If you're British like I am, you've probably made a million full English breakfasts in your life (or whatever your regional equivalent is called). You'll have your own favourite elements to include and your own cooking methods, and you won't need me to tell you how I make mine.
This post is more aimed at my lovely international readers, who may hear 'full English breakfast' and immediately think of sausages, bacon, black pudding, and all sorts of other not-very-vegetarian-friendly ingredients. While those are definitely traditional elements, it's totally possible to make a vegetarian full English breakfast that's just as satisfying (and just as effective at curing a hangover).
I must admit, I don't often make such an extensive full English breakfast at home - only on special occasions. You're more likely to find me ordering one at a greasy spoon on a Saturday morning (at least, you were in my student days). But it's not hard to make a decent one at home, and even though there are quite a few elements to cook up at the same time, they're all easy. Sautéed mushrooms, grilled tomato, a fried egg (scrambled eggs work fine too!), and proper British baked beans - all nice and simple. Just make sure you use a proper British brand of beans, none of this BBQ beans rubbish! Heinz and Branston are both great brands.
All that's left is to decide what kind of cuppa you want on the side, whether you're a red sauce or brown sauce kind of person (I'm team ketchup), and what kind of juice you want (usually apple or orange... I went for a less traditional apple and kale juice, since I'm a poncey food blogger).
Obviously, to make a vegetarian full English breakfast you could just replace all the meaty parts with their vegetarian equivalent - veggie sausages, veggie bacon, etc. I've done this a lot, but this time I wanted to avoid using 'fake meat' (which I do enjoy, but sometimes it's fun to be a bit more creative), so I added grilled halloumi instead. Halloumi is becoming a pretty popular breakfast option in the UK, and the first time I was served it as part of a full English, it was a revelation! The salty cheese goes so well with all the other elements.
The only other part of my vegetarian full English breakfast that's not entirely traditional is the asparagus - but I felt the plate needed a bit of green. Actually, with only one dash of oil used in this whole recipe, it's a relatively healthy dish, as far as fry ups go. You could always swap the toast for a slice or two of fried bread if you feel the need for something a bit more greasy first thing in the morning...
📖 Printable Recipe
Vegetarian full English breakfast
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Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 6 medium mushrooms, sliced
- 8 spears asparagus
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 1 large tomato, halved
- 6 slices halloumi cheese
- 1 tin baked beans
- 2 slices bread, toasted
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a frying pan, and add the sliced mushrooms and asparagus. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft.
- Meanwhile, heat up a griddle pan (or just another frying pan, if you don’t have a griddle pan), and add the tomato cut-side down, along with the slices of halloumi. Cook for a few minutes, turning the halloumi once it’s golden brown underneath (here are some more details about how to cook halloumi, if you’re not sure).
- Heat the baked beans in the microwave or in a small saucepan, stirring regularly.
- Serve all the elements of the vegetarian full English breakfast together, along with some slices of toast.
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for ½ the recipe.
F says
Some of us vegetarians hate those "meat look alike" options, unless one has not fully transitioned and is still struggling with their taste buds. They taste so bad and the idea of having something looking meaty on my plate when I don't eat meat is horrifying. There are other options. One can add avocado, potatoe wedges, etc.
Becca Heyes says
This recipe doesn't contain any 'meat lookalikes' :)
some one says
This was great! I usually make the beans myself (and did) I also do the fake meat thing. Gardenburger Blackbean patty for the black pudding, spinach and pesto flavoured tofurky sausage (which makes great bangers and mash by the way), and Sweet Earth Hickory & Sage Smoked Seitan Bacon. But I tried your recipe and really liked it. Btw my mash is garlic, shallots, yukon gold potatoes ricotta and parmesan plus fresh basil. fry up the garlic and shallots add a bit of white wine, mash the potatoes (after cooking of course) mix in the cheese and basil, plus salt and pepper to taste. Fry the onions in the remainder of juices from the (vege) sausages (like you normally would) and drizzle over the mash.
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
Your mash recipe sounds delicious! Glad you liked this one :)
Vibha says
Can we substitute halloumi cheese with something else. Halloumi cheese here in my country is quite expensive.
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
You can skip it altogether or use any sort of vegetarian meat substitute like veggie bacon or veggie sausage :)