Full English Breakfast

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There is only one true hangover cure and that is none other than the Full English Breakfast. Sure, you could try alternatives like McDonalds or go healthy with a Juice cleanse or some other bizarre choice. However, for those who know – this is the only true answer. The famous Full English Breakfast is a behemoth of a meal and is powered down by thousands of hungry English folk on a Sunday morning after a big night out. It’s a meal of epic proportions, and worthy only of those with the mightiest of appetites!

What makes up a Full English Breakfast

This famous dish can have a few tweaks here and there, and there are some alterations and options you can consider when preparing this dish. However, the core of a classic Full English Breakfast should always consist of Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Toast, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Baked Beans. We’ll break all of this down for you right now!

Eggs

Generally speaking, a classic Full English Breakfast is going to serve up the Eggs fried, sunny side up. A popular alternative to Fried Eggs is Scrambled, however we recommend fried for the ultimate experience. There’s something about being able to dip a corner of toast into that runny Egg Yolk that is so satisfying, and makes for a great experience when enjoying this dish

Fry all the Eggs up together and allow the Egg Whites to merge into each other. That way once they’re cooked you can simply slide all the Eggs straight out of the skillet and onto the plate in one go. Depending on the appetite will dictate how many Eggs to cook. We recommend an absolute minimum of 2. You can go for more, but remember, there’s so many other things on this plate of food that it will get crowded!

Bacon

A cornerstone of a Full English Breakfast (or any good breakfast for that matter) is Bacon. In the UK they use Short Cut Bacon, otherwise known as Canadian Bacon to the folks in America. Essentially, this is the meaty part of the Pork Loin that is thinly sliced. The consistency of Short Cut Bacon is very different to Streaky Bacon. It isn’t as crunchy, and instead has as much meatier flavor

You can switch out the Bacon to your preference. Honestly we’re not too fussed about what kind of Bacon you use. However, you do need to include Bacon. It’s simply not a Full English Breakfast without a pile of Bacon on the plate!

Sausage / Black Pudding

Why stop at just adding Bacon to the plate when you can add even more meat? Sausages are a very traditional and tasty addition to the plate, loading even more food onto this gigantic platter of breakfast goodies

Now, for a completely traditional Full English Breakfast you should use Black Pudding. For those that aren’t familiar, Black Pudding is basically a Sausage that is flavored with the inclusion of Pigs Blood. That’s right, the Sausage is soaked in Pigs Blood!

Before you go running to the hills and never return to this blog ever again, hear us out. It’s a delicacy all over the UK and honestly tastes darn good. We highly recommend using Black Pudding if you can get your hands on it. It’ll typically come in a loaf-like format

 So, peel away the casing and cut a few thick-cut slices. Then, simply pan fry it in a little bit of Oil for a few minutes on each side and it’s done. The flavor is amazing, and pairs so good with the other ingredients on the plate

Toast

A no-brainer to include on the plate is a few slices of Toast. You can be super-flexible on what type of bread you use. There’s no real ‘traditional’ toast to serve. So long as it comes along side a load of spreadable butter to melt all over it, you’ll be set

For our recipe we’re sticking with the classic White Bread. If you can get your hands on some thick-cut bread that would be preferable. The Toast plays a critical role in mopping up all of the flavors and sauces in the dish, so we highly recommend getting a thicker loaf

If you want to be super-fancy, try some freshly baked Sourdough toast from your local bakery. Give it a thick cut, toast it up, then load it up with Butter. It’s going to taste so good and help to round out the dish

Tomatoes

When you think about it, Tomatoes aren’t a strange choice to include in a breakfast. A classic Shakshuka uses Tomatoes as the base ingredient, and it’s not uncommon to see them in popular Mexican breakfast dishes too

Instead of using a Puree, or dicing them up, all you need to do is get a big, ripe Tomato and cut it in half. Sear them flesh-side-down on the skillet while you are frying up some of the other ingredients and let that Tomato get lovely and Caramelized. Add a bit of Salt and it’s done

The Tomato adds a nice hit of acidity which goes a long way to cut through all of the richness on the plate. It may well be the most important ingredient on the plate, so don’t forget to add that Tomato!

