Trail Breakfast Bagel
A hot sandwich on day one, before the cooler weather in your pack runs out.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 89
- protein
- 28 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 3 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 11 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
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Day one only
- Basic
Ingredients
| Bagel | 1 | dense ones survive a pack better than soft ones |
|---|---|---|
| Sliced cheese | 1 slice | cheddar or provolone |
| Fully cooked sausage patty | 1 | packed frozen, thaws on the walk in |
| Egg | 1 | raw in the shell, or cooked at home and frozen |
| Oil or butter | 1 tsp | for the pan |
Method
- Set a small skillet on the stove over low flame. Split the bagel and lay both halves cut side down until they brown. Watch it, a thin pan scorches bread fast.
- Pull the bagel out. Add the oil and crack in the egg. Break the yolk and flip it once so it cooks through.
- Slide the sausage patty in next to the egg. It is already cooked, so you only need it hot, about two minutes a side.
- Lay the cheese on the hot patty and cover the pan with a lid or a piece of foil for thirty seconds to melt it.
- Stack egg, sausage, and cheese on the bagel and close it.
This is a day-one meal and nothing else. Cooked sausage, cheese, and an egg left unrefrigerated are fine for the first morning out and questionable after that, so eat it the first day and plan something shelf-stable for the rest of the trip.
The original assumes a jet-style stove with a pot support plus a light frying pan, and that is still the setup that works. A pot alone will not toast a bagel evenly. If you are only carrying a pot, cook the egg in it, warm the patty in it, and skip the toasting step. Raw eggs travel better than most people expect in the shell, and one carried in the middle of a bagel bag usually arrives intact.
Packing
Freeze the patty and, if you precooked it, the egg. They ride in the middle of the pack wrapped together, and they act as a small ice block for the cheese. Bagel goes on top so it does not get crushed.
Variations
- Skip the fresh egg and carry a foil packet of ham or a pouch of chicken instead. Then it keeps past day one.
- Hot sauce packets from a fast food stop weigh nothing and cut the fat.
- No skillet? Wrap the whole assembled sandwich in foil and set it on coals for five minutes a side.
https://campfirefoodie.com/delicious-backpacking-bagel-recipe