My Sausage & Ricotta Egg Bake is very easy to put together with 6 ingredients but impressive enough to wow your family and friends. With fresh tomatoes, basil, ricotta cheese, and sausage it is flavorful and delicious. This easy recipe is low carb, keto, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
It's not often that I impress my husband with my cooking anymore. I think he's gotten rather spoiled since I have to make so many yummy things for my blog. He's used to fresh, home-cooked meals almost every night of the week. But this sausage and ricotta egg bake even impressed him.
He said, "That looks really cool." And then at dinner, "Taryn, this is really good." Which is a big step above the standard, "Thanks honey for a nice dinner," that I usually get whether he likes it or not.
This breakfast casserole really can be a meal in itself but since we were having breakfast for dinner last Friday I let my 8 year old make some pancakes too. Add in some fresh fruit and we had a wonderful meal.
One of my least favorite chores is washing dishes. I try to simplify the cooking process to eliminate extra dirty pots and pans. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Pre-cooking the sausage in the casserole dish and then draining it and crumbling it worked really well.
Trying to whisk ten eggs in a bowl they barely fit in? Not so much. Make sure to learn from my mistake and just throw the eggs in a blender instead. Or at least use a large bowl.
Ingredients
Italian sausage - You can use spicy sausage if you'd like.
Eggs - These are the binding agent that will help everything stick together.
Cream cheese - Mixed with the eggs, this creates a creamy and fluffy texture.
Ricotta - An awesome flavor to add to this dish!
Cherry tomatoes - These go right on top and add loads of flavor.
Chopped basil - Fresh basil is such a great ingredient to add.
Salt - If you're trying to cut down on your sodium intake, you may want to opt-out of adding this.
How to Make Sausage & Ricotta Egg Bake
You're going to love how fast and simple this simple sausage recipe is. It's perfect for a hearty breakfast.
Step One: Preheat the oven to 400.
Step Two: Put sausage in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully drain. I drained over a cup of oil and cooking liquid. Break the sausage up into small pieces using a potato masher.
Step Three: Blend the eggs and cream cheese until smooth.
Step Four: Pour over the cooked, drained sausage. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt. Put blobs of ricotta on top.
Step Five: Distribute the tomatoes evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped basil and remaining ½ teaspoon salt.
Expert Tip: Both fresh tomatoes and ricotta cheese taste better with a pinch of salt. Try to sprinkle the salt right on those two ingredients.
Step Six: Bake the sausage and ricotta egg bake for an additional 35-40 minutes until the eggs have set.
Tips & Variations
Vegetarian - If you don't want to add in the meat, you don't have to. Just leave it out and go about with the rest of the ricotta egg bake recipe.
Cheeses - You can add other types of cheeses to this recipe if you want to try something other than ricotta.
Spices - Top with some coarse ground black pepper or add some garlic powder to the egg mixture to boost the flavor.
Vegetables - Add in some spinach, sauteed swiss chard, steamed broccoli, or blanched asparagus.
Cookie Scoop - I used a small one tablespoon cookie scoop to drop the balls of ricotta on top of the ricotta egg bake casserole. You could use a teaspoon if you don't have a cookie scoop but I recommend getting one. That is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets. I have three different sizes and use them all frequently.
Common Questions
What other ingredients could you add to this egg casserole?
The great thing about this egg mixture is that it's versatile in what you can add to it. Since you know that the main ingredient is large eggs, think about what else you'd want to pair with it. I think that an onion would be great, as well as some spinach, too. Fans of cheese would also love topping their serving with a little bit of parmesan cheese as well!
Can you store this in the freezer for later?
Once you add all the ingredients to the baking dish, you can actually put this in the freezer for later. This would be a simple way to meal prep a great protein for the family to enjoy.
When it's time to thaw, you just have to put it into the refrigerator and give it a few hours. Then the ricotta egg bake is ready to cook.
What other cheeses could you use for this casserole?
I think that adding in some cheddar cheese or even a grated cheese of your choice would be great. You can also look at using cottage cheese instead of the ricotta mixture as well.
What is the easiest way to reheat this dish?
The microwave is going to be the fastest way but it's going to make everything super hot. You can also heat up your portion in a skillet on the stove over medium heat as well.
Can you add toppings to this breakfast casserole?
You bet! If you want to add on some spices or sauce to this ricotta egg bake, go for it! I also think that adding some vegetables could be great for a crunch as well. If you want to add a bit of citrus, don't forget to add some lemon zest! Just remember that all those toppings and additions will increase the calories, too.
Make sure to try these keto breakfast recipes:
- Keto Breakfast Pockets
- Keto Breakfast Cheesecake
- Low Carb Cinnamon Roll Cake
- Keto Caprese Omelet
- Keto Breakfast Bread
Like what you see? Follow me on Facebook! Love this recipe? Leave a comment & 5-star rating right here! Make sure you don’t miss new recipes by getting email updates!
