Southwest Breakfast Skillet
Southwest Breakfast Skillet is a great low-carb breakfast with slightly-spicy flavors, and the idea was sent to me by a reader named Chester! And this Egg Skillet breakfast is perfect to make on the weekend.
PIN Southwest Breakfast Skillet to try it later!
I’m starting off the new year with this recipe for Southwest Breakfast Skillet that was adapted just a little from an idea that was sent to me by a reader! Chester’s wife Cherie sent me an outline of the egg skillet recipe created by her husband and invited me to adapt it for the blog, and I loved the idea and immediately printed out the recipe details she sent me!
Chester made a one-egg dish with breakfast sausage, onion, jalapenos, eggs, salsa verde, and some cheese, and it took me a few tries with Kara to adapt it into an breakfast skillet recipe to serve four, but we loved the way this turned out. We switched out the fresh jalapeno for a generous amount of Salsa Verde simmered with the sausage and added a jar of roasted red peppers, but essentially the flavors here are pretty similar to the dish that Chester created!
And the day we tested this recipe my friend Becky from Vintage Mixer stopped by with her five year old son and he really liked it too, so you might get some kids to eat this if they have a more adventurous palate. Cherie reports that sometimes Chester adds some pickled jalapeno so you might like that version as well.
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- eggs
- Olive Oil (affiliate link)
- ground pork breakfast sausage
- red onion
- Roasted Red Peppers in a jar (affiliate link)
- Salsa Verde, preferably Herdez Salsa Verde (affiliate link)
- Mexican blend cheese
- salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
- cilantro (optional)
What is a breakfast skillet?
I don’t know if there’s an official definition for it, but to me a breakfast skillet is a breakfast dish where eggs and other ingredients are cooked in a skillet for a one-pan breakfast!
What gives this Southwest Breakfast Skillet the southwestern flavors?
This breakfast skillet recipe has eggs and sausage, but the Southwestern flavors in the dish come from roasted red peppers, Salsa Verde, Mexican blend cheese, and cilantro can also be added for those who enjoy that flavor.
How low in carbs is the Southwest Breakfast Skillet?
This tasty one-pan breakfast skillet has only 6.5 net carbs and 32 grams of protein!
Want more breakfasts cooked in a skillet?
Check out Baked Eggs Skillet with Avocado and Tomatoes, Power Greens Egg Skillet ,or Bacon Frittata with Two Cheeses for more tasty egg dishes to make in a cast-iron skillet.
How to Make Southwest Breakfast Skillet:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Break eggs into individual ramekins and let them come to room temperature; this is VERY IMPORTANT or the egg yolks will get overly done by the time the whites are cooked.
- Heat a little olive oil in a 10-inch Cast Iron Skillet (affiliate link), then crumble in the ground pork or turkey breakfast sausage and cook over medium-high heat until the sausage is all browned.
- Then push the sausage over to the side, add a little more oil if needed, add the red chopped onion and cook about 3-4 minutes. (Not sure why I didn’t get a photo of the onion, oops!)
- While the sausage and onions cook, drain a jar of Roasted Red Peppers in a jar (affiliate link) and chop peppers into pieces about 1/2 inch square. Add the chopped red pepper to the sausage/onion mixture and cook 3-4 minutes more.
- Then stir in the salsa verde, turn heat to medium-low, and simmer the mixture five minutes.
- Turn off the heat and sprinkle grated cheese over the top of the sausage-onions-peppers mixture.
- Make four wells in the sausage with a large spoon and gently transfer one of the room-temperature eggs into each well.
- Season the eggs with a little salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
- Put the skillet in the oven and bake 10-12 minutes, or until the whites are opaque and the yolks are done to your liking.
- Serve hot, with more cheese, chopped cilantro, and more salsa verde to serve at the table.
- You could serve this with low-carb tortillas if desired, but we loved it just like this as a low-carb egg skillet breakfast.
More Tasty Baked Eggs for Breakfast:
Southwest Breakfast Skillet
Southwest Breakfast Skillet is a wonderful low-carb breakfast with Southwestern flavors. And this tasty one-pan breakfast idea was sent to me by a reader!
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp olive oil (plus a little more for cooking the onion if needed)
- 16 oz. ground pork breakfast sausage (see notes)
- 1/2 of a small red onion, chopped
- 1 12 oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained well and chopped
- 1/2 cup Salsa Verde (see notes)
- 1/2 cup grated Mexican blend cheese
- salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
- chopped cilantro for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F/200C and put eggs into individual ramekins and let them come to room temperature.
- Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch Cast Iron Skillet (affiliate link) or another oven-proof skillet and then crumble in the ground pork or turkey breakfast sausage and cook over medium-high heat, breaking apart with the turner. Cook 8-10 minutes, or until the sausage is all browned.
- Then push the sausage over to the side, add a little more oil if needed, add the chopped red onion and cook about 3-4 minutes. Stir the sausage and onion together.
- While the sausage and onions cook, drain the roasted red peppers and chop peppers into pieces about 1/2 inch square. (Pat them dry with paper towels if needed.)
- Add the chopped red pepper to the sausage/onion mixture and cook 3-4 minutes more. Then stir in the salsa verde, turn heat to medium-low, and simmer the mixture about five minutes, or until liquid in the salsa verde has mostly evaporated.
- Turn off the heat and sprinkle grated cheese over the top of the sausage-onions-peppers mixture.
- Make four wells in the sausage mixture with a large spoon and gently transfer one of the room-temperature eggs into each well. Season the eggs with a little salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
- Put the skillet in the oven and bake 10-12 minutes, or until the whites are opaque and the yolks are done to your liking.
- Serve hot, with more cheese, chopped cilantro, and more salsa verde to serve at the table as desired.
Notes
Use turkey breakfast sausage if you prefer.
Be sure to check that the salsa verde doesn't have a lot of added sugar if you're making this for a low-carb breakfast. I used Herdez Salsa Verde (affiliate link) with 8 carbs in the 1/2 cup used.
This recipe adapted from one that was e-mailed to me by Chester's wife Cherie. I'm glad she saw this post and sent me her name so I could properly thank her!
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 571Total Fat 45gSaturated Fat 15gUnsaturated Fat 27gCholesterol 297mgSodium 1369mgCarbohydrates 8.5gFiber 2gSugar 7gProtein 32g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Southwest Breakfast Skillet is a good breakfast dish for any low-carb diet, including Keto. This recipe is also suitable any phase of the original South Beach Diet if you use the low-fat turkey sausage and low-fat cheese that South Beach recommends. Other low-carb diets will prefer pork sausage and full fat cheese. Be sure to choose a salsa verde that’s low in added sugar if you’re making this for a low-carb or South Beach Diet friendly meal.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Breakfast Recipes for more low-carb breakfasts like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This breakfast skillet recipe with Southwestern flavors was first posted in 2019. The recipe was last updated with more information in 2024.
9 Comments on “Southwest Breakfast Skillet”
Just tried this recipe out and it’s pretty amazing for the little amount of effort it requires. My only suggestion is to maybe short the time that you skillet spends in the oven.
I think my eggs got cooked a little bit via heat from the sausage mixture as when i checked the eggs after 9 minutes in the oven they were not runny whatsoever. My advice is check your eggs a bit earlier if you want a little run to them.
Thanks for that tip. It’s hard to get it perfect on the timing for this kind of dish because so many variables will affect how the eggs cook. Glad you still enjoyed it.
This looks amaaaazzzing! Adding it to my list. Wondering if this reheats well, or if it’s something that should be served all at once.
Kymmi, I didn’t have any left to reheat, but I’m not sure it would reheat that well, although I noticed a commenter above talked about her sons eating the leftovers.
We loved this! I assumed 2 eggs per person and squeezed 8 eggs into the pan. Some people took one egg, some took 2. My sons ate the leftovers for his lunch the same day we had it for breakfast!
So happy to hear it was such a hit!
More than a year ago I switched my site to WordPress, which created the need to edit by hand to add more than 2,000 recipes to the preferred format for google. I have been working on that (with three assistants) for more than a year, so there is no possibility of me being able to calculate nutritional information until that project is completed. And I know that once I start doing nutrition info on one recipe people will expect to see it on every recipe, which is why I have decided to keep these two projects completely separate.
If you look after the recipe itself, I give two links (where it says “Nutritional Information”) for suggestions of two ways to get that information. That’s all I am able to do at this time.
What a lovely recipe to start the year! I’m not a big sausage eater, so I’d probably use ground turkey, and add that fresh jalapeño back in. Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks Lydia; glad you like it.