British · Breakfast · Medium
Full English Breakfast
The classic plateful that powers the nation: crispy bacon, plump sausages, a perfectly fried egg and all the trimmings, ready to set you up for the day.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Full English Breakfast, in 5 ideas
- Timing is everything, so get the sausages and bacon in the pan first and let everything else land while they finish.
- A proper fried egg wants hot oil and a spoon to baste the white over the yolk until it just sets.
- Black pudding is the divisive hero here: crisp the slices hard and doubters tend to come around.
- Warm your plates in a low oven so nothing cools down while you plate the rest.
- Beans on the plate or in a ramekin on the side is a personal choice, but nobody wants a cold bean.
What you need
Ingredients
- 4 pork sausages (about 400g)
- 4 rashers smoked back bacon
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 200g tinned baked beans
- 2 medium tomatoes, halved
- 4 slices black pudding (about 150g)
- 200g button mushrooms, halved
- 2 slices thick white bread or 1 bloomer loaf slice each
- 30g butter
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- HP sauce or ketchup, to serve
How to make it
Directions
- Put a large heavy frying pan over medium heat with the oil and add the sausages. Cook gently for 15 minutes, turning regularly, until browned all over and cooked through.
- Move the sausages to the edges of the pan and add the bacon, mushrooms and black pudding slices. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, turning the bacon once and flipping the black pudding until crisp.
- Push everything to one side, add the butter, and crack in the eggs. Spoon hot fat over the whites until they set, then season with salt and pepper.
- Meanwhile warm the beans in a small saucepan over low heat and grill or fry the tomato halves until softened.
- Toast the bread and butter it while hot.
- Plate everything up, spoon the beans alongside, season the tomatoes, and serve immediately with HP sauce or ketchup.
Buy the sausages from a proper butcher when they are on offer and freeze them in pairs; a good sausage is the difference between an average breakfast and a great one.