Mushrooms

In my opinion, the most bizarre ingredient on a Full English Breakfast is Mushrooms. Yep, even more bizarre than the Black Pudding! I’m just not the biggest fan of Mushrooms in this application and don’t really add a lot when it comes to flavor of texture to the dish

However, they are traditional, so you’ll need to add them if you’re going for the most authentic plate possible. Any fleshy type of Mushroom works best. Just roughly slice up the Mushrooms then give them a few minutes in the pan along with some Butter to soak up all some flavor and they’re done

Baked Beans

The final ingredient, and maybe the most polarizing of the bunch is the inclusion of Baked Beans. These awesome Tomato based Canned Beans are massively popular in the UK, but for some reason people in the US can’t get their heads around it

All I can say is, you’ve got to try them. They taste so good! I grew up eating Baked Beans on toast as a kid so I don’t see it as being a weird dish at all. The Tomato sauce of the Baked Beans tastes great. The Beans themselves have a subtle flavor, so they blend in well with the other dishes on the plate

What will happen if you add the Beans straight to the plate is they’ll end up seeping sauce all over the place. This isn’t really a bad thing, as by the end of the meal everything ends up mixed together anyway. However, if you’re going for a nice presentation we recommend adding the Beans into a small bowl and serve them separately

The biggest challenge with this dish is timing

Each component of a Full English Breakfast is easy to make. However, timing them all to be ready at the same time is difficult. There are 7 specific items that you need to prepare to complete the dish. Timing it so they’re all done at the same time is a little difficult. Here’s a few tips we’ve got to help you achieve this

First, get a few frying pans going at once on the stove. This will help you to manage cooking multiple ingredients at once without attempting to do it all in one pan. You’ll need a little bit of Neutral Oil to heat up the pans first, then you can go ahead and start cooking the ingredients

Understand which ingredients will take the longest and shortest time to cook. The Bacon and Mushrooms are going to take the longest time to cook, followed by the Black Pudding, Tomato and Eggs. We recommend having one pan with the Bacon, and one pan with the Black Pudding, Tomatoes and Eggs. The good news is that the Mushrooms will absorb all that lovely Bacon fat too!

Baked Beans can simply be microwaved. If you’ve got a microwave this is a very easy hack to get the Baked Beans ready in no time at all. They’re already cooked, so you’re simply re-heating them. 30 seconds in the microwave should be enough to get them piping hot and ready to go. So you can prepare them last. As for the Toast, just whack it in the toaster about 2 minutes before it’s time to eat and you should be fine!

Full English Breakfast Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs
• 4 thick-cut slices of Black Pudding
• 5 pieces of Short Cut Bacon (Canadian Bacon)
• 2 Pieces of White Bread
• 300g / 10 oz. Canned Baked Beans
• 1 large Tomato, cut in half
• ½ cup Mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. Butter
• 2 tsp. Neutral Oil (Vegetable / Canola Oil)
• Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Heat two large frying pans over medium heat on the stovetop along with the Neutral Oil. Once hot, add the Bacon and Mushrooms into one pan. Fry them for 6 – 7 minutes, turning the Bacon once
2. After cooking the Bacon and Mushrooms for 2 minutes, add the Tomato (cut side facing the pan), Black Pudding, and Eggs in the second frying pan. Cook for 5 minutes, turning the Black Pudding half-way through
3. Add your White Bread into the toaster and toast. Add the Butter then cut the Toast diagonally
4. Once the ingredients are almost cooked in the two pans, add the Baked Beans into a microwave safe container. Cover with cling film and microwave for 30 seconds on high to heat through (you can also cook them in a saucepan on the stovetop if you prefer)
5. Before plating, we recommend placing the Bacon and Black Pudding on a paper towel to remove any excess fat. Plate everything while hot and finish with a sprinkle of Salt
   
   

Recipe Notes

• You want to ensure that each individual ingredient finishes cooking at the same time so that everything is hot when it’s time to serve
• You can substitute the Black Pudding for regular Sausage, and you can Scramble the Eggs instead of frying if you prefer
  
  

That’s our recipe to make the famous Full English Breakfast at home for yourself. This recipe yields a lot of food, so while ‘technically’ it is a dish for 1 person, 2 or even 3 people could get more than enough food out of this dish. So, plan according to your appetites and get cooking!

If you enjoyed this recipe then we’ve got loads more delicious Breakfast dishes for you to try out. Here’s a few of our favorites that we recommend:

• California Breakfast Burrito
• Easy Fluffy Scones
• How to make a French Omelette
• Bacon Wrapped Asparagus with Hollandaise
  
  

Happy Cooking!