Breakfast quesadillas are one of my absolute favorite foods. Not just a favorite breakfast food, but a favorite any time food. Normally I stick to a quick fried egg and a slice of cheese, but this weekend I made these Sausage and Egg Breakfast Quesadillas, which are a step above my busy weekday version. And the best part? I froze the other five quesadillas so I can reheat them anytime (like I did for lunch today!)
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What’s in a Breakfast Quesadilla?
Okay, so I kept these breakfast quesadillas super simple, but I’ve got some ideas for “spicing” them up below, if you’re interested. The only thing you need is sausage, eggs, cheese, tortillas, salt, and pepper. It’s just that easy! Since these quesadillas are super simple, they do have a more mild flavor (this one is for all my friends with sensitive tongues). If you want some extra flavor, read on.
What Else Can I Add?
Quesadillas are great for using up leftovers in your fridge. So whether you want to add more flavor or you just want to use up some things that are floating around in your fridge, here are some good picks for these sausage and egg breakfast quesadillas:
- Sliced green onions
- Pickled jalapeños
- Crushed red pepper
- Everything bagel seasoning
- Sriracha or chili garlic sauce
- Diced bell pepper (sauté with the browned sausage until tender)
- Crumbled feta
- Fresh spinach
- Mexican chorizo in place of country sausage
- Taco seasoning added to the eggs
- Diced green chiles
How to Serve Breakfast Quesadillas
If you’re in a hurry, or just lazy like me, you can eat these breakfast quesadillas just as they are. They make a great hand-held meal for when you’re on the go. If you are sitting down to your meal, you can serve them with a side of salsa and sour cream for dipping!
How to Freeze and Reheat
As I mentioned in the intro, I froze most of my quesadillas so I could reheat them later. To freeze the quesadillas, fill and fold the tortillas like you are about to toast them in the skillet, but instead stack them on a plate or baking sheet with parchment between each one. Transfer that to the freezer and freeze for about an hour or until they’re frozen solid. Once solid, transfer to an air-tight freezer bag for long term storage. They’ll probably be good for about three months.
To reheat, place one of the frozen quesadillas in a skillet and heat over medium-low heat. Cook on each side until golden brown and crispy. It’s VERY important not to have the heat too high, or else the tortilla will burn before the filling has time to thaw and heat through. So go slow.
What is Country Sausage?
I used country sausage for these breakfast quesadillas, which is a loose (not in links) raw sausage that is fairly mild in flavor (there are hot varieties). It is sometimes also called breakfast sausage, although it is not sweet like a maple breakfast sausage. I used this brand, but there are many recipes for country sausage online if you want to make your own using ground pork.
Sausage and Egg Breakfast Quesadillas
Servings 6 quesadillasIngredients
- 8 oz. country sausage ($1.45)
- 6 large eggs ($1.40)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp pepper ($0.02)
- 6 oz. cheddar ($1.27)
- 6 medium flour tortillas ($0.86)
Instructions
- Add the sausage to a skillet and cook over medium heat until the sausage is browned and crispy on the edges. When the sausage is cooked, remove it from the skillet using a slotted spoon so they grease stays behind in the skillet.
- While the sausage is cooking, crack six eggs into a bowl and season with salt and pepper (about ¼ tsp each). Whisk the eggs. Shred the cheddar cheese.
- Add the whisked eggs to the skillet with the sausage grease, and continue to cook them over medium heat, gently folding them as the eggs set. Cook until the eggs are set, but still moist. Remove the skillet from the heat.
- With the skillet off the heat, add the cooked sausage and shredded cheddar to the skillet with the scrambled eggs. Fold the ingredients together until they are evenly combined.
- Place about ½ cup of the sausage, egg, and cheese mixture into each tortilla, spreading it out to cover half of the tortilla. Fold the tortilla closed. You can either toast or freeze the quesadillas at this point (see freezing instructions above the recipe).
- To cook the quesadillas, add them back to the skillet (I like to do this in a dry skillet) and cook over medium heat on each side until the tortilla is brown and crispy and the cheese on the inside is melted. Slice the quesadilla into three pieces, then serve.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Sausage and Egg Breakfast Quesadillas – Step by Step Photos
Brown 8oz. country sausage in a skillet over medium heat. Cook it until the edges are brown and crispy, not just until it’s no longer pink. When the sausage is cooked, remove it from the skillet with a slotted spoon, so the grease stays in the skillet.
