Wake 'Em Up Breakfast Bake
Layered tortillas, ham, cheese, and eggs baked in a dutch oven. Feeds a whole camp before anyone has to think.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 69
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 65 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
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Ham steak or thick-cut deli ham | 3/4 lb | cubed at home, 1/4 to 1/2 inch |
|---|---|---|
| Jalapenos | 3 large | seeded and sliced thin |
| Flour tortillas | 6, 11-inch | |
| Shredded cheese | 4 cups (1 lb) | colby-jack or a mexican blend |
| Eggs | 10 large | |
| Milk | 3/4 cup | or 3 tbsp powdered milk plus 3/4 cup water |
| Cumin | 1/4 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Onion powder | 1/4 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/4 tsp | |
| Oil or butter | 1 tbsp | for the oven |
Method
- Wipe the inside of a 12-inch dutch oven with oil. Scatter a third of the jalapeno slices across the bottom.
- Tear two tortillas into rough one-inch pieces and spread them over the peppers. Add a cup of cheese, then a third of the ham.
- Repeat twice more. Three layers, ending with ham.
- Beat the eggs with the milk, cumin, pepper, salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Pour it evenly over the stack.
- Put the lid on and leave it 20 to 30 minutes somewhere cool. The tortillas need that time to drink the custard.
- Bake at about 350F: for a 12-inch oven that is roughly 8 coals under and 16 on the lid. Go 45 minutes, rotating the oven and the lid a quarter turn every 15.
- It is done when the center stops jiggling and a knife comes out clean. Pull the bottom coals and let it sit ten minutes before cutting.
This is a strata, which means the bread does the structural work. Tortillas are the camp version: they hold their shape in a hot dutch oven better than sandwich bread, and they do not turn to paste. The rest is layered so every serving gets peppers, cheese, and ham instead of the fat all pooling at the bottom.
The 20-minute soak is not optional. Dry tortilla under baked egg is chewy in a bad way, and the wait is free time while the coals come up to temperature anyway. Keep more heat on the lid than under it or the bottom scorches before the custard sets. This one stays a cooler recipe by design — ten real eggs and a pound of cheese have no shelf-stable equal worth eating.
Packing
Cube the ham, slice the jalapenos, and mix the five spices into one small jar at home. Cheese, ham, and eggs live in the cooler; tortillas and the spice jar ride dry. Cracking the eggs into a screw-top bottle before you leave saves a bowl and a mess.
Variations
- Powdered milk and a shelf-stable egg substitute cut the cooler load if you are running out of ice on day three.
- Swap the ham for a can of black beans, drained hard, for a vegetarian pan.
- Green chiles instead of jalapenos if the group skews toward kids.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/wake_em_up_-2427.asp