With the holidays right around the corner, there are a million and one recipes on how to cook a turkey or a ham or a prime rib, but what about those guests/family members that come into town and stay with you who need to eat something other than just the big holiday meal? We all know that it’s leftovers for lunch and dinner after the big festive feast, but what about breakfast? Or what about the days before that epic Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner? Don’t worry. I’m here to help with a simple breakfast skillet that is as delicious as it is easy. Let’s get after it and make a Holiday Breakfast Skillet.

Holiday Breakfast Skillet Ingredients:

1.5 lbs cubed potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 sweet bell pepper, chopped (any color but green)
1 lb Johnsonville Ground Italian Sausage (sweet or spicy)
5 oz fresh spinach
5-6 eggs
6 oz fresh grated cheese (we used brick cheese and apple smoked cheddar – more on these later)
1 baguette of bread
2 fresno peppers, minced (substitute baby bell peppers)
Everything bagel seasoning
2 tbs asiago cheese, freshly grated
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

***Makes one pan

Dumping the hot coals into the grill
Dump the coals and let’s get this show on the road

How to Cook a Breakfast Skillet

Start off by cubing the potatoes while the grill gets up temp. Target temp is between 300-350 degrees in the pan. We will be using both oil and butter as I prefer the way using both fats browns up the potatoes.

First pour the oil into a cast iron pan:

pouring olive oil into a pan
Drizzle that olive oil. Don’t worry about it being extra virgin olive oil. Just use regular olive oil

Then drop the butter:

Butter melting in two cast iron pans
Mmmmmmmm buttah!!!

In this case, we made two skillets of this recipe. One with the Johnsonville Sweet Italian Sausage and the other with the Johnsonville Hot Italian Sausage. The only difference between the two pans besides the sausage types is one got topped with red minced fresno chilies and the other with yellow and orange bell peppers. Red went on the Johsnonville Hot Italian Sausage pan which made it easier to determine which was which. Now back to the recipe.

Once the oil and butter in the pan are hot, drop in the potatoes:

Cubed potatoes in cast iron pans
Load up the taters

Once the potatoes brown on the bottom, flip them over to brown them all the way around:

Flipping browned potatoes
Browning up nicely. Time to flip
A spoonful of browned potatoes
Mmmmmm crispy spuds

Once the potatoes have browned most of the way around, drop in the peppers and onions:

Sprinkling some onions on the skillets
Sprinkle some onions
Sprinkling peppers into a pan
Don’t forget the peppers

Make sure to hit the peppers, onions and taters with a sprinkle of salt:

Salting the dish
Oh so salty!!!

And some pepper:

Peppering the skillets
With salt must come pepper

Time to stick the sausage in

Mix the peppers and onions throughout the pan and once the peppers soften up a bit and the onions turn a little translucent add the sausage:

Adding sausage to the dish
Time for the linchpin of this dish, the Johnsonvlle Italian Sausage

We used the hot Italian in this pan, but go with whichever Johnsonville Italian Sausage variety you prefer. I bet that chorizo variety is really fantastic too.

Break up the sausage into bite size chunks and work the chunks through the potato/pepper/onion mixture:

Breaking up the sausage
Work that sausage into the pan
Browning up the sausage
Browning up nicely on the right, just added on the left

Once the sausage browns all the way, add the spinach:

Adding spinach to the pan
Add a little greenery

When the spinach wilts, mix it throughout the cast iron pan:

Spinach mixed through the concoction
Spinach mixed through the concoction

Eggs need nests

Next up, take a spatula and create little nests in the skillet for each egg:

Making nests in the sausage and potatoes to place the eggs
Make room for the eggs

And then drop a raw egg in each nest:

Cracking eggs into skillet
Check the one handed egg crack!
Adding egg to the skillet
Another one handed egg drop

Once all the nests have an egg in them add the cheese:

Cheese added to a breakfast skillet
We used brick cheese because it is very stretchy and makes for an amazing picture. We also used some smoked cheddar

Now put on the lid to allow the eggs to firm up and the cheese to melt:

Add the lid to heat the eggs and the cheese from the top
Add the lid to heat the pan from the top

While the eggs are cooking and that cheese is melting, let’s toast some crostini (the plural of crostini is crostini). Slice the baguette on a bias about an inch thick. Place them on a cutting board or in a pan and hit them with some spray oil on both sides:

Spraying bread slices with spray oil
The oil will help keep the bread from burning over the hot coals

Toast the bread on both sides over the hot fire which will only take a few moments so don’t step away for a mimosa or a trip to the restroom:

Toasted bread
Mmmmmm toasty!

