This skillet breakfast without eggs is made with crispy hash browns, kale, breakfast sausage, and cilantro avocado sauce for extra flavor!
Table of Contents
This recipe is…
This breakfast skillet is so balanced and flavorful, you won’t even miss the eggs! Hash browns crisped in the skillet give a great texture combined with the spices of the breakfast sausage and tender, sauteed kale. The cilantro avocado sauce is the true MVP in adding a creamy and tangy flavor that brings the dish together. If you can’t find a breakfast sausage that you enjoy, you can also use ground pork seasoned with salt, pepper, and fennel.
Ingredients
The ingredients are super simple, but definitely not shy on flavor!
For the Breakfast Skillet
- Breakfast sausage – 2 pounds bulk pork breakfast sausage (without casing) make up the protein component of this eggless dish.
- Kale – one head of kale (de-stemmed and chopped) packs this skillet with tons of vitamins and minerals.
- Lemon juice – 2 tablespoons of lemon juice bring an acidic brightness to the dish.
- Salt – a ¾ teaspoon of salt and…
- Pepper – a ¼ teaspoon of pepper helps season the ingredients.
- Ghee or butter – 3 tablespoons of ghee or butter (or fat of choice) provide flavor and help crisp up the potatoes.
- Potatoes – 2 pounds of shredded potatoes (or frozen hash browns) make up the crispy base to the skillet.
For the Sauce
- Avocado – 1 small avocado creates a creamy base for the sauce.
- Cilantro – a ½ of a cup of cilantro provides a fresh and mild flavor.
- Lime juice – 1 tablespoon of lime juice gives the sauce a bright and zesty note.
- Salt – a ½ teaspoon of salt brings all of the flavors together.
- Water – 2-3 tablespoons of water help smooth out the sauce.
Ingredient Modifications
This skillet breakfast is the perfect harmony of flavors, but here are some delicious ways to change up the dish.
- Add cheese – my favorite addition to any meal! Adding a Mexican blend of cheeses would give this skillet a southwestern feel.
- Use a different protein – the seasoning and spice from the breakfast sausage is really tasty, but you can use any protein of choice if you prefer a different meat or don’t have any breakfast sausage. Bacon, ham, or carnitas would taste great!
- Sub the potatoes – try sweet potatoes or even shredded carrots (trust me! This recipe will make you a believer) in lieu of the regular potatoes.
Supplies Needed to make this Recipe
How to Make
This breakfast skillet is a breeze to whip up, and the best part is that all the cooking happens in one skillet!
- Brown the sausage – in a cast iron skillet over medium heat, brown the breakfast sausage for 7-10 minutes, until browned and crisp. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the kale – to the pan, add the chopped and de-stemmed kale and saute for 2-3 minutes until the kale is wilted.
- Add salt and lemon juice – to the kale, add ¼ teaspoon of the salt and the lemon juice, toss to coat, then remove from the pan and set aside.
- Cook the potatoes – add the 3 tablespoons of ghee or butter to the pan. Once melted, add the potatoes to the skillet. Season the potatoes with ½-1 teaspoon of salt (to taste) and ¼ teaspoon of pepper. Cook the potatoes for 5-6 minutes until crisp on one side.
- Flip the potatoes – once crisp, flip the potatoes and cook an additional 3-4 minutes on the other side, or until the potatoes are crispy and cooked through.
- Add kale and breakfast sausage – back to the pan, add the cooked kale and breakfast sausage on top of the potatoes.
- Blend the sauce – to a blender, add the sauce ingredients. Add 1 tablespoon of water at a time and blend until the desired consistency is achieved.
- Drizzle the sauce – drizzle the sauce on top of the breakfast skillet.
- Serve and enjoy – garnish with additional cilantro (if desired) and enjoy!
How to Store and Reheat
To store this breakfast skillet, let it cool, then store it in an airtight container in the fridge and consume within 3 days. To freeze, store in an airtight container, freezer-friendly bag, or casserole dish and seal tightly. You can freeze the avocado sauce in small batches, the full sauce on its own, or drizzled over the hash browns, kale, and sausage.
To reheat, you can microwave, or my preference, reheat in the cast iron on the stove to re-crisp the hash browns and sausage.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s relatively quick and easy to cook hash browns on the stove. First, heat the skillet over medium heat and add your fat of choice (ghee, butter, or olive oil work great). Once the pan is hot, add the hash browns in an even layer (be careful as you add them so they don’t spatter). Let them cook on one side for 5-6 minutes, then flip and continue cooking the other side an additional 3-4 minutes until crisp and cooked through.
Yes! Cooking breakfast sausage, or any meat, in a cast iron skillet is my preference because of the crispy sear you can achieve on the exterior and the flavor you can achieve.
To cook and brown your breakfast sausage, you’ll want to cook it for 7-10 minutes until it is browned, crisp, and no longer pink.
When cooking frozen hash browns in a skillet, you want to make sure the pan is to temperature (over medium to medium-high heat) when you add the hash browns so they can pan-fry in the ghee, butter, or fat of choice.
You can certainly make this egg free breakfast ahead of time, but the hash browns may lose their crispness. I recommend keeping the sauce separate until you are ready to heat and serve your breakfast.
More Favorite Egg-Free Breakfast Recipes
Healthy Breakfast Skillet without Eggs
Ingredients
For the Breakfast Skillet:
For the Sauce:
- 1 small avocado
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2-3 tablespoons water
- Additional cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- In a cast iron over medium heat, brown the breakfast sausage for 7-10 minutes, until browned and crisp. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add the chopped and de-stemmed kale to the pan along, and saute for 2-3 minutes until wilted. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and the lemon juice, then remove from pan and set aside.
- Add the 3 tablespoons ghee to the pan. Once melted, add the potatoes. Season potatoes with 1/2-1 teaspoon salt, to taste, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, then flip, and cook an additional 3-4 minutes, or until the potatoes are crispy and cooked through. Return the kale and breakfast sausage to the pan.
- Blend together all sauce ingredients, adding in water 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Drizzle the sauce on top of the breakfast skillet and serve.
Nutrition
I can’t wait to try this! Do you think it would be alright with sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes?
Definitely, Katrina!
I can’t wait to try this! What brand of gluten-free Hash Browns do you prefer or recommend? Thank you!!
Alexia and Simply Potatoes are both good options, Jenn!
We love making this for brinner as well! The entire family enjoys! Thank you for always having egg free breakfast options!
So glad to hear that, Robyn! Thank you for sharing this with us!
Should you thaw the hashbrowns first?
You don’t have to! Cassy actually used partially thawed hashbrowns when she wrote the recipe, but totally thawed or frozen will work fine. If your hashbrowns are frozen, they may just take a few extra minutes to crisp up!
Hi! Quick question. If I were to freeze this, so I freeze assembled in the cast iron skillet itself? And how do you reheat it? Thanks! Excited to try this!
I’d freeze it in an airtight container, Lisa, and then reheat either in the microwave (for quick and easy) or in an oiled pan on the stove (for crispy!) Enjoy!
Great recipe. I have a lot of food allergies so when I come to visit my daughter-in-law finds new recipes to make so I can eat them too. This recipes is awesome.
Hi, the instructions aren’t super clear so just had a question. Do you break the casing on the breakfast sausage and crumble the meat up to cook it? Or do you cook the sausages whole? Also, in the instructions you mention ground beef but there is no ground beef in the ingredients. Is it missing or was this a typo?
Hi that’s a typo, it should just say breakfast sausage! I’ve edited the recipe to reflect that, and you’ll be removing the breakfast sausages from the casing, though we used ground breakfast sausage with no casings here.