Skillet Eggs on Sprouts with Bacon
Two fried eggs over a pile of raw sprouts, with bacon and its fat doing the dressing.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 70
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 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
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Eggs | 2 | carried in a hard case or pre-cracked into a bottle |
|---|---|---|
| Bacon | 2 slices | thick cut renders more fat |
| Butter | 1 tsp | only if the bacon runs lean |
| Sunflower sprouts or other microgreens | 1 large handful | sturdy shoots, not delicate salad greens |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Set the skillet over moderate heat. Coals off to the side beat open flame here.
- Lay the bacon flat and cook it until it stiffens, turning once. Pull it onto a plate and leave every drop of fat in the pan.
- Pile the sprouts on the plate while the pan is still hot.
- Crack the eggs into the bacon fat. Add the butter if the pan looks dry. Cook until the whites set and the yolks still move, about three minutes.
- Slide the eggs onto the sprouts. Crumble the bacon over them, then the pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
- Break the yolks and toss the whole plate. The yolk and hot fat are the dressing.
This is a hot-pan-over-cold-greens dish, which is why the order matters. The sprouts never touch the skillet. They get wilted by the eggs landing on them and dressed by the fat and yolk running down, so they keep some crunch instead of collapsing into a grey mat.
Sunflower shoots hold up better than anything from a salad bag because their stems are thick and full of water. Rendered bacon fat is doing double duty here: it fries the eggs and it becomes the dressing, so there is no oil or vinaigrette to carry. Keep the yolks loose. A hard yolk leaves you eating dry greens.
Packing
Bacon stays sealed in its package in the cooler. Sprouts go in a rigid container, not a bag, or they arrive as compost. Eggs travel best pre-cracked into a leakproof bottle, which also removes the shell problem.
Variations
- Shelf-stable version: fully cooked bacon crumbles and a rehydrated powdered egg scramble. No cooler, same plate.
- Grow the sprouts yourself in a jar on the trip. Seeds weigh nothing and go from dry to edible in four days.
- Diced tomato, sliced radish, or capers if the cooler has room.
https://barebonesliving.com/blogs/recipes-cooking/skillet-fried-eggs-over-microgreens-with-bacon-crumbles