Meals · Skillet & sheet-pan mains
Bauernfrühstück (German farmer's breakfast)
Golden fried potatoes, onions and smoky bacon folded into softly set eggs and served straight from the skillet, with sharp gherkins and chives. Despite the name, it is what Germans eat for lunch or supper whenever there are potatoes left over.
- Time
- 75 min (15 prep + 60 cook)
- Servings
- 4
- Per serving
- 349 kcal
- Protein
- 14 g
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 lb gold potatoes, waxy, boiled in their skins, cooled, peeled and sliced
- 1 tbsp Butterschmalz or ghee ghee
- 1 medium onion, halved and sliced
- 2 oz raw bacon, smoked streaky bacon, diced
- 1 tsp dried marjoram
- 5 large eggs
- 2 1/2 tbsp 2% milk
- scant 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
To serve
- 2 tbsp fresh chives, snipped
- 4 gherkins pickles, sliced
Steps
- Boil the unpeeled potatoes in salted water for about 20 minutes, until just tender. Drain, let them cool for 10 minutes, peel and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Potatoes boiled the day before are even better.
- Heat the Butterschmalz in your largest non-stick skillet, or two pans, over medium-high heat. Fry the potatoes for 12 to 15 minutes, turning them only once a side is browned.
- Push the potatoes to the edge of the pan, add the bacon to the middle and let it render for 3 minutes, then fry the onion in its fat for 5 minutes until soft and golden. Mix everything together and season with the marjoram.
- Whisk the eggs with the milk, salt and pepper, pour over the potatoes and lower the heat. Cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, gently pushing the set egg in from the edges, until the eggs are just set (160°F).
- Scatter with chives and bring the pan to the table with the gherkins. It is best eaten at once.
Good to know
Why potatoes from the day before?
Cold boiled potatoes are firmer, so they slice cleanly and brown instead of crumbling. It is exactly why this dish exists: it was made to use up leftovers.
Can I use leaner bacon?
Yes, lean back bacon or ham cubes work, with less of the rendered smoky fat the dish is known for, at about 50 instead of 44.
Per
- Calories
- 115
- Protein
- (17%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (42%)
- 5 g
- Carbohydrates
- (41%)
- 12 g
- of which sugar
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 310 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1395 kcal goes into the pot and 1450 g of ingredients comes out as about 1214 g of food: 115 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.