Bauernfrühstück (German potato, ham and egg skillet)
Crispy fried potatoes, onion and ham set in a golden egg in one skillet, the German farmer’s breakfast that makes a great cheap dinner.
- 35 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.18 a serving
- 390 calories
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ lb russet potatoes
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 8 oz diced cooked ham
- 6 large eggs
- 2 tbsp milk
- 2 tbsp chives, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 390 calories, 24 g protein, 37 g carbs and 16 g fat, and costs about $2.18 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No russet potatoes? Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No chives? Green onions work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Scrub the potatoes, cut them into ½-inch , and microwave them with the water in a covered bowl for 5 minutes, until just tender. .
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Timer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: The microwave head start means the potatoes only need to crisp in the pan, not cook all the way through.Heat the butter and oil in a large nonstick over medium-high. Spread the potatoes out and fry 8 to 10 minutes, turning now and then, until and .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Add the onion and ham and cook 4 minutes, stirring, until the onion and the ham is hot.
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Beat the eggs with the milk, salt and pepper and pour them evenly over the potatoes.
Turn the heat to low, cover, and cook 4 to 6 minutes, without stirring, until the eggs are set on top.
Low heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Peek after 4 minutes. When the middle no longer jiggles when you shake the pan, it’s done.Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Cut it into wedges right in the pan, scatter the chives over, and serve.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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One-pan dinners ›Pantry dinners ›What to make with eggs and potatoes ›