Cast iron, ooooohhh sweet cast iron. You are so fair. You make crispy potatoes like nobody’s business, which just so happens to be the perfect base for BACON, soft and tender eggs, green chiles, cheddar cheese, and buttery avocados. Yes folks, it’s a cheesy green chile crispy potato breakfast skillet!
You know how you get those extra-crispy-on-the-outside, tender-in-the-center breakfast potatoes at restaurants that seem to be impossible to replicate at home? Well, I’ve fixed that problem for you with an easy and foolproof way to get the crispiest breakfast potatoes ever! So what’s the secret? Well there are a few ways to ensure extra crispy texture.
Step 1: First, you MUST par-boil the potatoes to start the cooking process. Boiling the pre-cut potatoes first helps them to tenderize in the center, so that they aren’t crispy on the outside, yet undercooked in the center.
Step 2: Cooking them in small batches in a cast iron skillet ensures that every piece of potato gets caramelized (the no-potato-left-behind technique).
Step 3: In this breakfast skillet, they get one more chance to get even crispier when you add the cheddar cheese and eggs on top. Simmering the eggs on the potatoes with the cheese helps to fuse all those tasty bits together, thereby creating a crust around the entire bottom of the potatoes??!
Cut the potatoes into equally-sized chunks and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Drain them really well. While the potatoes are cooking, heat the cast iron skillet over medium heat. Cook the bacon (I cut them in smaller pieces) and reserve the bacon fat. Yes, you heard me right! Don’t use all of the fat at once, because you will do a couple of batches of potatoes, and you don’t want the first batch to absorb all of the fat. Of course, you could use olive oil for a lighter version, I won’t be mad at ya.
Keep the skillet over medium heat for the potatoes. It’s better to cook them on moderate heat for a few more minutes, than to cook them on higher heat and risk burning the skin. Now that would be a travesty! Have a sheet pan lined with paper towels for the bacon and potatoes for easy workflow.
Once all the potatoes are cooked, add them back to the pan, add half of the cheddar cheese and crack four eggs on top. Sprinkle the other half of the cheese IN BETWEEN the eggs. Add the green chiles and cover with a lid and simmer for 5-7 minutes on medium heat, or until the eggs are done to your liking. I like mine a bit runny because it adds a luscious sauce to the skillet when you bite into it?!
To serve, top with the bacon bits, sliced avocado, lime, and sour cream!
Bon Appetit Ya’ll,
Green Chile Crispy Potato Breakfast Skillet
Ingredients
- 4 medium to large red potatoes cubed with skins intact
- 3 strips of bacon diced
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 1/2 tsp . green chiles or 1 Tbsp. if you like it spicy
- 2 tsp . smoked paprika
- salt to taste (I' m salt-sensitive so season to your taste)
- one avocado
- squeeze of lime
- sour cream optional
Instructions
- Cut the potatoes into equally-sized cubes and add them to a pot of cold salted water. Once the water starts to boil, cook for 5-6 minutes.
- While the potatoes are boiling, cook the bacon in a cast iron skillet or large saute pan over medium heat. Cast iron retains the heat more evenly, which helps to crisp the potatoes, but any saute pan will do.
- Drain the bacon on a sheet pan lined with paper towels. Reserve the bacon fat in a cup. Don't use it all at once for the potatoes since you will saute them in two batches. If so, the first batch will absorb all the fat. You can substitute with oilve oil if you don't want to use bacon fat.
- Drain the potatoes really well in a colander.
- Keep the cast iron pan over medium heat and cook the potatoes until crispy in two batches. This will ensure that every piece gets nice and crispy. Season each batch with salt and 1 tsp. of the paprika. Place the first batch of potatoes on the sheet pan while the second batch is cooking. Each batch should take 4-6 minutes. Try to resist the urge to flip them constantly so they get crispy. If the pan gets too hot, the skin might burn, so turn down the heat for a bit if necessary.
- Once the second batch is crispy, pour all of the potatoes back in the pan. Top with half of the cheddar cheese and crack four eggs directly on top of the potatoes and season the eggs with a touch of salt. Top with the remaining cheddar cheese IN BETWEEN the eggs. Spread the green chiles over the top and cover with a lid. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the eggs are set, but still runny in the center and the cheese has melted and formed a crust around the edges.
- Top with sliced avocado, a squeeze of lime, and sour cream.
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Gonna try this out for sure – probably minus the bacon and sour cream!