This 4 layer breakfast skillet is like having and entire breakfast buffet in one dish. A hash-brown base is loaded with scrambled eggs, ham, and cheese. The best part though: you can customize it any way you like, with anything you like. I’m going to be mixing up my next one by adding some bacon onions, peppers, and mushrooms!
I’m going step by step today so that you can see just how easy it is! Please (pleeeeaaaassseee) don’t judge how disgustingly dirty my cooktop is… I promise, I’ve since cleaned it, it’s sparkling now… but there was a solid month there where I just did not give a crap.
First up, you fire up the heat and grease your skillet. Once it’s nice and hot you add the shredded potatoes and press them down with a spatula. If you’re in the US you can actually buy frozen shredded potatoes and save yourself this step – I’m not so lucky in Canada.
Because I like my potatoes extra crispy, once the bottom is browned I flip them in sections then press it back down to crisp up the other side. An unnecessary step, but a delicious one. Once you “flip” the potatoes, just give them a generous hit of salt and pepper, then toss on the scrambled eggs.
Then the ham, or bacon, or whatever else you want to use (onions, peppers, mushrooms). I know, you can see how awesome this is getting now!
Cheese, delicious cheese! This is the amount I put on to take a picture. Then I shamelessly added another giant handful because I could.
And then THIS came out of the oven, and all was right in my world. Breakfast skillets are the new Bieber… you don’t want to like it, but you won’t be able to help yourself. That damn apology album… so frigging catchy.
It’s like an entire breakfast buffet jumped into my skillet and came out sliceable.
That’s right – I said sliceable. You know what that translates to: My kids believing that it was breakfast pizza and eating it, eggs and all, which is basically akin to winning the lottery in this house.
I’m not trying to pressure you, never. But if you don’t make this the image of it may haunt you for the rest of your life.
4 Layer Breakfast Skillet
An all in one breakfast skillet with potatoes, bacon, eggs, and cheese.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp bacon fat (or lard, shortening, or vegetable oil)
- 3 russet potatoes
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 eggs, cooked scrambled
- 1/2 cup cubed ham, pre-cooked (or use bacon, pre-cooked)
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese (or use cheddar, jack, or a combination)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Optional: diced onions, sweet peppers, mushrooms, or anything else you enjoy
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425ºF
- Peel the potatoes and them grate them into a bowl of cold water using the large holes of your cheese grater. Let soak in the water for 5 minutes.
- While the potatoes are soaking, make some scrambled eggs
- Drain the potatoes in a colander, then press out all of the extra water (I put the potatoes into a clean dish towel and then twist it up to ring out the water). Place the potatoes in a medium bowl, add the beaten egg, and mix to combine.
- Melt the bacon fat in a large cast-iron skillet (or other oven safe skillet). When the pan is very hot and all the fat melted, carefully add the potatoes in an even layer. Keep the heat on medium and let cook until the bottom is a crispy brown.
- I like my base extra crispy, so I then give the base a flip as best I can, in sections, then press it back together to get the bottom to crips up again and be nice and even. You can just crisp one side thought too. Season generously with salt and peppers.
- Top the potatoes with your scrambled eggs, ham, and cheese.
- Place under a low broil and leave until the cheese is bubbly and lightly browned. Slice and serve while warm.
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Bert Sletten