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Southwestern Breakfast Muffins are an easy and delicious breakfast on-the-go. Muffins made with cheese, sausage, hash browns, eggs and peppers!

If you’ve been a regular reader here at A Family Feast, then you already know about what my husband Jack likes to call “A.I.” – recipes made with Available Ingredients in our kitchen!
So with a package of breakfast sausages, some potatoes, cheese and a bunch of other ‘available ingredients’ in our refrigerator and cabinets – and with Cinco De Mayo celebrations a month away – our Southwestern Breakfast Muffins were created!
These Southwestern Breakfast Muffins are fantastic! Jack made them just slightly spicy – thanks to the addition of some jalapeño, canned green chiles, sausage, and some Pecorino Pepato – a delicious, semi-hard goat’s milk cheese with peppercorns stuffed throughout. (We first cooked with this amazing cheese in this recipe.) You can swap in your favorite zesty cheese instead.
And with shredded potatoes inside, these Southwestern Breakfast Muffins have a wonderful hash brown sort of consistency on the inside, and a crispy golden outside.
These Southwestern Breakfast Muffins are the perfect breakfast-on-the-go – but they also make a delicious, portable lunch served alongside a salad or a bowl of soup.
You may like these other breakfast recipes:
- Breakfast Burritos
- Crustless Ham and Cheddar Quiche
- Sausage Veggie Breakfast Bake
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Sausage Bread
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Southwestern Breakfast Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup diced red onion
- 1/4 cup minced jalapeño, no seeds (about one large or two medium peppers)
- 1/2 cup sweet bell pepper diced, such as red, yellow or orange
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 12–ounce package raw breakfast sausages, removed from casing (I used the plain, not maple flavored)
- 1 4.25–ounce can diced chilies, drained
- 2 whole eggs
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 cup pepato cheese shredded (if this cheese is not available, use a queso fresco or farmer’s cheese but add 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper. Pepato cheese is pepper infused)
- 1 cup jack cheese shredded (pepper jack can be used for a spicier version)
- 1 1/2 pounds peeled russet potatoes put through large holes on cheese grater (prepare this ingredient last)
- 1 tablespoon butter to grease muffin tins
- Sour cream for garnish
- Cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium sauté pan, over medium heat, melt butter and add onions and both peppers. Sauté for five minutes and add garlic. Sauté for one minute and add sausage meat. Cook until no longer pink, breaking up big pieces, about four more minutes. Pour into a strainer to drain off grease. Discard grease.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a medium to large bowl, add drained chilies, eggs, cilantro, cumin, coriander, both cups of shredded cheese, shredded potatoes and cooked sausage mixture. Stir to combine. (note, I did not shred the potatoes until I was ready to add so they wouldn’t discolor).
- Prepare a standard non-stick muffin tin by generously coating the inside and top of a 12 cup muffin tin with butter. Make sure the inside of the cups are well buttered.
- Divide batter between each cup but don’t press the batter down. Let it fall into each cup, tidy up the edges and place in prepared oven.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove from oven, let the pan sit for a few minutes to set then gently remove each to a platter. You may need to run a butter knife around the edges and coax them a little to come out of the pan.
- Serve two to a portion and serve with sour cream and chopped fresh cilantro if desired.
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Could you use frozen hashbrowns in place of the potatoes?
Hi Sandra – Yes – we’ve used the Simply Potatoes brand of shredded potatoes in the past with good results. Hope that helps!
Would the pre-packaged “Simply Potatoes” work here?
Hi Stephanie – the Simply Potatoes would definitely work! (Great idea!)
but how many carbs., sugars and calories are in them but as a diabetic I need to know these things. they look delicious.
Hi Betty – We don’t currently provide nutritional information for our recipes, but may in the future. In the meantime, there are free online tools such as MyFitnessPal that you could use to calculate the information you need. Hope that helps!
I’m a huge fan of delicious on the go breakfast options. These muffins are totally just that!
That is so cute! A.I recipes invented by your hubby! I will start trying that too! These look super tasty!
Thanks Brenda!
I really wish I would have had these for breakfast. Yum.
I love breakfast, so this appeals to me! Your husband gets a star for this A-1 recipe, which
make me smile.
I don’t normally talk about Me, but I draw your attention to the slight name change from
Wild Goose Tea. New web design—whoopee. And some new features.
Thanks Carol! (BTW – I couldn’t click through to your new site – just saw the GoDaddy domain page!)
these would be great for company
This sounds like the kind of breakfast my family would love! They would probably eat these for lunch and dinner too!
Sometimes A.I. recipes are the best ones! I would happily eat these scrumptious muffins at any time of day.