British · Breakfast

Full English Breakfast

Sausages, bacon, eggs, black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans and toast, all arriving hot at the same moment. The entire skill is timing.

40 min total Serves 2 servings Easy
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Full English Breakfast

Photograph credit: Full English Breakfast, Mature Cheddar & Vine Tomatoes Toasties, by Monella, Hove by Andy Li · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Make Ahead and Storage

Not a make-ahead dish. Leftover components make an excellent breakfast hash the next day.

How to Make Full English Breakfast

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  1. Heat the oven to 120°C / 250°F and put a plate in to warm. Everything cooked goes here to hold.

  2. Start the sausages in a cold pan with a teaspoon of oil over medium-low heat. They need 15 to 18 minutes, turning every few minutes, and rushing them splits the skins.

  3. After 5 minutes, add the tomato halves cut-side down to a second pan with a little oil. Season and cook 4 minutes, then turn and cook 6 minutes more until collapsing.

  4. Add the mushrooms to the tomato pan with a knob of butter and the thyme and cook 6 to 8 minutes until golden.

  5. Warm the beans in a small pan over low heat.

  6. When the sausages are nearly done, move them to the warm plate and cook the bacon in their fat for 2 to 3 minutes a side until the edges crisp. Move to the oven.

  7. Fry the black pudding in the same fat for 2 minutes a side until crisp at the edges.

  8. Toast the bread and butter it generously.

  9. Last of all, fry the eggs in the remaining fat over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, spooning the hot fat over the whites until set with a runny yolk.

  10. Plate everything at once, with the beans in a corner so they do not run into the rest.

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A Few Pointers

  • Cold pan, slow start for the sausages. High heat splits them and leaves the centre raw.
  • Use two pans. Trying to fit a full English into one is how everything ends up lukewarm.
  • Keep the beans separate on the plate. This is a matter of some national feeling.

Why the Method Is What It Is

Everything here is a matter of sequencing: items are started in order of how long they take and how well they hold, with eggs last because they are the only component that deteriorates within a minute. Cooking the tomatoes and mushrooms in the bacon and sausage fat gives them a savoury depth that oil cannot.

Serving Ideas

A large mug of strong tea · Serve with brown sauce or ketchup, and more toast · Follow with a walk

What's in a Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .