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This casserole is made with butternut squash, onion, red bell pepper, sausage, eggs and topped with cheese. It’s flavorful, packed with protein and very filling.
It’s great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can pair it with fresh fruit, a side salad, veggies such as broccoli or asparagus, home fries or a diner roll. This casserole is a great addition to a breakfast or brunch buffet. This year I will be serving it for breakfast on Christmas morning.
I usually peel, seed and chop the butternut squash but you can make your life easier by picking up a container of chopped butternut squash from your local grocery store. While I used Italian chicken sausage in this edition of the recipe, I have used chicken breakfast sausages in the past so by all means substitute in your favorite brand of sausage.
I don’t recommend assembling the casserole the night before and baking it the next day since the butternut squash, onions and red bell pepper are oven roasted before adding them to the casserole. That being said, this casserole reheats like a dream so it can easily be made ahead of time and refrigerated making it great for meal prepping.
Please see the recipe card below for exact amounts and directions.
Ingredient Round Up
- Butternut squash
- Onion
- Bell pepper – I used a red one.
- Sausage – I used Trader Joe’s Italian chicken sausage. In the past I have used chicken breakfast links.
- Eggs and egg whites
- Fat free half and half or dairy of your choice
- Fat free mozzarella
- Velveeta shreds
- Salt and pepper
- Garlic powder
- Olive oil spray
Sodium Alert: The sodium in this recipe is high (654 mg) due to the chicken sausage and cheeses that I used. You can reduce the amount of sodium in this recipe by using Thin n” Trim Italian chicken sausage and a lower sodium cheese variety. Check the ‘Low Sodium/No Salt’ product list under ‘Resources’ in the top menu bar.
Making the Casserole
- Peel, seed and chop a butternut squash or buy already processed. Place on a baking tray, spray with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Place in the oven and partially roast.
- While the butternut squash is partially roasting, slice an onion, quarter the slices and separate the rings. Seed a red bell pepper, cut into strips and cut the strips into thirds.
- Place the red pepper and onion into a bowl, spray with olive oil and toss.
- Remove the partially roasted butternut squash from the oven. Spread the onion and red pepper pieces over the butternut squash. Season again with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Return to the oven and finish and roast the veggies until they are fork tender. Remove from the oven and let them sit.
- While the veggies are finishing to roast, slice the sausages and prepare the egg mixture.
- Place the whole eggs and egg whites into a bowl. Add the fat free half and half. Season with salt and pepper. Beat with a fork or whisk until they are well blended.
- Spray a casserole dish with Pam. Use a paper towel and spread the Pam around the casserole effectively “greasing” it.
- Transfer the roasted butternut squash, onions and peppers to the casserole and evenly spread it out over the bottom.
- Place the sausage slices on top of the veggies.
- Pour the egg mixture over the veggies and sausage.
- Toss the fat free mozzarella and Velveeta shreds together on a plate. Evenly sprinkle the cheese mixture over the top of the casserole.
- Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and place in the oven to bake. Remove the foil during the last 10 – 15 min of baking.
- When a knife inserted in the center of the casserole comes out clean it’s done. Remove the baked casserole from the oven.
- Let the casserole rest briefly so the cheese sets up. Slice, serve and enjoy.
Serving Ideas
- Butternut squash, sausage and egg casserole can be served for breakfast with a side of fruit salad or some sliced apples or pears.
- A nice size square of this casserole is great for dinner. Serve it with a side salad, veggies such as asparagus or broccoli, home fries or a dinner roll.
- This casserole is a nice addition to a brunch or holiday breakfast buffet just scale the recipe up for a larger number of servings.
WW 3 pt per serving, makes for servings
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 313kcal
Equipment
- Cutting board
- Chef knife
- casserole dish
- baking tray
- small mixing bowl
- fork or whisk
- olive oil mister
- aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 32 oz butternut squash, after peeled and seeded
- 2 Italian chicken sausages or chicken breakfast links (see recipes notes)
- 2 whole large eggs
- 7 large egg whites
- 3 tbsp fat free half and half, skim milk or almond milk
- ⅔ c fat free mozzarella
- ¼ c Velveeta shreds
- 2 tsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉
Prepping the Veggies, Sausages and Eggs
- Peel, Seed and chop a butternut squash into cubes or buy already prepped.
- Spread the butternut squash cubes out in a baking tray. Spray them with olive oil. Use hour hands and toss the cubes and massage in the olive oil.
- Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder over the squash. Place the squash into the oven and roast at 400℉ for 18 min.
- While the squash is roasting, Slice the onion and then cut the slices into quarters and separate the rings. Place the onion pieces into a mixing bowl.
- Remove the core and seeds from a red bell pepper. Cut the pepper into strips and then cut the strips into thirds. Then place the pepper chunks into the bowl with the onions. Spray with olive oil and toss.
- Remove the butternut squash from the oven. Spread the onion and pepper pieces over the top of the butternut squash. Sprinkle more salt, pepper and garlic powder over the onions and peppers and squash.
- Return the veggies to the oven and roast for another 15 - 18 min at 400℉. You are looking for the veggies to be fork tender. When they are done remove them from the oven and let them sit while you finish to prep for the casserole.
- After you remove the veggies from the oven, lower the oven temperature to 350℉.
- While the veggies are finishing to roast, cut the sausages into thin slices and set aside.
- Place the whole eggs and egg whites into a mixing bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and add the fat free half and half. Use a fork or whih to beat the eggs, egg whites and dairy until they are well mixed. Set aside.
- Place the fat free mozzarella and Velveeta shreds onto a plate or piece of wax paper and toss together. Set aside
Making the Casserole
- Spray the casserole dish with Pam. Use a paper towel to smear the Pam over the casserole surface, effectively "greasing" it.
- Place the roasted veggies into the casserole dish and evenly spread them out over the bottom of the dish.
- Next place the sausage slices, evenly spacing them, over the veggie layer.
- Pour the egg mixture over the veggies and sausage slices.
- Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the top of the casserole and cover with aluminum foil.
- Place the covered casserole in the oven and bake at 350℉ for 25 min. Remove the foil from the casserole dish at 25 min and continue to bake for another 10 - 15 min. The casserole is done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove the casserole from the oven when it is done and let it rest for 5 min so the cheese can set up. Slice, serve and enjoy,
- Refrigerate any leftovers.
Notes
I used Trader Joe's Italian chicken sausage in this recipe. On other occasions, I have used Jones Dairy Farm chicken sausage breakfast links and they worked well.
The sodium in this recipe is on the high side due to the chicken sausage and cheese. There are some lower sodium chicken sausages and cheeses out there if you need to reduce the sodium. In the top menu bar on the home page, there is a list of no salt added and low sodium items under resources.
Nutrition
Calories: 313kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 27.8g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 654mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 8.5g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
