This green chile egg and hashbrown casserole is inspired by my recent trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. If you haven’t been, you should go, there is so much to see and the food is amazing. It was hard to fly back home to DC after eating everything smothered in green chiles, red chiles or Christmas style.
To satisfy my craving, I decided to grab all of the breakfast favorites, eggs, bacon, cheese and hashbrowns and add a little kick of sweet, spicy and smokey from the green chiles. I had a very hard time not eating the entire casserole in one sitting.
It’s perfect for weekend breakfast, brunch, potluck or even to make during your Sunday meal prep to take to the office every morning. Maybe even breakfast for dinner night!
Green Chile
Their flavor profile is somewhat of a a sweet, spicy, slight smokey taste. You should be able to buy green chiles from any grocery store and some brands offer you a choice of mild or hot. I bought a jar of large chopped chiles, and roughly chopped my bacon for a more rustic-looking casserole.
Cooking Bacon
I find that the easiest way to cook bacon is in the oven. It makes the least amount of grease-splash-mess and it comes out evenly crisp every time. On a sheet pan, lined with foil (for easier clean up) lay out your bacon strips in a row so that they are not touching. Bake at 425F for 10-15 minutes until you reach your preferred crispy. Be extra careful when you take it out of the oven because there will be a lot of hot grease. Place the bacon on a paper towel to help drain off the excess grease.
What do you do with the grease? You can carefully pour it into a glass bowl or jar if you want to save it for cooking later, I learned this while visiting a middle school friend’s house, they were from the south before moving to Delaware and they used it for other cooking like collard greens, spinach, etc. I do that now sometimes because rendered bacon fat adds another layer of flavor when you’re cooking leafy greens.
If you don’t want to save it, I suggest not pouring it down the sink drain, but instead let it come to room temperature on the foil-lined pan and then once it’s a solid just take the foil off and throw away.
Green Chile Egg and Hashbrown Casserole
Equipment
- 9×13 Casserole Pan
Ingredients
- 6 Eggs
- ½ cup Milk
- 16 oz Frozen Hashbrowns (original unsalted) Do not defrost first.
- 7 oz Large Chopped Green Chiles
- 1 cup Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese
- ¼ cup Thinly Sliced Green Onions – white section only Save the green sections for garnish
- 5 slices Bacon
- ¼ cup Sour Cream
- 1 tsp Salt
- Cooking Spray
Instructions
- Cook your bacon (see notes in blog for my cooking instructions) and set aside until cool. Roughly chop into pieces.
- While your bacon is cooking, whisk the eggs and milk together in a large bowl.
- Preheat your oven to 350F, spray your casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Stir in your frozen hashbrowns, green chiles (and all liquid from the can), shredded pepper jack cheese, green onions, roughly chopped bacon, sour cream and salt.
- Pour your mixture into your prepared casserole dish.
- Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes.
- Garnish with thinly sliced green onions.
Video