While the sausage is cooking, crack six eggs into a bowl and season with salt and pepper (about ¼ tsp each). Whisk the eggs.
Shred six ounces of cheddar cheese.
Add the whisked eggs to the skillet with the remaining sausage grease. Continue to cook over medium, gently folding the eggs as they set. Cook the eggs until they are set, but still moist. Don’t overcook the eggs. ;)
Remove the skillet from the heat and add the cooked sausage and shredded cheese.
Fold the ingredients together until they’re evenly combined.
Add about ½ cup of the sausage, egg, cheese mixture to each tortilla, spreading it out over half of the tortilla, then fold it closed. Once filled and folded, they can either be cooked or frozen.
To cook the quesadillas, add them back to the skillet (I don’t add any oil or butter, but you can if you prefer). Cook over medium on each side, or until the tortilla is brown and crispy and the cheese is melted on the inside.
Slice each quesadilla into three pieces, then serve!
To freeze the quesadillas, stack them on a plate or baking sheet with parchment paper between each layer. Freeze for about an hour or until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag. To reheat from frozen, simply add to a skillet and heat over medium-low until they are brown and crispy on the outside and heated through.
I love this recipe as a way of using up eggs. Great from frozen too, though I usually give them a minute on ‘defrost’ in the microwave first before placing on a hot pan to reheat more thoroughly.
Would these go frozen into an air fryer well?
I think that would work fine!
I have a special needs daughter that can not have dairy. I fixed these for her this morning with her dairy free cheddar cheese and she absolutely LOVED it!! WINNER!! Thank you for this recipe 💕
YUM! Just made these tonight as an easy dinner in hot weather.
We used turkey sausage because I prefer it and keep it on hand. I didn’t have any leftover dripping since it’s lower fat than the usual Jimmy Dean…so I added some bacon fat that I keep in the back of the fridge.
We are going to try these as a grab and go breakfast for my husband and daughter.
I made these a year ago and they were excellent – just remembered them as I have a ton of eggs that need to get used up! Last time I used a little less sausage which was a good ratio of egg/sausage. I’m going to do a batch with no sausage and instead add green chilis. These made such a great lunch and quick dinner from the freezer.
I love make ahead breakfasts! I’ve done frozen egg sandwiches which involved baking my eggs in a shallow pan before cutting and assembling but this was much easier. I added chopped bacon and half a block of thawed and drained frozen spinach to my eggs (also what I use for my sandwiches). If I had mushrooms I would’ve added those too. Next time I’ll probably sprinkle the cheese on the tortilla to sandwich the egg mixture and for more cheesy goodness.
I was impatient one morning and didn’t want to turn the stove on so defrosted in the microwave maybe 2 mins, then heated for 1 minute and it was perfect. And the tortilla wasn’t soggy–win.
Do you put these on the stove and cook them before freezing? Or do they get frozen uncooked
Hi there! You definitely want to fully cook the filling before freezing. Beth gives a step-by-step on freezing and reheating in the section of the blog posted labeled, “HOW TO FREEZE AND REHEAT.” I hope that helps! ~Marion :)
Added some orange pepper and spinach and used mild Italian sausage. Enjoyed by all! :)
This is the best. Try it in the air fryer. You can make it all with a heat resistant small pan, eggs sausage etc. Takes minutes at 350 stirring a bit. Then put it all on the tortilla and spray with some basic oil and air fry at 350 for 3 minutes flipping once. Buy precooked sausage for faster prep and less mess.
Some warning here… make sure you use a potholder to remove or even move the pan around once it has been in the air fryer. It will be scalding hot. I bought a pan at the thrift store that was heat resistant and unscrewed the handle so it could fit in my fryer easily.
These are well seasoned and very tasty! I like how convenient they are too whether fresh or frozen.
Hey, I’m Australian and breakfast sausage is just Not A Thing here. Did you have your own breakfast sausage recipe? There’s a couple of recipes here I haven’t been able to make because I have no idea what I can substitute for breakfast sausage.
