This recipe is straight up childhood comfort food for me. When I was younger, my stepfather used to make Eggs O’Brien on Christmas morning. It was easy–just a bag of frozen O’Brien-style hash browns cooked up with chunks of breakfast sausage links, with eggs scrambled into it when it was done.
To make this one keto, the main issue is coming up with a substitute for the potatoes. I’ve used daikon radish before in a similar recipe, but I wasn’t sure if it would hit the flavor profile I needed. Enter celery root, also known as celeriac. It comes in a big ugly bulb about the size of a shot put, and the taste is somewhere between celery and potato. It won’t crisp up like a potato will, but that’s fine, because in this particular application it’s supposed to be a bit softer.
Slice the ends off of your celeriac bulb and peel it. It can be bumpy, especially around the edges, so use a really good vegetable peeler. This OXO one is my personal favorite. You’ll also want a very sharp chef’s knife, because the celery root is really hard to cut through. Back in the days of the original Good Eats, Alton Brown recommended the Shun chef’s knives, and I still have several that date back to about 2004. I take care of them, and while I’ve had to have them sharpened a few times, they’ve taken care of me too. Don’t balk at the price, because if you’re in the kitchen as much as I am, a good knife is worth its weight in gold. Use that good knife to cut the celeriac into small cubes, like you’re making home fries. You should end up with 3-4 cups of cubes when all is said and done. Throw those into a pot with 4 cups of chicken broth, and boil them for 8 minutes. Drain them thoroughly and set them aside.
In a large enameled cast-iron skillet, heat 1/4 cup of avocado oil over medium-high heat. While that’s heating, chop 1/2 of an onion and 1 large green pepper. Pat any excess broth off of the celery root, then put it in the skillet. Cook for about five minutes, then stir and add the onion and pepper, along with two teaspoons of salt and black pepper to taste.
Heat a separate nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and fry up a package of breakfast sausage links. Mine had 10 links in it. While they’re browning, keep turning the celery root mixture occasionally so it browns evenly. Once the sausages are nicely browned, remove them from the skillet and cut each one into four pieces. Add it to the skillet with the celery root cubes.
Turn the heat down to medium on the nonstick skillet and add two tablespoons of butter. Beat a dozen eggs in a large bowl. Scramble the eggs in the butter. Once they’re done, the celery root should be as well. Mix the whole shebang together. I used this for meal prep breakfasts, but it would work great for your breakfast after opening presents under the tree, especially if Santa gives you a nice chef’s knife!
Eggs O’Brien
Scrambled eggs and sausage with keto celeriac O'Brien hash browns.
Trim the ends off of the celeriac bulb and peel. Using a sharp chef's knife, chop the bulb into small cubes.
In a small saucepot, bring the celeriac cubes and broth to a boil. Boil for 8 minutes, then drain thoroughly and set aside.
Heat the avocado oil in an enameled cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the celeriac dry and add it to the skillet. While it fries, chop your onion and pepper, then add it to the skillet and stir it in with the salt and pepper. Continue stirring occasionally as you finish the rest of the recipe.
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium to medium-high heat, and cook your breakfast sausages until they're thoroughly browned. Remove them from the pan, cut each one into four pieces, then stir them into the skillet with the celery root.
Turn the non-stick skillet down to medium, then melt the butter in it. Beat the eggs, then scramble them in the butter. When they're finished, stir them into the celery root mixture, add more salt and pepper if needed, and serve.
Macros per serving: 409 calories, 7 grams net carbs, 18 grams protein, 33 grams fat.
Keyword breakfast, eggs, keto, lchf, low carb, make ahead, sausage
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Sometimes you make things that just aren’t all that photogenic. I try to beautify things as much as possible without going too far into staging, but there are times when this is a bit of a Sisyphean effort. This particular recipe is one of those times. It’s sloppy and unkempt, like the culinary equivalent of a hung-over businessman showing up to work on Monday with his shirt half-untucked and his tie askew. You know what I mean. Or maybe you don’t, and this is just me making use of my English major. The good news is that it’s easy and tastes good, and while I can’t figure out a way to appropriately extend that metaphor, what I can do is make food that’s yummy and that you’ll eat. Plus, it’s a fat bomb of a meal, which is nice.
Start with two packages of smoked sausage, the pre-cooked U-shaped variety that you can get at the grocery store. We’re not going fancy here today. Make sure to check the label, because some varieties might have hidden carbs. Slice them on the bias, approximately as thick as your index finger. In a large Dutch oven or similar, over medium-high heat, brown them until they’re nice and crispy on each side, then remove them and put them in a bowl. Into the same Dutch oven, dump a 16-ounce bag of pre-shredded coleslaw (just the cabbage and carrots, NOT the prepared kind!) and pour over 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the chicken broth has evaporated. Break up or cube 4 ounces of cream cheese and stir it into the cabbage, allowing it to begin to melt. Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of a spicy mustard. I used the Dijon from Trader Joe’s because it has a nice strong horseradish kick to it, but spicy brown or stadium-style mustard would also work. Just don’t use the yellow mustard, because it tastes more like vinegar than anything else. Stir it around until it’s all melted together, then throw the sausage back in and let it warm back up while the sauce thickens. Once it’s thickened, taste it for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. I added 1/2 teaspoon of salt, but I like things REALLY salty, so you might want to add less. The more pepper the better, though.
This one is a bit high in calories. If you can’t eat that much, just do a single package of sausage. It’ll cut the calories considerably. Otherwise, enjoy your lunch for the week. It’ll get you to dinner without feeling the least bit hungry. This would be a great recipe for IFers, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Smoked Sausage with Mustard Creamed Cabbage
A quick and easy meal-prep recipe that's great for intermittent fasters.
Slice the sausage into approximately 3/4 inch thick pieces. Fry them in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until they're crispy and browned on both sides. Remove and set aside.
Empty the bag of coleslaw into the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Add the chicken broth into the pot and cook until the broth is mostly gone. Add the cream cheese in chunks and stir until they begin to melt, then add the cream and mustard. Stir until the cream cheese is completely melted, then add the sausage back into the pot and simmer until the sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve or put into meal-prep containers.
Macros per serving: 677 calories, 5 grams net carbs, 25 grams protein, 59 grams fat.
Keyword keto, low carb, make ahead, meal prep, pork, sausage
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Any embedded link to a product earns me a portion of the purchase price if you click and buy it.
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