Creating a delicious morning meal like my Cheesy Breakfast Skillet packed with delicious ingredients is the perfect breakfast for a weekend morning.
Do you love breakfast? I certainly do, and for years they’ve been telling us it’s the most important meal of the day.
So why not make the most delicious meal of the day? Creating a dish like my Cheesy Breakfast Skillet isn’t difficult or time-consuming. In fact, you can do all of the prep the night before.
What do you need to make a Breakfast Skillet?
I always start by gathering the ingredients I need to create my recipe. In chef speak we call this the Mise en Place (everything in its place).
As you can see you can prep all of the ingredients that night before. Then it’s just a matter of getting the ingredients cooked and put together which should take 30 – 40 minutes.
Can I substitute ingredients in my Breakfast Skillet?
I used Mexican-style chorizo for this recipe, but you could use any sausage that you like. I prefer loose sausage meat, but you could also use diced or sliced cooked sausage. If you like Andouille or Italian sausage it’s all up to you.
I love bacon so that was a no-brainer for me. If you prefer to leave out the bacon it’s not going to hurt the recipe. Or go with all bacon and no sausage; remember recipes are guidelines.
Onions and bell peppers are a must; once cooked they add flavors that can’t be replicated. That being said, it’s your food and it should have ingredients you enjoy eating. My wife hates both onions and peppers so they rarely make it into anything I cook at home. Tomatoes are just for color, as is the chopped parsley, it’s your call.
*Potatoes can be any variety you like, including hash brown or sweet potatoes.
*I love cheddar cheese but you can use your favorite type of cheese with this breakfast skillet recipe.
Can I cook all of the ingredients in the oven?
You sure can. I would use separate pans for the bacon and sausage, so you can drain the extra grease off before mixing the ingredients together. You can roast the potatoes for half the time before adding the onions, peppers and tomatoes.
After the ingredients are cooked, mix them all together and top with cheese, parsley and eggs. Finish the dish under the broiler. Okay, it’s one pan but no stovetop is required if you choose this route.
You could also cook this on your barbecue grill if that skill set is in your wheelhouse.
Do I need to use a Cast Iron Pan for a Skillet Breakfast?
No, you don’t. You can use any type of pan you like. Honestly, in this case, the cast iron skillet is more for presentation.
This can easily be made on sheet pans or in your favorite casserole dish.
I did use the cast iron pan for cooking the bacon and chorizo. After removing the meats and draining off the grease I then sauteed the onions and peppers in a little of the grease. Feel free to use olive oil if you prefer.
How do I make a Cheesy Breakfast Skillet?
Now that I’ve explained the hows and whys let’s get on with how I prepared my skillet breakfast.
After doing all the prep, the first step was roasting the potatoes.
I used parchment paper to line my baking sheet, making the end process and clean up so much easier.
After the potatoes, meats, onions and peppers are ready, put them all together on the sheet pan. Top the mixture with cheese and finely chopped parsley.
Place the pan back in the oven for 3 minutes to let the cheese melt.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and very carefully pick up the parchment and slide all the ingredients into a cast-iron skillet (or casserole dish).
Add whole eggs to the top of the ingredients. Don’t worry if a few of the eggs break, it happens. Cracking them into a bowl first and using a tablespoon to place the eggs will help keep the eggs from breaking.
Make sure to season the eggs well with sea salt and black pepper, sprinkling a little more parsley for color.
*Chef Dennis Tip – Making little wells in the mixture will help keep them in place.
Turn on the broiler and place the cast iron pan back into the oven. This will cook the eggs.
I like mine sunny side up so I let them cook just long enough to see the whites becoming solid. If you leave them too long the yolks will start to harden.
*If you like the eggs done more, let them cook longer
Do I have to cook the eggs in the oven?
No, you don’t.
You can finish your Cheesy Breakfast Skillet on the stovetop. Simply cover the pot with a lid (or aluminum foil) and let the heat and steam cook the eggs.
You could also pan-fry the eggs and place them on top of individual servings.
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Cheesy Breakfast Skillet
Equipment
- Cast Iron or Ovenproof Skillet
Ingredients
- 4 cups potatoes washed and cut into cubes
- ½ cup red onions diced
- ½ cup sweet peppers diced
- ½ cup grape tomatoes or diced tomatoes
- 4 ounces bacon cooked and diced
- 4 ounces chorizo (or your favorite sausage) crumbled
- 4 ounces Cabot Cheddar (your favorite type) shredded
- 8 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon parsley fine chop for garnish
- Sea Salt to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
- prep all ingredients
- mix diced potatoes with enough olive oil to lightly coat them then season heavily with black pepper and sea salt. Place the potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place into a preheated oven for 20 minutes.
- In a Cast Iron or regular frying pan, cook diced bacon and loose chorizo. Chorizo will finish cooking first (about 5 minutes) remove it from the pan and allow excess grease to drain. Continue cooking bacon until semi crisp (3-5 additional minutes). Remove from pan, allowing grease to drain. Remove the remainder of the grease, leaving a tablespoon to sautee the onions and peppers.Set sausage and bacon aside till needed.
- Place the onions and peppers into the heated pan with 1 tablespoon of the grease pulled from the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes.
- When the potatoes are done, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Spread the cooked sausage, bacon, onions and peppers onto the potatoes and gently mix.
- Add shredded Cabot Cheese to the top of the mixture and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
- Place baking sheet back into the oven for 2-3 minutes until the cheese has slightly melted.
- Remove pan from oven and set the oven to broil.
- Carefully take parchment paper by both ends and pour the ingredients into the cast iron skillet (you can use a casserole dish instead).
- Once in the pan, make little wells in the mixture for the eggs. Gently place a whole egg in each well.
- Season the eggs with sea salt and black pepper. Sprinkle chopped parsley over the top of the ingredients for color.
- Place Cast Iron pan under the broiler and allow eggs to cook (about 3-5 minutes). Once the whites have solidified the eggs are done. I like my eggs loose and sunny side up, so I cook them just long enough. Feel free to cook them longer. *You can also use the alternate method of covering the pan and cooking on the stovetop allowing the steam to cook the eggs. Or fry the eggs separately and place them on top of the individual servings of the potato mixture.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately. I served mine with flour tortillas.
Jo
I’m a breakfast person and love hearty breakfast like this. Skillet potatoes are so hard to resist, when flavors are so amazing, I wish to eat it every single day. Delicious!