I don’t have my own recipe, but I do have more info on country sausage, including a link to a suggested recipe for it in the paragraph above the recipe titled “What is Country Sausage?” :)
Thanks for the recipe! I hate cheddar, so I used Italian turkey sausage, red peppers, and mozzarella. They came out perfect! Next time I’ll add some onion, oregano, and basil.
What size is a medium tortilla, a soft taco or burrito size? Hoping to make these this coming weekend.
About 7-8 inches in diameter. Not burrito size, but not as small as a taco. :)
This works great as just a quick scramble, too. Super fast, filling, delicious. Plus, it’s packed with protein which is great if you’re pretending to workout like me.
Also, quesadilla or scramble, it’s endlessly variable. Going to have a lot of fun experimenting with this one!
“Pretending to work out” 😆 Me too! Lol
I can’t believe I’ve never considered making quesadillas. These turned out really nice. I was feeling OPULENT and added some chili pepper and cumin to my eggs. But, the ingredients as-is are a classic American breakfast.
Easily stackable in the fridge for heating up over the next few days. I wonder how they’ll keep refrigerated instead of frozen? My stomach is ready to find out.
The only issue I can think of that might happen is that the tortilla might get a bit soggy. Maybe try keeping the filling and tortillas separate until just before making them. :)
Delicious! All my kids and husband devoured them!
Delicious and fun. Never ate eggs this way before. Had it for dinner!
Looks fabulous! I’m going to make for our Sunday breakfast
can you cook them, then freeze so you can just pop in microwave? and if so, how long do you put in microwave?
Yes, I reheated one in the microwave yesterday, as a matter of fact! You don’t get that nice crispy quesadilla shell that way, it ends up being more like a breakfast burrito that is folded instead of rolled. :P The amount of time needed will probably depend on the strength of your microwave. I usually just start with a minute and then add 30 seconds as needed until it feels hot all the way through.
Made these over the weekend. Huge hit! Easily veganized too! Thanks for the great recipe.
Make them all at once for a crowd by baking them after they are assembled! Preheat the oven to 425. Place prepared quesadillas on a sheet pan; spray with cooking spray. Bake for 7-8 minutes; flip, spray, bake for 7-8 mins more. You can tidy the kitchen while they are baking and everyone gets to eat at the same time.
Brilliant idea!
Delicious! I saw this recipe and immediately knew I had to make it for breakfast. I didn’t have any sausage on hand, but in the spirit of BB, I subbed in the same amount of bacon that I had portioned out and stashed in the freezer earlier. I also added green onions. The bacon was a bit more oily than sausage would have been, so I left about 1 tbsp. of grease in the pan to cook the eggs in and reserved the rest in a jar.
Super tasty and filling without being too heavy (and, if I might add, the ultimate hangover cure. Lol.) I will be using the leftover bacon grease when I make your cheesy cauliflower and potato soup later tonight!
When I moved to Austin, TX, in 1986, these were breakfast “tacos.” I first encountered them on “The Drag,” Guadeloupe St across from the UT campus where I worked. Breakfast tacos were always grilled until sometime in the 90s when we started to see them as warm folded tortillas with a variety of loose fillings. A favorite at our house, they show up 2-4 times a month on our breakfast table. Our faves are mostly vegetarian. I always add potato with sauteed onion, garlic, and peppers and a garnish of plenty of cilantro. Instead of adding the cheese to the egg, I plop the lightly buttered 10″ flour tortilla in the hot skillet and put the cheese directly on the tortilla so it acts as glue for 2 eggs scrambled with veggies–it’s pretty thick. 1 of these big boys is enough for 2 persons at my house. While we like sausage, including chorizo, bacon is good, too, and although I rarely use it, wouldn’t turn my nose up at ham.
You always have such great suggestions! Thank you, as always, for sharing with the community. :)
$5.02 for six quesadillas is not 34 cents each.
Excellent point!
Ha! Thank you for catching that. I don’t know where that number came from or how I didn’t notice it. 🤦♀️
Who’s counting?
I recognize that Aldi label in the back, which pasta sauce/salsa is that?
It’s their “Specially Selected” brand four pepper salsa. :)
Thank you!