Sausage and Potato Breakfast Scramble
A skillet breakfast casserole rebuilt out of dried eggs and freeze-dried sausage. Nothing needs a fridge.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 138
- protein
- 31 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 350 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated hash brown potatoes | 1 cup | the boxed shelf-stable kind, not frozen |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried cooked sausage crumbles | 1/2 cup | or a shelf-stable summer sausage, diced |
| Dried bell pepper flakes | 3 tbsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Whole egg powder | 6 tbsp | equals about 4 eggs |
| Powdered whole milk | 2 tbsp | |
| Freeze-dried shredded cheddar | 1/3 cup | |
| Olive oil or ghee | 1 tbsp | |
| Kosher salt and black pepper | 1/2 tsp total | |
| Dried chives | 1 tsp | stands in for the green onions |
Method
- Put the hash browns, sausage, pepper, and onion in the pot with 300 ml of water. Bring it to a boil, then cut the flame to low and hold it for eight minutes, lid on. The potatoes need that whole time.
- While that runs, shake the egg powder and milk powder with 50 ml of cold water in a bottle or bag until there are no lumps. Do this cold. Hot water scrambles it in the bottle.
- Check the pot. If there is standing water, simmer it off. Wet potatoes make wet eggs.
- Add the oil, then pour in the egg mixture. Stir constantly over the lowest heat you can hold. It goes from liquid to set in about two minutes.
- Off the heat, fold in the cheese, salt, pepper, and chives. Cover for a minute and eat.
The original is a baked casserole: raw eggs poured over sautéed potatoes and sausage, then an hour in the oven or a night in a slow cooker. Neither is available on a stove that runs one burner off a canister. So this is the same set of ingredients handled as a scramble, cooked in the order each thing actually needs.
Potatoes take the longest and eggs take the shortest, which is why the potatoes rehydrate first and the eggs go in last, off a low flame. Reconstituting the egg powder in cold water in a separate bottle is the step people skip, and it is the one that decides whether you get eggs or lumps. Freeze-dried cheddar goes in after the heat is off so it melts instead of turning to oil in the pot.
Packing
Two bags: potatoes, sausage, pepper, onion, salt, and pepper in one; egg powder and milk powder in a second, since that one gets mixed with cold water separately. Cheese and oil ride on their own.
Variations
- Skip the sausage and double the cheese for a vegetarian version. Dried mushrooms add back the savory weight.
- A packet of hot sauce or a spoon of salsa powder at the end cuts the richness.
- At a car camp, cook it in a small cast iron pan and let the bottom brown before the eggs go in.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/breakfast-casserole