Smashed Breakfast Potato Skins
These breakfast potato skins are loaded with scrambled eggs, sausage, sauteed peppers and onions, and cheddar cheese. But the real star of the show is the smashed potatoes that get perfectly crispy on your griddle or in a skillet!
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 medium Russet potatoes baked and cooled
- 8 oz ground breakfast sausage
- 1/4 medium onion diced
- 1/4 bell pepper diced
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil or beef tallow
- 4 oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 4 oz pepper jack cheese shredded
- 1½-2 tablespoons butter
- 4 eggs
- diced tomatoes, hot sauce, salsa, or green onions optional for topping
Instructions
- Preheat griddle on low.
- While the griddle is heating, prepare the potatoes by cutting each potato in half. Scoop out the halved potatoes with a spoon, leaving about 1/4" to 1/2" of flesh all the way around the inside of the skin. Set prepared potato skins to the side.
- Add the ground breakfast sausage to the heated griddle and begin to cook it, chopping it up into a crumbled consistency.
- While sausage is cooking, add the diced onions and peppers to the griddle and sauté until tender. You can also cook the onions and peppers in the residual sausage grease on the griddle for additional flavor.
- When sausage and vegetables are fully cooked, remove them from the griddle. Keep meat and vegetables separated and set to the side.
- Add about 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil or beef tallow to the griddle surface. Place the prepared potato skins flesh side down in the oil. Using a press, gently smash each potato skin on the griddle until it's evenly flat and about 1/2" thick. Press down on each potato skin for about 10 seconds.
- Allow the smashed potatoes to cook on the first side for about 7-8 minutes, or until golden brown and slightly crispy. Then add a bit more oil or beef tallow to the griddle surface and flip the smashed potatoes to the second side in the fresh oil.
- When smashed potato skins are crispy on both sides, season the top (flesh side) of the potato skins with salt and pepper, and move them to the cooler side of the griddle. Add about 1½ - 2 tablespoons of butter to a clean area on the griddle and spread it around a bit with your spatula. Add the beaten eggs to the butter, and cook your scrambled eggs until they are almost all the way done, but still slightly wet. When eggs are halfway done, add in the sautéed peppers and onions. The eggs will continue to cook on top of the potato skins.
- Add a sprinkling of cheese (about 2 tablespoons) to each potato skin. Top each potato skin with about ¼ of the scrambled eggs and sautéed vegetables. Add ¼ of the cooked sausage on top of each potato. Top with the remaining shredded cheeses.
- Continue to cook the smashed breakfast potato skins until the cheese is melted. You may need to add a squirt of water to the griddle and dome the potato skins to help the cheese to melt.
- When the breakfast potato skins are done, transfer to a serving platter. Top with diced tomatoes, hot sauce, diced jalapeños, or your favorite toppings. Serve warm.