Cowboy Breakfast Skillet

Last Saturday was a busy day. After breakfast we knew we’d have no real time to eat again until that night. So we threw together the biggest, most protein and fat packed meal we could possibly conceive. It was enough food to keep a cowboy full for hours…believe me, I feed one. It’s the usual suspects here: eggs, sweet potatoes, sausage, cilantro and avocado. I was inspired by our Baked Bibimbap to make a baked version of Huevoes Rancheros. Runny yolks oozing alongside crispy, sweet potatoes and salty sausage. I’m sorry if you’re bored by my constant use of these ingredients, but I obviously am not bored (and I’m not sorry either :p). They can do no wrong in my book.
Ingredients
- 1 lb breakfast sausage
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
- 5 eggs
- 1 avocado, diced
- handful cilantro
- hot sauce
- raw cheese, optional
- s & p
Method
Preheat your oven to 400ºF.
In an oven safe skillet, we used cast iron, crumble and brown the sausage over medium heat.
Once it’s brown, use a slotted spoon to remove the sausage and let it hang out while we cook the sweet potatoes. Try to reserve as much of the grease as possible.
Toss the sweet potatoes into the sausage grease and let them get crispy and cooked through.
Add the sausage back into the pan.
Make a few wells in the pan–one well for each egg. Crack your eggs into the wells.
Place the skillet in the oven. We’re just baking the skillet long enough for the eggs to set, about 5 minutes.
Now, turn the oven to broil and hit up the top side of the eggs for a few minutes, but don’t let the yolk cook all the way through–unless you don’t like runny yolks. But man, oh man, the runny yolks go down really nicely with the crispy sweet potatoes. Just sayin’.
Remove the pan from the oven and douse the whole thing with avocado, cilantro and hot sauce.
Serve by scooping out an egg, along with its neighboring goodies, with a large spoon.

























I make this type of breakfast frequently but don’t have the cast iron pan. So I put a glass lid over the skillet to get the eggs cooked. Glass is key as you can see when the egg yolks get a white top, they’re done.
This is making me want to get a cast iron skillet as it looks even better than what I normally make.
I’ve tried this in both a cast iron skillet and a stainless steel skillet…believe me, cast iron is a lifelong investment!!!
I season mine twice a year in lard and duck fat. If you can find a 10 or 12 inch Griswold cast iron skillet, on eBay, for less than $75, DO IT!!! That’s a steal!
Thanks!
BK
my grandparents are collectors. they gave us some kind of chicken roaster thing. i haven’t used it yet. i wasn’t sure if it were more of a decorative piece, but i’ll have to dig it out and give it a whirl. we usually just use use the cheapo Lodge brand.
Oh wow! This looks fantastic! This is going on the menu for sure, thank you for sharing!
I never tire of sweet potatoes, sausage or eggs either! This looks awesome.
oh yum, I’m not sick of these ingredients and don’t see myself getting sick of them anytime in the near future. My breakfasts are usually quite similar to this but not as gorgeous!
i’m the kind of cowboy who doesn’t know how to ride a horse or lasso stuff.
Do you need to cook the sweet potatoes first?
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This sounds just perfect! My 16 month old would dig this I think too-all her favorites: avocado, sweet potato, and sausage!
Made this this morning. AWESOME!!!
thanks jonathan!
Made this for breakfast and added a couple pieces of bacon. Absolutely Fabulous!! Thanks for the recipe!!
you are very welcome. thanks tracie!
Do you meant smear avocado and sprinkle cilantro leaves on top?
We just sprinkled diced avocado and cilantro on it…but if you want to put something more guacamole-ish (mashed) I’m sure that would be delicious too.
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I hope it’s just me, but this recipe doesn’t print or PDF properly. It feeds out or makes a PDF that’s 10 pages that don’t even have the actual recipe on them.
I am thinking about making this and just want to make sure. You are using the oven the entire time (cooking the sausage and sweet potatoes). Thanks.
no, you’re browning the sausage and cooking the sweet potatoes on the stove. the eggs are getting cooked in the oven.
Might be a stupid question, but what exactly is a breakfast sausage? I think you might call it something different to us (I’m from Australia) Or do you know what i could substitute it for?
Thanks!
Dan and I really enjoy your breakfast items. We eat them for lunch and dinner also. We are excited to make the Cowboy Breakfast Skillet. Thank you.
Awesome! Just made this and Even my two year old is chowing down. We’ve been doing Whole30 for 4 days and were about to go nuts before this meal! I’ll be making it a few times a week for sure.
yay! thanks carrie!
Thanks for the gorgeous recipe and inspiration! I made this for my husband for breakfast today – sauteed roasted sweet potato wedges in coconut oil, added spicy smoked andouille sausage, 4 eggs, avocado, cilantro and (naughty) feta. It was delicious and we both felt so nourished — thanks again!
I just found out about you guys from Juli over at PaleOMG and this is the first of I’m sure many recipes I will be making of yours! I was bummed that our avocados aren’t ripe yet, so instead of the hot sauce and raw cheese I sprinkled a bit of curry on top…YUMMO! I love this dish and I can only imagine how much more I will love it when we get some good avocados!
I just wanted to come back to this recipe and show my appreciation. This has been our go-to meal for a year now, since it was first posted. We make our adaptation of this recipe at least once a week and typically make extras for breakfasts/lunches through the week. We’ve dubbed it BDF (Breakfast for Dinner) and have friends making this same recipe now, too. It’s an idea easy skillet meal and perfect for our busy family. Thank you! We love what you’re doing and appreciate you so much!