Apple, Sausage, Cheddar, Hash Brown Breakfast Bake

Many American continental breakfasts consist of hash browns, sausage, and cheesy eggs, often served overlapping on a chunky off-white ceramic oval dish. Consider this apple, sausage, cheddar hash brown breakfast bake the cousin of a simplistic weekend morning meal, a condensed version where hash browns are layered with sausage, soft apples, and a quiche-like egg mixture. Here are a few things to keep in mind while making:

Use bagged hash browns:
Save yourself the time, seriously! I tried defrosting the hash browns and squeezing out excess liquid before mixing with the egg and forming in the pan. It was a little harder to mold this way, so I ended up cooking them a bit in the microwave to dry them out. But don’t make mashed potatoes! There should still be shreds of potato present. You want to take the chill out and squeeze a little more liquid from them (if you can). I used Ore-Ida.

Cooking the apples:
I can't guarantee the apples are going to break down fully if you don’t give them a head start. Cook the apples right in the rendered sausage fat. The outside of the apple should be soft even if the center is still a little firm.

Let it cool:
Once the egg bake has cooked, allow it to cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing from the pan and slicing.

Storage:
The tart can be made 3 days ahead. Store in an airtight container or wrap individual pieces in foil and refrigerate.

Did you try making this? Let me know how it went in the comments!