The bacon adds amazing flavor to this Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole, and I love starting out the day with kale! And this tasty breakfast casserole has only 4 net carbs, and it’s perfect to make on the weekend and reheat for a low-carb breakfast during the week!

PIN this tasty Breakfast Casserole with bacon, kale, and cheese!

Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole in baking dish with plates-forks in background

I’m a long time lover of bacon, so of course I love the addition of bacon in this Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole. And whether you’re a bacon lover who always enjoys a dish with bacon or someone who’d use turkey bacon or Canadian bacon for less fat, this will be delicious no matter what type of bacon you use.

But personally I’d have a hard time sticking to an eating plan where I couldn’t eat bacon sometimes. Of course there’s a huge amount of uber-nutritous kale in the recipe, so I hope I can get a few points for that! And I always feel quit virtuous when I start out the day with leafy greens!

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

  • kale
  • Olive Oil (affiliate link)
  • bacon, cooked very crisp
  • grated cheese
  • eggs
  • salt to taste
  • fresh ground black pepper to taste
  • Spike Seasoning (affiliate link), or other all-purpose seasoning blend

Can you use more bacon in this kale breakfast casserole?

Please, feel free to use more bacon to give this breakfast casserole amazing bacon flavor if you like! Or use less bacon if you prefer. If there’s one thing I believe, it’s that everyone gets to make their own food choices.

What other leafy greens can you use if you don’t like kale?

You can definitely make this breakfast casserole with another type of greens like spinach, Swiss chard, or collard greens. If you choose spinach, that will wilt much more quickly in the pan; Swiss chard and collards will take only slightly less time to wilt down than kale does.

Want more information about making breakfast casseroles?

If you’re a fan of this type of breakfast dish baked as a casserole, you might like to see my Low-Carb Breakfast Casserole Master Recipe that can help you make a breakfast casserole out of whatever’s in the fridge.

Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole process shots collage

How to Make Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

  1. Wash kale and cut into thin crosswise strips. 
  2. Heat oil in a pan with high sides, and when it’s very hot add the kale all at once. (It will look like a huge amount of kale, but it wilts down very quickly.) Cook the kale 1 or 2 minutes, just long enough to wilt it down.
  3. Microwave or fry the bacon until it’s crisp and then blot some fat, as much as you prefer.
  4. Put wilted kale in the bottom of a sprayed casserole dish and top with the crumbled bacon.
  5. Then top with 3/4 cup of grated cheese. I used a mixture of four cheese Mexican blend and a blend called pizza cheese. 
  6. Pour the eggs into the casserole dish and use the fork to mix the ingredients so the egg is well distributed. (It will look like you need more egg, but trust me on this.)
  7. Bake 22-25 minutes until the eggs are set and the casserole is starting to brown on top. You can’t really tell in this photo, but the center may puff up before the casserole cools a bit.
  8. Serve hot, with a dollop of low-fat sour cream if desired.

Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole shown in baking dish with plates and forks in back.

More Tasty Breakfast Ideas with Kale:

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep  to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole in baking dish with plates-forks in background
Yield: 6 servings

Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

It doesn’t take a lot of bacon to add amazing flavor to this Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole, and I love starting out the day with kale!

Ingredients

  • 1 large bunch kale (8 oz. sliced kale strips)
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 4 slices bacon, cooked very crisp (see notes)
  • 3/4 cup grated cheese (see notes)
  • 10 eggs
  • salt to taste (see notes)
  • fresh ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (optional but good; see notes)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Spray a medium-sized glass or crockery casserole dish with nonstick spray.
  2. Trim off kale stems, then wash the kale and spin dry or dry with paper towels.  (It doesn’t have to be completely dry but shouldn’t be dripping with water.)
  3. Stack up the kale leaves and cut in thin crosswise strips.  (I used small kale leaves from my garden. If you’re using a bunch of large kale leaves you might need to cut out the center rib.)
  4. Heat the olive oil in a very large frying pan.  When the oil is hot, add the kale all at once. Use a turner to turn the pile of kale until it’s all wilted, about 1-2 minutes.  (If you want the kale very soft in the finished dish, cook it a minute or two more.  I like the kale to be slightly chewy.)
  5. Cook the bacon until it’s very crisp, blotting as much fat as you can with paper towels.  (I like to use pre-cooked bacon, crisp it in the microwave, and then blot off the fat.)
  6. In the sprayed casserole dish, layer kale, crumbled bacon, and cheese.
  7. Break eggs into a bowl or large glass measuring cup, season with salt, pepper, and Spike Seasoning (affiliate link) (if using), and beat eggs well with a fork.
  8. Pour the eggs over the kale-bacon-cheese mixture, then use the fork to stir gently until eggs are well-distributed in the mixture.  (It will look like you need more eggs, but trust me!)
  9. Bake 22-25 minutes or until the casserole is set and the top is lightly browned.  (Don’t worry if the center puffs up; it will settle down when the casserole cools.)
  10. Serve hot, with a dollop of low-fat sour cream if desired.
  11. This will keep at least a week in the fridge and can be reheated in the microwave.  Don’t heat more than a minute or two, or the eggs will get rubbery.

Notes

Before you make this you may want to read Basic Instructions for Low-Carb Breakfast Casseroles which has instructions for different sizes of pan and ingredient options for this type of breakfast casserole.

I like to use precooked bacon and crisp it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes. Use more bacon if you prefer. I like Vege-Sal (affiliate link) and Spike Seasoning (affiliate link) in breakfast casseroles like this, but regular salt and any all-purpose seasoning that's good with eggs will definitely work. I used a combination of Four Cheese Mexican blend and Pizza Cheese; use more cheese if you prefer.

Recipe created by Kalyn.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 264Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 332mgSodium: 720mgCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 17g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating (under the PRINT button in the recipe) or share a photo of your results on Instagram! THANKS!

Square image for Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole shown in baking dish.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole is great for low-carb eating plans, even Keto. Even though bacon is not really permitted for the original South Beach Diet I think if you use very crisp bacon with the fat blotted off with a paper towel, this is not that bad for South Beach as a once-in-a-while-treat. You can also make it with Canadian bacon or turkey bacon if you want to follow South Beach more strictly.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Breakfast Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This breakfast casserole recipe with Kale, Bacon, and Cheese was first posted in 2006! It was updated with better photos and directions in 2015, and was last updated with more information in 2023.

Pinterest image of Kale, Bacon, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Share This: