Italian Sausage Breakfast Catastrophe
Dutch oven breakfast bake of sausage, peppers, hash browns, and mozzarella. Feeds eight off one lid of coals.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 60
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 60 min
- total time
- 75 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Italian sausage | 1 lb | hot, mild, or sweet |
|---|---|---|
| White onion | 1 medium | diced |
| Red bell pepper | 1 | cored and diced |
| Garlic | 3 cloves | minced |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Eggs | 6 | |
| Milk | 1/3 cup | shelf-stable boxed milk works |
| Frozen hash browns | 20 oz bag | thawed before it goes in the oven |
| Shredded mozzarella | 2 cups | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Green onions | 3 | thinly sliced, for the top |
Method
- Get a bed of coals going, or set the 12-inch Dutch oven on a propane burner. Warm the oil in the oven.
- Cook the onion and bell pepper about 5 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and give it 2 more minutes.
- Add the sausage and break it up with a spoon as it browns. Pull the oven off the heat.
- Stir in the thawed hash browns and 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella.
- Beat the eggs, milk, and black pepper together in a mug or bowl. Pour that over the potatoes and stir it through.
- Scatter the last 1/2 cup of cheese on top, put the lid on, and set the oven over 9 coals with 18 on the lid. That is roughly 375F.
- Bake an hour, adding fresh coals as the old ones grey out. Rest it 5 minutes off the heat, then top with green onions.
A breakfast bake is the cheapest way to feed eight people something hot when the morning is cold and everyone wants to break camp. The hash browns are the structure: they soak up the egg and hold it together so you can cut squares instead of scooping curds.
Thawing matters more than anything else here. Frozen potatoes dump water into the eggs and you end up with a soggy middle after a full hour of coals. Pull the bag from the cooler early. The 18-over-9 coal split puts most of the heat on the lid, which browns the cheese instead of scorching the bottom.
Packing
Dice the onion and pepper at home and bag them with the minced garlic. Eggs travel beaten in a leakproof bottle. Keep the sausage, hash browns, and cheese cold; the hash browns should be thawed by the time you cook, so pull them out of the cooler an hour ahead.
Variations
- Swap in mild sausage and a diced green pepper if the crew does not want heat.
- At home, build it in a 9x13 dish, cover with foil, bake 20 minutes at 375F, then uncover for 15 more.
- Cooked crumbled bacon instead of sausage, with cheddar instead of mozzarella, gets you back to the standard version.
https://chuckwagoneer.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/breakfast-catastrophe-italian-style