This Cheesy Vegan Breakfast Potato Casserole studded with crunchy golden spuds and chewy vegan sausage, all in a creamy, cheesy cashew sauce, delivers plenty of flavor and nutrition to get your weekend off to a great start. You can make this healthy and delicious — and easy — recipe ahead of time and pop it into the oven 30 minutes before serving.
A savory breakfast like this Cheesy Vegan Breakfast Potato Casserole gets me out of bed and raring to go even on a Saturday morning. Which gives you an idea of just how delicious it is, because I’m the gal that hits the snooze button five times before I can open an eyelid.
What makes this a healthy vegan breakfast casserole is the delicious ingredient list, made mostly of staple pantry ingredients.
Here is the list of ingredients you need to make this easy cheesy vegan breakfast casserole:
- Onions
- Garlic
- Parsley
- Olive or another vegetable oil
- Potatoes
- Italian sausage, vegan of course
- Cashews
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Nutritional yeast
- Sage
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
How do you make this healthy cheesy vegan breakfast casserole:
It’s a breeze, really. I like making weekend breakfasts that are really nutritious, because mornings can sometimes get a little crazy, which means lunch can be rather late. A healthy, solid breakfast like this will sustain you for hours, and take away any need for snacking.
You add in lots of healthy stuff that pack in a maximum of nutrients. Potatoes, onions, and vegan sausage add healthy carbs and protein.
Make sure you pick an Italian vegan sausage for the best flavor. I use Field Roast or Tofurky, and both work really well here. Make sure you slice them thinly or crumble them up — a food processor works fine for this.
You could go with Gimme Lean, although I do not find it as flavorful for this recipe. If it’s all you can find, though, use it by all means.
There’s so much deliciousness in this dish even if you’re not a savory breakfast person, even if you’re not a potato person, and even if you can resist golden, crunchy food (What? Honestly? You exist?). You will still find something to love here.
Perhaps it will be the delicious chunks of sausage flavored lightly with herbs and garlic. Or the creamy, cheesy cashew sauce with turmeric, so good that you’ll probably start eating it out of the blender.
My favorite part about this breakfast is the ease of making it. Prep work is minimal, chop an onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, and crumble or slice some vegan sausage. Oh, and you do have to press the button on a blender.
I love getting the potato-sausage mixture and the cheesy sauce ready ahead of time– usually the night before– so I can just bung the casserole into the oven in the morning. The delicious smell wafts across the house, waking any last remaining sleepyheads and bringing them, magnet-like, into the kitchen.
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More Savory Vegan Breakfast Recipes:
Savory Herb French Toast
Vegan Zucchini Breakfast Strata
Scrambled Chickpea “Eggs”
Vegan Sausage Breakfast Lasagna
Breakfast Instant Pot Pie with Vegan Sausage and Beans
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More vegan casserole recipes to try:
One-Pot Vegan Tater Tot Casserole
Vegan Mushroom Rice Casserole
Vegan Zucchini Breakfast Strata
Savory Vegan Squash and Rice Pudding
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If you make this Cheesy Vegan Breakfast Casserole, be sure to come back and tell me about it. Or take a photo, post it on Instagram and tag it @holycowvegan. I wanna hear!
Cheesy Vegan Breakfast Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp olive oil or any vegetable oil
- 3 medium red or yellow potatoes, cut in a 1-cm dice
- 4 links vegan Italian sausage (approx 14 oz), crumbled or sliced thinly
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- Salt to taste
For the cheesy sauce:
- 3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes in 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp dry sage
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make the cheesy sauce by combining all ingredients and blending into a really smooth paste. Set aside.
- Place the diced potatoes in a microwave-safe dish and add 1 tbsp water. Cover and nuke on high for five minutes or until potatoes are tender.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large skillet, heat the oil. You can do this in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or any skillet that can go from the stove to the oven, to reduce cleanup.
- Add the onions, garlic and parsley to the oil. Season with salt and ground black pepper and saute, stirring, for five minutes over medium heat or until the onions are soft.
- Add the sausage and potatoes and continue to cook, about five minutes. Check seasoning and add more pepper and salt if needed.
- If you are using a cast iron or a stove-to-oven skillet, arrange the potato mixture in an even layer and pour the cheesy sauce over it evenly. If using a baking dish, like I did, transfer the potato sausage mixture to the baking dish and pour the cheesy sauce on top.
- Transfer the skillet or baking dish to the oven and bake 30 minutes or until the top starts to lightly brown. Switch to the broil function on your oven and broil for another five minutes on the highest setting, or until gold-brown spots appear on the potatoes and cheesy sauce.
- Remove from the oven, garnish with more parsley if you wish, and serve hot or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Can this be done in a slow cooker
Love this casserole. It’s a new go-to in our house. Even my Omni mom who purses her lips at most meat substitutes and tofu, LOVED this. I made it for Christmas morning and will make it again for Mother’s Day brunch. So easy to mix it up with different vegetables too! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Excited to hear!
How can I add tofu to this recipe?
I think pressing the tofu and then making an Italian seasining marinade would work. Maybe a firm tofu?
I was thinking the same thing! I’d love add a tofu scramble vibe. Did you try it?
You’re recipe looks delicious. I am looking forward to perusing your recipe collection!
I would like to request a cooking alternative for those of us who either do not have access to, or have made the choice not to expose ourselves to microwaves.
Thanks.
Hi DJ, just place the potatoes with water in a saucepan and boil them until tender, as you’d do for mashed potatoes. Don’t let them get so soft that they get waterlogged, though, so check frequently.
10/10. Easy, healthy and tastes great. Also a versatile base recipe to make slight changes to depending on what you feel like or have to hand. I’m planning to make this as part of a Christmas brunch we’re hosting next week. I think I’ll try adding some mushrooms and bell pepper and swapping out the sausage links for crumbled vegan breakfast patties.
Made this for group brunch and everyone – vegan and non-vegan – loved it! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
Do you drain the cashews or use the soaking water?
Use the water!