Southwest Sheepherder’s Breakfast- A Hearty Feast

It was 2020 when I first heard of a Sheepherder’s Breakfast.  I was this many days old… Of course, I have heard of Shepard’s Pie and it is a winter favorite of mine.  But this was new to me, and new means exciting!  I first stumbled across the recipe on Taste of Home if you want to see the inspiration material.

What’s the Difference Between Shepherd’s Pie and Sheepherder’s Breakfast?

The answer is it depends on how you make your version. Shepherd’s Pie is defined as ground meat and gravy covered in mashed potatoes before it’s baked. I usually like vegetables in there as well to make it more balanced. Definitely an onion, maybe some peas, corn, sliced carrots, etc. To each their own for sure, but you get the gist. Maybe I’ll try a shepherd’s pie recipe soon?

Sheepherder’s Breakfast has, according to every recipe I compared; hash browns, onions, eggs, and bacon or sausage. It’s similar to Shepherd’s Pie but set up just a bit differently, so the textures are entirely different. The bacon and eggs also make it sort of breakfast, but I serve it for dinner. Hard to compete with cereal with something this savory.

A story for another day might be the Sheepherder’s Dinner. Meat, onions, with mashed potatoes instead of hash browns, and eggs on top. To me, eggs are a staple as I don’t like them for breakfast, so I add them where I can for a cheap protein boost to meals.

Ingredients & Equipment

Ingredients needed for Southwest Sheepherder’s Breakfast

The ingredient list is quite simple, comprised of breakfast staples.

• Hash browns: shredded potato goodness makes up the bulk of the meal. Cooking them properly is tricky, but I’ll try to go over what works.
• Bacon or Sausage: nice greasy starter meat to add flavor and grease to the meal. The grease also cooks the hash browns and enhances the flavor even more.
• Red Bell Pepper: sliced into rings to make a great form for the eggs.
• Eggs- the crown of the dish. The cook on top and provide a nice little form for the serving sizes.
• Taco Seasoning: Kick it up a notch. Several seasonings with Taco Seasoning make the layers of this dish much more interesting. Hashbrowns can be terribly boring if you don’t season them.

Equipment need to prepare Sheepherder’s Breakfast

This meal is made with pretty standard equipment, which makes it amazingly easy to pull off and put together.*

• Cutting Board: A place to chop veggies that isn’t your countertop. Knives don’t like granite and laminate doesn’t like knives, don’t be that guy.
• Kitchen Knife: Something to cut up your pepper. A paring knife will work fine, but I like a bigger Chef’s Knife to cut the whole thing across in one go.
• Big Saute Pan: Bigger is better but it needs a lid. A Dutch oven would work wonderfully.
• *Course Grater: If you want to choose the route of grating your own potatoes, a coarse grater or a food processor would be my go-to. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll give it a go sometime.

Preparation

Preparing the Southwest Sheepherder’s Breakfast

Two steps are required before you can jump right into cooking. First, slice your red pepper into rings and chop the onions. Second, if you’re a glutton for punishment you can make your own hashbrowns. I haven’t tried it yet, but it would be very economical since potatoes are quite cheap. A food processor would make this a breeze.

Cooking the Food

Putting together this dish is very straightforward except for the hashbrowns. I have not mastered that skill yet as I don’t usually make them, it is not a go-to food of mine. I have been reading up on it though, and I’ll update the technique once I have a tried and true method. Until then you can head over here to learn to cook great, crispy hashbrowns.

That said, fry up your bacon or sausage. Bacon won’t require any additional oil but the sausage I used released very little, so maybe toss in some olive oil. About halfway through frying up the meat, toss in the sliced onions and add the first Tbsp. of taco seasoning. this really steps up the flavor as everything cooks together in that lovely grease.

Once the onions are translucent, remove them and the meat from the pan. Take a look at how much oil is in the pan. You want a medium layer of oil in the pan to fry the hashbrowns, so add or remove some as needed. Spread a 1″ layer of hashbrowns to the pan and let them fry. Too thick of a layer will make the top layer not brown up, and it’ll get mushy. At 5 minutes turn them over and crisp up the other side. If you need to cook the hashbrowns in 2 batches, I probably suggest it.

After the hashbrowns are finished, toss the meat and onions back in. Stir it all together with the second Tbsp. of taco seasoning. Then, use a large wooden spoon to make indentations for the eggs. Put a red pepper ring around each egg dent and press it down gently. They make a lovely mold for the eggs. Crack an egg into each egg-dent. Season with salt and pepper and maybe a pinch of taco seasoning.

Place the lid on the pan and cook for 10 minutes until the whites are set. Cook another 5 minutes if you like firm yolks. Once finished, use a spatula to cut out each serving.

Pairings

With two vegetables, a starch, and a protein, the Sheepherder’s Breakfast is a very solid meal in itself. I can’t think of anything to pair it with. However, maybe you could serve it with a nice salsa on top if that’s your thing. (I’m not a fan of salsa eggs…) Hot sauce makes everything interesting. I’m from the midwest so I would be missing out if I didn’t say it, ranch dressing would probably be great.

I hope you enjoy the meal. If you end up making it, drop a line below on how it went. Was it great? Did you change anything?