5 Crock Pot Breakfast Recipes Ready at Dawn

It’s great coming home to the smell of an aromatic dinner, ready whenever you happen to walk through the door. The crock pot is a great tool if you remember to place everything inside before heading out the door in the morning, but mornings are busy. I never really thought about putting things inside the crock pot before going to bed and then waking up to the sweet aroma of freshly cooked breakfast until I came across the crock pot breakfast casserole shown below. That was a great morning, so I started experimenting with other breakfast foods to see what else would make our mornings run smoother. You see, we’re the family that no matter what time we wake up, suddenly realize we’re late and end up running out the door. You know, the ones you see still putting on their shoes and make-up as they’re pulling into any destination that requires arrival before noon.

Anyways, here are 5 crock pot breakfast recipes, including crock pot french toast), that we’ve found to be pleasant surprises in the morning. The other nice thing about them is that they are ready for the staggering departure times of busy families… as long as the responsible one turns the crock pot off after dishing up their crock pot breakfast! This way, everyone can enjoy a warm breakfast before leaving the house without someone standing over the stove all morning. They are also nice on laid back mornings when you don’t want to lift a finger or miss thing – like opening presents on Christmas morning (always more fun with a full belly). These 5 crock pot breakfast recipes all take from 6-10 hours to cook on the low setting of a crock pot (beware of course that crock pots, and thus cooking times, can vary by manufacturer).

Crock Pot Breakfast Rice

Breakfast Rice

Awaken to the sweet aroma of cinnamon apples with this crock pot breakfast recipe. It’s actually more like a rice pudding, but with not much more than brown rice, milk and apples it makes for a hearty breakfast. Add some chopped pecans when serving for a little added nutrition.

Note: If you have a timed crock pot you don’t want to leave milk sit before cooking, so you can use apple juice to cook and then add milk when serving to eat like oatmeal. Either way, brown rice actually makes a great crock pot breakfast.

Ingredients for Crock Pot Breakfast Rice:
  • 2 Tbs. Butter
  • 4-5 Apples (your favorite type or a mixed variety – remove skins and chop)
  • 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon each of Nutmeg, Cloves, and Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla
  • 1&1/2 Cups Brown Rice
  • 5 Cups Milk
  • Topping: 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar & 1/3 Cup Craisins (you might want to use additional sugar if using Granny Smith Apples)
    Breakfast Rice
    Directions to Make Crock Pot Breakfast Rice
    1. Toss the ingredients (shown above), all mixed together, into a buttered crock pot.
    2. Breakfast Rice
    3. Add the Milk, Brown Sugar and Craisins. You might notice that I added chopped pecans too, this is NOT recommended – it’s much better to add nuts after cooking (some candied nuts come out ok, but others are a little funky when cooked in the crock pot so it’s better to add them after cooking).
    4. Breakfast Rice
    5. Cook on Low for about 7 hours (6-8 hours). Remove the lid for last 15-20 minutes to firm.
    6. Breakfast Rice

    Enjoy just as is or top with fruits, nuts, milk, syrup and/or whipped cream if desired.

    Breakfast Rice

    Crock Pot French Toast

    Crock pot french toast is a good dish to make if you overbought bread and want to use it up. If you have an extra loaf of French or Italian bread that is a few days old and hardening that would be the perfect selection for this dish, but any bread would do just fine. Although this dish has the basic ingredients of french toast, the result is more like a bread pudding – very moist when warm and then denser when cooled. Traditional french toast is best prepared on the griddle, see our tasty french toast recipe for more information.

    Directions to Make Crock Pot French Toast:
  • 1) Whip together in a large bowl 6 large eggs, 2 Cups Milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (best if sprinkled on between layers, but can be mixed into the batter now).

  • 2) Dip each bread slice into the bowl and then layer into a buttered crock pot. This recipe uses about 1/2 a loaf of bread (about 10 slices of bread).
  • Crock Pot French Toast
  • 3) Layer each bread slice into the buttered crock pot. This recipe uses about 1/2 a loaf of bread (about 10 slices of bread).
  • Crock Pot French Toast
  • 4) Optional – Mix together 2 Tablespoons softened Butter, 2 Tablespoons Corn Syrup and 1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar. Spread the mixture on top of the bread.
  • Crock Pot French Toast
  • Crock pot french toast – ready to serve when you wake up!
  • Crock Pot French Toast

    Note: If you did the optional step (#4) in making crock pot french toast then it’s sweet and ready to eat, but if you didn’t you probably want to add syrup or another favorite topping when serving.

    Crock Pot French Toast

    More Crock Pot Breakfast Recipes

    Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole

    Eggs, potatoes, cheese and meat – what more could you ask for breakfast? This crock pot breakfast recipe has all the bases covered. It’s like a breakfast lasagna!

    Egg Casserole

    Southwestern Crock Pot Breakfast

    Southwest Crock Pot Breakfast

    With the tortillas baked right into this crock pot breakfast, they’ll be not need to even make toast in the morning.

    Crock Pot Breakfast Oatmeal

    Oatmeal Crock Pot Breakfast

    This one is from the master scientist/chef Alton Brown. I haven’t tried it, but you know it’s got to be accurate if it’s his recipe.

    Try one of these five crock pot breakfast recipes to start of your day off right.

    To find out how long other foods are good for, please visit the Dairy, Drinks, Fruits, Grains, Proteins, Vegetables and Other sections of Eat By Date or use the search function below.

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