If you like an all-american breakfast of eggs, bacon, and hash browns, then you’re going to love these easy egg breakfast muffins with a hash brown crust! They’re great for a quick breakfast or to feed a large group at brunch! And simple enough that you can make them ahead and eat them all week long!
Easy Breakfast Muffins with a Hash Brown Crust
I’ll be honest, I hate making breakfast. I love eating breakfast, but I hate making it. It just seems like it gets in the way of starting your day.
I’d much rather sleep in for a few more minutes and have a breakfast I can just pop in the microwave (like these bacon and egg breakfast rolls) and eat on my way to doing bigger and better things.
These breakfast egg muffins are just that. Make them once on Sunday and eat them all week long. And they’re good enough that I don’t even get sick of eating them, which seems to happen with food for me a lot when I eat it over and over again.
They’re also one of my go-to recipes anytime I’m hosting a brunch. These and this sausage breakfast casserole.
And a baby shower and let’s be realistic, anytime I can get away with making them. Because who wouldn’t love hash brown muffin cups for breakfast!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Hash brown crust – unlike so many other breakfast muffins out there, this one starts with a nice hash brown crust! You crisp it up in the oven before adding the egg mixture on top!
- Reheat great – like I mentioned above, these are great to make ahead of time then reheat when you wan to eat them!
Super easy – this recipe really couldn’t be any easier, as long as you don’t forget to take them out of the oven! - Versatile – while I have this recipe written with bacon bits, you could totally change it up and use ham or sausage inside of them instead!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Bacon – make sure it’s cooked bacon, and ideally you want it to be somewhat crispy!
- Cheese – I like to use shredded Mexican blend cheese but if you’d prefer something else like shredded cheddar instead, that’s fine as well!
- Hash browns – this is best made with fresh hash browns (that you can find in the refrigerated section) but you could also just shred your own fresh potatoes. Or if you’re in a pinch, frozen hash browns will work as well – just make sure to thaw them first and drain them so you don’t end up with a bunch of extra liquid.
How to Make the Breakfast Muffins
I told you these are really simple to make, and I promise it’s true! Get all of your ingredients together first. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve gotten 3/4 of the way through a recipe only to realize I’m missing a key ingredient, one of the only ones you can’t find a substitute for.
I used Simply Potatoes hash brown potatoes in my recipe, but you could really use any as long as they’re fresh and not frozen. If they’re frozen, just make sure to thaw and strain them first or the mixture will be too wet.
1 – Make the Hash Brown Crusts
Once you have all of your ingredients, make your hash brown potato mixture.
Spray a muffin tin with a non-stick baking spray.
Start by mixing the hash browns, one egg, oil, cheese, salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, and parsley together in a large bowl until the hash browns are all coated nicely.
Once it’s all mixed up, use a spoon to divide the hash brown mixture among the muffin tins to make the crust of the breakfast muffins.
Use the back of a spoon or I personally use the back of a 1/4 cup measuring cup (so it’s flat), to press the hash browns down gently into the pan. This presses them together, forming the crust.
Pop those babies in the oven for a few minutes to let them crisp up slightly. They will not be super crispy (and you don’t want them to be), but they will have solidified into a crust. This will keep the egg mixture from just going straight to the bottom of the breakfast muffins.
2 – make the breakfast muffins
While the hash brown crust is baking, mix up your egg mixture by combining the rest of the ingredients, including the cooked bacon, in a large bowl. I recommend using a whisk to make sure all of the eggs get beaten well.
Once the hash browns are done, divide the egg mixture evenly on top of the hash brown crusts – filling them about 3/4 full.
Tip!
Make sure to scoop all the way to the bottom of the mixture every time you’re scooping in the egg mixture. The larger things like the pieces of bacon tend to sink to the bottom and you want to get some of that in every once of the breakfast muffins!
Bake the breakfast muffins for another 10-15 minutes or until the eggs are fully cooked. And with eggs, I tend to err on the side of overcooked compared to runny undercooked eggs!
You’ll know they’re cooked if you jiggle the pan (still in the oven) and the eggs are set and don’t jiggle.
Remove from the oven and let cool in the muffin tins for a few minutes before using a silicone spatula to gently slide the breakfast muffins out.
Serve warm or let cool for a few more minutes before eating.
Expert Tips
Double the batch and freeze half. To reheat from frozen, simply put them in the cold oven and set it to 350 degrees. Let the egg muffins thaw and heat with the oven!
Mix it up and try using chopped ham, cooked breakfast sausage, or even leaving out the additional meat all together. These are super versatile and great for making your family’s favorite breakfast!
Use silicone muffin tins to make it super easy to get the breakfast muffins out of the pan! Sometimes non-stick (even when you spray them) muffin tins can get stuck, silicone ones work great every time!
Recipe FAQs
These egg muffins are just eggs, potatoes, milk, cheese, and the added meat of your choice. They’re a great protein heavy breakfast option!
Just like with any egg dish, refrigerate any leftovers! Refrigerate in an airtight container and you can enjoy these for up to five days or freeze!
More Easy Breakfast Recipes
- Banana choc chip muffins – this is the best banana muffin recipe ever! The perfect way to use leftover bananas!
- Pineapple bread – this may be more of a dessert than a breakfast recipe, but I enjoy it for breakfast! A bread that’ll make you want to be in the tropics!
- Bacon cinnamon rolls – a salty version of a classic favorite!
- Homemade sausage gravy – the ultimate southern breakfast food, perfect with homemade biscuits!
- French toast casserole with cream cheese – a perfect make ahead breakfast for a crowd!
Easy Breakfast Muffins with a Hash Brown Crust
Ingredients
For the hash brown crust:
- 1 20 oz shredded hash browns (or frozen, thawed and strained)
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 Tsp olive oil
For the egg mixture:
- 12 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup shredded Mexican blend (or your other favorite) cheese
- 12 slices crispy bacon cut up into bite-size pieces
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 ½ tsp dried parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Spray two 12 cup muffin tins with non-stick baking spray.
For the hash brown crust:
- Mix entire bag of hash browns with egg, oil, cheese, salt, pepper, minced garlic, paprika, and parsley in large bowl until seasonings are well combined.1 20 oz shredded hash browns, 1 egg, 1/3 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tsp dried parsley, 3 cloves minced garlic, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, 1 Tsp olive oil
- Split hash brown mixture evenly among the 24 baking cups then pat it down with the back of a cup or other round container that fits into the muffin tins.
- Bake hash brown crust in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until it gets slightly browned and crispy.
For Egg Mixture:
- While crust is cooking, mix eggs, milk, cheese, salt, pepper, parsley, and bacon in a large bowl.12 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup shredded Mexican blend, 12 slices crispy bacon, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- Once hash brown crust is slightly browned, split the egg mixture evenly on top of the hash browns in the muffin tins, filling to about 3/4 full.
- Bake in the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until eggs are fully cooked.
- Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing from the muffin tins by sliding a silicone spatula around the outside of the cups.
- Serve hot or at room temperature.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info
Update: This post was originally published in 2018. The recipe remains the same but the photos have been updated since. Below is an example of the original photos for reference.
Millie says
I made this and the muffins deflate after I take them out of the oven. Anyone else has this problem? Any suggestions?
Heather D. says
I don’t have mini muffin tins but how long would you recommend baking for a regular tin size muffin? Any adjustments to the recipe quantities? Thank you!
BritniV says
I actually made them in a regular size muffin tin, not mini muffin tin, I believe. So no – no adjustments!
Victoria says
When I split the eggs into the muffins I use a 4 cup liquid measuring cup. It works really well as long as you stir up the cheese to keep it from settling to the bottom. I love these muffin cups. I’m vegetarian and my boyfriend is not. I substitute veggie sausage in one of the tins and put meat in the other tin. It’s perfect for us. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Tina says
I want to prepare these and drop off at church (Tuesday night) and let them cook them (Wednesday morning). Not sure I understand your explanation for preparing ahead (I make up the mixture you said. Then you said you can crisp up the hash browns). Any recommendation for what I’m trying to do?
BritniV says
Make the mixture on Tuesday night and bake the hash browns in the cups on Tuesday night. Then Wednesday morning add the mix on top of the hash browns and bake again!
Kim says
I was thinking about making these for bridal shower in mini muffin pans. Has anyone tried this and if so, what would the cooking times be reduced to?
BritniV says
I haven’t tried mini versions Kim, but I would probably start be reducing the time by half and checking to make sure the eggs are cooked. Let me know how it goes!
Tracey Wermuth says
I used O’Brien style simply potato & topped with a little cheddar & scalluon. Added spinach to mine as well with garlic powder in the egg mixture. Very yummy!
Jolene says
I have left over mashed potatoes. Would these work instead of hash brown potatoes for the crust?
they look amazing!
BritniV says
You could definitely try it, but I’m not sure how they’ll turn out. Sorry!
Isla says
Hi I’m guessing the hash brown mix is an American thing? In ths uk we only have actul hash browns. Do you know if theses a way to make from scratch?
BritniV says
I’m not sure the difference between hash brown mix and the UK hash browns? The hash brown mix is really just shredded potatoes, you could easily make them from scratch as well!
Becca says
The ingredient list for the crust says 1Tbsp of olive oil, but the directions don’t list where to add it. Is that the spray for the pan, or so you mix it in with the hash browns?
I made half the batch with crumbled sausage and the other with real bacon bits. Saved time on cooking and chopping up bacon. Also, I found sprinkling the cheese and bacon/sausage onto to hash brown crust and then adding eggs gave me equal proportions in each cup instead of getting a ton of cheese and meat on one and none in another. We ate ours with ketchup and hot sauce. Great recipe! Thanks!
BritniV says
I’ll make sure to update the olive oil in the recipe, sorry about that. I mixed it with the hash browns to keep them from sticking. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Pj says
Delish! These can be baked & frozen without problems. My husband takes a couple of these to work. By the time he gets to work, they are almost thawed. Then simply reheat by wrapping each muffin in a paper towel & microwaving on 50% power (for 1500 watt) for 2-3 min. I change it up by using cooked chorizo, green chilies & minced onion. Dip them in salsa & sour cream. I’ve also made these with sauteed fresh mushrooms & asparagus tips. I’ve found that the more veggies you use, the further the egg mixture stretches. Just be sure to grease the muffin tins well ( I use butter spray) or they will stick.
BritniV says
Thanks, glad you like them!