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.
Ingredients:
- 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
Steps and tips:
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.
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
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
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
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- Salt to taste
For the cheesy sauce:
- ¾ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes in 1 ½ cups water
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- ½ 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.
This sounds so good! Do you have a suggestion for a substitute for cashews? My daughter is allergic to those and to pistachios. I miss cooking with them! Thanks
Hi Jamie, you can use pumpkin seeds instead of the cashews for the cheezy sauce! Hope you try.
I made this and it is delicious!! It's definitely going to be an oft-repeated dish in my household. Thanks!! I'd love to upload my video/photo, but don't see how to do it here.
Also meant to give it a 5-star rating.
Hi Sheila, so happy you made it. I'd love to see it! If you have an Instagram account can you share the photo there and tag me @holycowvegan? Otherwise email at myveganworld@gmail.com. Thanks!
Delicious! Wonderful for brunch.
My family and I have made this recipe probably every other weekend for the past couple of years. I don’t know how I haven’t commented before. We absolutely love it. I am gluten free and sub Morningstar vegan chorizo in place of the sliced sausage and it’s still very good! We even make it ahead the night before sometimes and it still turns out as great as if we made it right before baking. Thanks for giving us a Saturday staple for years to come! Yum!
Hello,
Are we supposed to use the water used to soak the cashews in the sauce too? Just want to make sure it won't be too runny. Thanks.
Yes, use the water!
Just as a recipe note for myself...1/2 tsp salt and 2-3 tblsp lemon juice to cheese sauce. Double recipe to bake in 9x13 dish. Thanks for the recipe! Even meat eaters enjoyed!
So happy to hear.
Vaishali, this is AMAZING!!! I use the tofurky Italian sausages, although I usually eat oil free so I may try to make my own from oats one day. This recipe is so good! I have made it about 5 times in 3 weeks. Just amazing! THANK YOU!! This will definitely be a staple in my home from now on.
So happy you enjoyed it!
Hi is this the temperature for a fan forced oven? Looking forward to making it for friends this weekend 🙂
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?