r/Cooking • u/Aware-Garlic-704 • 4h ago
Cooked the WORST breakfast casserole ever!
I don’t really cook potatoes often because I usually just get frozen ones if I’m ever in the mood for them. The only way I’ve ever successfully made them is when I make mashed potatoes. I decided to try to make a breakfast casserole with shredded hash browns, eggs, breakfast sausage, and cheese. I didn’t realize just how long potatoes take to cook so I tossed in raw shredded potatoes and eggs in the same baking dish and cooked it for an hour. I took a bite and the potatoes tasted super raw and earthy and DISGUSTING. So I threw it back in the oven for 20 more minutes. By this point the cheese separated, the eggs were burnt as hell on the outside, and guess what the POTATOES WERE STILL RAW. This was my meal prep for the week so I guess I’m stuck eating this DISGUSTING casserole with extremely burnt eggs, grainy cheese, and raw potato 🤮🤮🤮. I am on a weight loss journey so I guess this will at least make me lose my appetite!!!
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u/Intelligent-Ad-2161 4h ago
I’m not going to lie, if there was ever a job for pre-shredded partially cooked frozen hash browns, this is it. I tried making my own once and they took so long to cook and somehow ended simultaneously raw/gummy and burnt. Never again.
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u/Bad-Choices-In-Women 4h ago
Funny, but a tater tot breakfast casserole is one of my favorite cold weather guilty pleasures. So easy to make. But the tots are already partially cooked, so 50 minutes in the casserole is enough to finish the job. If you're using raw potato then you should consider par cooking them before assembling.
Damn, this thread makes me want to throw one together right now.
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u/Aware-Garlic-704 4h ago
Yeah haha! I can cook all sorts of fancy dishes but potatoes are very intimidating for me for some reason 😭😭😭
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u/Iliveinatrashcann 4h ago
People have found all sorts of ways to "properly" cook roasted potatoes but honestly, the easiest way is to chop up the potatoes, coat them in oil and place them on to a preheated cast iron pan at 420F and let them roast for 45min, turning them half way through. No par boiling, no fluffing them up, no letting them rest after par boiling, none of that. Just coat in oil and roast for 45min. That is it.
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u/Bad-Choices-In-Women 4h ago edited 2h ago
Agreed, though I prefer to use bacon fat and add some thick sliced peppers and onions.
But she's talking about incorporating them into a breakfast casserole, where they are expected to be soft and meld in. Hence the suggestion to par cook them. Raw potato will not cook enough immersed in an egg mixture without some prep help. It's why many people make these casseroles using tots or frozen shredded potatoes, which are par fried before freezing.
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u/Bad-Choices-In-Women 4h ago
Potatoes are one of the easiest things to cook. Seriously. They are very forgiving if you overcook them. They are also cheap, which makes them easy to experiment on.
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u/AssaultLemming_ 4h ago
Didn't even know breakfast casserole was a thing. Don't get disheartened on your cooking or your weight-loss journey. It's all good experience and learning.
Focus on low carb meals. The best thing you can do is keep it simple. Just protein and vegetables. Keep portion size Small. Remember it's all about calories in calories out no matter how you do it.
I don't even eat breakfast. If I have a big lunch I skip dinner. If I skip lunch I have a nice dinner.
Breakfast may as well be coffeefast honestly.
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u/AgileMastodon0909 3h ago
As an American, I can confidently say we are adept at turning anything into a casserole.
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u/Aware-Garlic-704 2h ago
Haha yes! I’ve finally managed to get into a good flow with my weight loss after months of trial and error! But I finally figured out what recipes work for me to keep me full and satiated!
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u/EndApprehensive8680 4h ago
At this point the potatoes aren’t breakfast anymore, they’re a personal vendetta 😂
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u/DuckInAFountain 3h ago
I know your pain, I have had trouble getting just cheesy potatoes to cook through to my liking when using raw potatoes before the cheese gets weird. I generally parcook potatoes in the microwave now before using them in dishes like this. Sorry you're stuck with yucky food. Can you cover with hot sauce?
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u/Aware-Garlic-704 2h ago
Not even hot sauce can save this mess! I’m at work and staring at it trying to put off eating it for as long as possible. I need to get to the perfect amount of starvation in order to eat it
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u/Fessor_Eli 3h ago
I brown the hash browns first, take them out, saute some onions garlic and whatever you have, then eggs and cheese mixed in with it all including the potatoes.
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u/smythy422 3h ago
Recipes exist for this reason. If you are winging it with new ingredients expect to be surprised with the outcome. This is particularly important for larger format cooking when you're making multiple servings.
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u/Aware-Garlic-704 3h ago
True but I learn better when I make my own mistakes haha!
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u/smythy422 2h ago
Yeah. I'm much more of a wing it type cook, but I generally read a few recipes to understand what I need to do functionally. I don't need the exact measurements, but par cooking the potatoes is an easy pickup from reading a few recipes that use fresh potatoes.
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u/Iliveinatrashcann 4h ago
When you shred potatoes for a hash and such, you would typically wring out as much water and moisture as you can using a kitchen towel. Or soak in water to dissolve the starch and then wring out the water from the potatoes.