix until combined. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake immediately or cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Bake, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes or until edges on top are browned and center is set and appears firm. Cool 5 minutes before cutting and serving.
I love this recipe. I have guests coming for Christmas and need a gluten free option so replacing the flour would be necessary. Any thoughts?
I'm sure that a gluten-free 1-to-1 replacement like Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 would work just fine in this recipe.
Excellent! Made 1/2 of the recipe and baked it in a 8” pie dish. Cooked perfectly and couldn’t have been any easier to do.
This has been my favorite casserole for 50 years! But, times have changed and so have our needs and tastes. So, now I half this recipe, leave out the butter, skimp on the flour, add pepper, green onion and chopped fresh spinach and put it in my egg bite mold in my instant pot. Place silicone mold on a trivet with 1 cup of water and set on manual for 5 minutes. When done, allow natural release. Makes 14 good sized bites, if you fill them to the top. Still my go-to recipe, just modernized for retired life.
This sounds very intriguing and I can't wait to try it this weekend! Has anyone tried it with gluten free flour?
Yes- it works just fine with gf flour
I make this gluten free regularly for our churches womens brunch. It also double easily. You can’t even tell it’s gluten free.
Wanting to serve this Wednesday morning for breakfast. Could I make it Monday evening, put in frig as no time to do this on Tuesday? Have made this many times before, putting in frig overnite and it's so wonderful everyone loves it, me too.
Yes, you should be just fine to make it Monday and bake it Wednesday. I'm so glad it's a favorite!
Took this to my woman’s Bible study. They devoured it. Got so many compliments…. I did, however, need to bake it about a total of 50 minutes. They want me to bring it next week for our final potluck. I just may. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi! Yes it is such a good one! Whenever I bring this to social gatherings it gets devoured. I will sometimes even double the green chilis or add sausage to change it up. It's always a hit!
What a find this recipe is!!!!! I baked it and served it as an appetizer at my granddaughter's 3rd birthday party. It was a huge hit! The only substitution was the chiles - I roasted poblano, anaheim and jalapeno chiles, chopped them and added them to the mixture. I live in SoCal so we have an abundance of fresh chiles. For future parties, I roasted 3 each of the chile varieties and froze them. Thanks for this delish recipe!!!
My family loved it!
Hello- This recipe looks delicious and can't wait to try it! I have a question though. I was thinking of putting the egg mix into cupcake muffin tins to bake so they would already be portioned into individual servings as I plan to make it for a church gathering. Would this cause the baking time to be shorter or should it take the same amount of time for the mixture to cook and set?
Hi! I love this recipe! The baking time will reduce a little bit but I would still cook it for 25-30 minutes. Just check it to make sure the egg cups are cooked all the way through and don't "jiggle". I would also spray pam in the muffin tins or grease with a little bit of butter to make sure they easily come out of the pan. Let me know how it goes!
I wouldn't advise adding the baking powder and flour in dry. It gets clumpy and is nearly impossible to dissolve. I added it to a bit of milk (water could also work). My MIL makes this and it is my husband's favorite 🙂
Can this be made gluten free? Think 1 to 1 gf flour would work?
Yes, I'm sure 1 to 1 gf flour will work just fine with this recipe. The flour just gives a little texture for the eggs to hold on to as they bake.
Can this recipe be baked and then frozen? Then just thaw and warm up?
Yes I think that should be fine. I have never tried freezing it but just let it cool to room temperature and cover it before placing in the freezer. Thaw in refrigerator overnight and bake at 350ºF (177ºC) for about 20 minutes or until heated through. My only concern is sometimes baked eggs can break down and lose a little bit of texture but the flour in the casserole should help hold it all together. It just may not be as "fluffy" as a fresh casserole but it should still taste just fine.
Delicious!! Easy to make too!
This was exactly what I was looking for. Delicious. I wouldn't change anything. I had fresh roasted green chiles so I used those instead of canned, medium spice. I guessed at the amount since there wasn't any liquid like the canned, and I guessed well.
5 star for sure!