Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Muffins are the perfect breakfast entree for a company or holiday breakfast. These include sausage, cheese and eggs in a hash brown potatoes nest. They're seasoned wonderfully and also reheat well for leftovers. Can also be frozen and reheated. This is a great high protein breakfast idea for special occasions like Easter, Mother's Day and Father's Day.
Spray 24 muffin tins very generously with olive oil cooking spray.
Combine one egg with hash browns, olive oil, 1 cup cheese and half each of the salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl.
Divide mixture evenly between 24 muffin tins and press down.
Sprinkle each muffin with parsley, rosemary and thyme.
Bake at 400° about 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are crispy.
Meanwhile, place sausage in a large skillet and cook over medium heat until no pink remains.
Mash the sausage down with a hamburger chopper while cooking to break the sausage into very small pieces.
When sausage is cooked through, remove sausage to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
Meanwhile, whisk remaining 8 eggs in a large mixing bowl.
Add remaining 1 cup cheese, remaining ½ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. pepper, cooked sausage, red and orange bell peppers and half-and-half or milk.
Stir to combine.
Pour egg-sausage mixture evenly over each potato muffin crust.
Sprinkle with additional salt, pepper, parsley, thyme and rosemary, if desired.
Bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until eggs are cooked through.
Allow muffins to cool in muffin tins about 5 minutes before removing.
Serve hot or lukewarm.
Notes
NOTE: These muffins can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave with excellent results. The muffins can also be frozen, thawed and reheated to serve.NOTE: I used extra-large eggs for this recipe.NOTE: In order to remove these muffins from the pans, you can’t just use the spatula or knife around the outside of the muffin tins. After using the narrow spatula around the outside of the tin, follow these directions: Push the narrow spatula all the way to the flat bottom of the muffin tin and gently lift upward an inch or so. Then move the spatula a little to the right and repeat the process until you complete the circumference of the muffin. You should be able to lift the muffins out without all the hash browns being left on the bottom of muffin tin.