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lb Italian sausage
- 10 eggs
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 16 oz ricotta
- 12 cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Put sausage in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully drain. I drained over a cup of oil and cooking liquid. Break the sausage up into small pieces using a potato masher.
- Blend the eggs and cream cheese until smooth. Pour over the cooked, drained sausage. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt. Put blobs of ricotta on top. Distribute the tomatoes evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped basil and remaining ½ teaspoon salt.
- Bake for an additional 35-40 minutes until the eggs have set.
Notes
Nutrition
Published
Jane Herzpg says
I adjusted the measurements to make a "mini" casserole in a 5x5 glass dish -- in my toaster oven! I started with 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites and adjusted everything else proportionally. It was delicious, Will definitely make the full recipe soon!
Trine LB says
I cannot wait to try this - it looks amazing!!
One question:
There seems to be something off re. the ingredient conversion: The recipe states 2 - 2.5 pounds sausage, which should translate to roughly 1 - 1.25 kg, but the converter to metric says 2.04 kg. Am I missing something?
Taryn says
You are right. I just edited that. I'm not sure why the conversion messed up.
Katrina says
I didn’t have tomatoes so I added spinach on top of the sausage. And I didn’t have cream cheese but I had garlic and her Boursin. Can’t wait to try it!
Amie Rikke says
Perfect for keto!
I halfed it because I only had 1 lb of sausage and cooked it in a 8x8.
Also I just had breakfast sausage, so I added some onion powder and garlic powder and hot pepper flakes.
I only had to cook it 25 min, but my oven does run a little hot. But watch it the first time you bake it.
It’s spectacular. I will definitely make many times again. The ricotta tastes so rich and creamy, and the tomatoes add a little burst of goodness. I like how you cook the sausage in the pan in the oven first, brilliant.
I can see all sorts of variations to the recipe. Next time I might add some chopped spinach as you mentioned, or arugula or baby kale.
Thank you!
Joan says
Great recipe and it is fab and love the fact that cleanup is just as easy as recipe and I can't say enough wonderful things about this recipe. I will do again and again.
Heath says
Used a 9x13 casserole, a dozen eggs instead of 10, used the fat from the sausage to sautee a chopped onion and two yellow bell peppers, then mixed that into the sausage. I added a thin layer of shredded mozzarella on top of the sausage, then poured the egg mixture. Before adding the ricotta, I heavily seasoned it,and added a beaten egg.
Michellr says
Whoa! Nice!!!!
anette monroe says
bet it would be awesome with pepperoni on it like a pizza breakfast casserole!
Maria says
After this is cooked, how long would it stay good in in the refrigerator?
Taryn says
4-5 days
Sandra says
Not particularly fond of tomatoes. What would be a good substitution for those?
Taryn says
You can omit them or add in cooked broccoli or baby spinach.
Cheryl Haynes says
Can this be made one day ahead, baked, then reheated for serving? Does it reheat well?
Cheryl
Taryn says
Yes and yes. Enjoy!
Paul says
Hello,
I'm wondering if I can prep this the night before and put it in the fridge? thanks!
Taryn says
Yup! Enjoy 🙂
P says
This looks wonderful! Have you ever tried freezing it? Thank you for sharing!
Taryn says
No, I don't think this would freeze well. I'm sure it would still be edible but the texture of the ricotta might be off after thawing.
Cindy says
Your recipe shows 415 calories but dies not show serving size. What is serving size? It sounds so good.
Taryn says
It says it near the top of the recipe card, there are 12 servings.
L says
This was delicious! I will be making this again for sure. The only thing I would change is to add a few more eggs. There was too much sausage for the amount of egg. Thanks!
Laura says
I never leave comments on blog recipes I try, but this one is an exception. This was SO easy and delicious! I followed the recipe as-is, the only difference being I cooked the sausage in a skillet on the stove instead of in the oven (only because I totally missed the part of the recipe that said I should cook it in the oven :P) Will definitely be making again!
Bethany says
One disclaimer is needed-- do not cook ahead for weekly meal prep and think you are not going to need a spoon to dive in! This is delicious, I just grabbed a spoonful cause I just couldn't wait till tomorrow after the amazing smells. I added in half mild sausage and half chorizo and it turned out excellent. Thanks for sharing
Veronica says
This was fantastic! Thank you so much for making my breakfasts better.
Lisa S says
Delicious! And I used dried basil and forgot to add the tomatoes 🙁 so I can’t even imagine how much better it will be next time. I tried this recipe because I had ricotta that needed to be used. So good!
Lesa says
This looks really good! When you say "large casserole dish", do you mean 9x13"?
Taryn says
Mine is bigger than that. I think it's 11 x 14. But any large casserole would work.