Top of the Morning: Venison Breakfast Sausage Hash Recipe

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This is one of my favorite breakfast choices for a few reasons, but mainly because you can use anything you can find in your refrigerator to make it work. The hash was quite literally invented as a way to use up leftovers. Corned beef is the typical hash you’ll find on most menus, but I like to use anything from ground wild turkey, wild boar sausage, smoked salmon and my go-to favorite — venison breakfast sausage.

Corned beef became the popular choice during the second World War, as rationing limited the availability of fresh meat. It’s actually quite interesting to look up the exact origins and dates of this dish because most countries and regions have their own take and iteration on it. Here’s a fun fact: September 27th is National Corned Beef Hash Day in the United States. Yum! As I’m writing this, December is quickly approaching and I hope many of you have been lucky enough to harvest a deer this season. The childlike joy and excitement will then follow when the processor's name pops up to tell you that your order is ready for pickup.

I process my own game at home, so I make sure to make extra breakfast sausage with this exact recipe in mind. My favorite is a spicy blend, but for this I wanted a bit more sweetness so I opted for my maple sage sausage instead. Really, any will do.

There are so many options that work well in this dish, and to be completely honest there’s probably not too much that doesn't work well here. As long as you have your potatoes — and those can be russet, sweet, Yukon golds, etc. — it doesn’t really matter. That’s the fun part here — you can pick and choose whatever works, including your meat and onions. As I said, for this recipe we are using venison breakfast sausage, as well as yellow onions. And eggs? Whichever way you prefer will work just fine. For garnishes, I used cilantro, green onion, corn and feta cheese. There’s truly nothing specific about this recipe or no regional attachment that I’ve found. It just happened that I had literally every single of these items in my refrigerator or pantry.

So go ahead and open that refrigerator and have a heyday loading up that cast iron skillet with all the goodies you’ve got! You really can’t go wrong with any ingredients that you can think up. The only problem I have with this recipe is keeping enough breakfast sausage in the freezer for the other breakfast items that I plan to make. But this is truly a favorite that my entire family loves to make as we sit together at our kitchen table. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 pound of venison breakfast sausage
• 2 medium sized russet potatoes, cubed
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 handful of spinach
• 2 green onions, chopped
• Handful of chopped cilantro sprigs
• 1/4 cup of canned corn, drained
• 3 Eggs, fried
• 1/4 cup of feta cheese. (any cheese will work here)
• 1 TSP Paprika
• 1 TSP garlic powder
• 1 TSP black pepper
• Salt to taste
• Olive oil

Preparation & Directions

• Start by heating a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add your venison and cook until browned. Remove from pan and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
• Add olive oil to the pan, and once it becomes warm and shiny, add potatoes. Cook potatoes until they are golden crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
• Add onions to the potatoes and cook until tender.
• Add spices to the potatoes and onions.
• Add handful of spinach and stir until it begins to wilt.
• Add corn, venison breakfast sausage, green onions, feta and cilantro to the hash.
• In a separate pan, fry three eggs to your liking. Once cooked, add to the top of the hash.
• Add more cilantro, green onion and feta cheese as a garnish, as well as fresh cracked pepper.

Justin Adams is a wild-game chef, writer and avid outdoorsmen. He hunts not for the antlers, but the opportunity to provide wild-game meat for his family. He loves to share his knowledge of butchering, processing and cooking game so that others can do the same. It is when life is honored on the table that makes the hunt complete. Nothing is wasted. You can find more of Justin’s recipes on Instagram: @JustinAdamsCountry

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