Remove the crostini from the heat and set aside.

Once the eggs are solid and the cheese is melted, remove the skillet from the heat and top with the minced Fresno peppers and everything bagel seasoning:

Everything bagel seasoning
Everything bagel seasoning adds great flavor, texture and color
Season that skillet!
Season the eggs!

We are almost done

Add the chopped parsley and then grate the asiago over the top:

Holiday Breakfast Skillet
Asiago is GRATE! I mean, grated!

Just about ready:

Holiday Breakfast Skillet
This skillet is ready to serve

Don’t forget those crostini:

Holiday Breakfast Skillet
The crostini make it perfect

Now place a crostini on a plate and add a scoop of the skillet making sure an egg is in the middle:

Serving a spoonful of the potato/sausage/egg/cheese concoction
Mmmmmm stretchy cheese. THAT’S why I use brick cheese!

Now serve:

Breakfast is served!
Breakfast is served!

Holiday Breakfast Skillet Summary

So which was better? Both versions were equally amazing. One just had a little more zing than the other. Both had the hearty potatoes, savory Johnsonville Italian Sausage, gooey cheese and firm eggs. This dish is an absolute home run and sure to satisfy your family and friends visiting for the holidays.

I’d like to thank Johnsonville Sausage for bringing this post to you as they sponsored this one which allows me to do what I do.

Also, you can follow us on our GrillinFools Facebook pageInstagram, and YouTube feeds

Holiday Breakfast Skillet

Sausage, egg, potato, cheese and spinach holiday breakfast skillet made with Johnsonville Ground Italian Sausage perfect for those visiting holiday guests.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 20 minutes
Course: Breakfast, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine: American, American Fare, Breakfast, Grilling, Holiday Meal, North American
Keyword: Breakfast, Breakfast Sausage, Breakfast Skillet, cast iron, Cast Iron Skillet, Eggs, Fried Potatoes, Sausage
Servings: 6 People

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lb potato cubed
  • 4 tbsp salted butter (½ stick)
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • ½ onion chopped
  • 1 sweet bell pepper chopped (any color but green)
  • 1 lb Johnsonville Ground Italian Sausage sweet or spicy
  • 5 oz fresh spinach
  • 5 to 6 eggs
  • 6 oz grated cheese (we used brick cheese and apple smoked cheddar - more on these later)
  • 1 baguette bread
  • 2 fresno pepper minced (substitute baby bell peppers)
  • everything bagel seasoning
  • 2 tbsp Asiago cheese freshly grated
  • flat leaf parsley chopped
  • salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Prepare the grill for medium to medium high heat with the target temp in the pan at 300-350F
  • Cube the potatoes as the grill and pan come up to temp
  • Add oil and butter to the pan
  • Once the butter melts and the pan is back up to temp, drop in the potatoes
  • When the potatoes have browned most of the way around, add the onions and peppers and season with salt and pepper
  • Work the onions and peppers through and cook until they soften up a bit
  • Add the Johnsonville Ground Italian Sausage and break up into bite size pieces
  • Once the sausage has browned most of the way through, add the spinach
  • When the spinach wilts, mix it throughout the skillet and make nests for the eggs
  • Crack an egg into each nest (bonus points if you do it one handed)
  • Add the cheese and place a lid on the skillet
  • While the cheese is melting and eggs are firming up, slice the baguette on the bias and oil each side of the bread slices with spray oil
  • Toast the bread over the fire on both sides, remove from heat and set aside
  • Once the cheese has melted and the eggs have firmed up, remove the lid and top with everything bagel seasoning, salt and pepper to taste, Fresno peppers, flat leaf parsley and asiago cheese
  • Serve a scoop of the breakfast skillet over or next to a crostini

 

 

 

 

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.
Scott Thomas

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