One-Pan Vegan Chipotle Breakfast Hash
A smoky, hearty breakfast with crispy potatoes and scrambled tofu, all done in one pan.
Call it a one-pan breakfast, but this is really a love letter to cast iron cookware. When it comes to the kitchen I think they are one of the best investments you can make. They don’t cost a lot (you can buy a set of three for less than £23, I’ve linked them under the recipe notes) and will last a lifetime if taken care of. Whether it’s cast iron or enamelled cast iron, having something that can go from stovetop to oven is a really great help. You can still adapt this recipe to make without one, but being able to do everything in one pan saves so much washing up.
This is the perfect weekend breakfast to share over coffee. The combo of potatoes, scrambled tofu and charred peppers are hearty enough to fuel you for the day (or cure a killer hangover, I’m not judging you and neither is this dish.) You can easily control the heat level, if you know you don’t like things spicy, use a milder chilli powder and taste as you go. I love to serve this with Oatly oat fraiche in place of sour cream and with lashings of Valentina hot sauce. A little bit of lime brightens it all up and before you know it the pan is empty.
Along with the cast iron pan, this recipe calls for nutritional yeast, kala namak and Mexican oregano. Are these strictly necessary? Well, there are probably ways around them but like the cast iron pans, I think they are great additions to your kitchen cupboard. Hear me out. I probably don’t need to convince the vegans reading this to get nutritional yeast but I add this stuff to almost every sauce I make. It adds umami, can taste cheesy with the right combo of ingredients and is nutritionally pretty great for you (hence the name!).
Kala Namak (or black salt) gives things an eggy taste and will up your scrambled tofu game like nothing else. It’s also wonderful in sauces that traditionally would have an egg ingredient. It is inexpensive and lasts a long time in the cupboard. Mexican oregano has a bit of a different flavour profile to mediterranean oregano which is the default option in most shops. It’s stronger in flavour and also has a citrusy taste, since it’s a relative of lemon verbena. I have linked the one I buy below (from a great site where I also buy other Mexican items like my beloved Valentina hot sauce) but you could always omit or add a bright herb to top like coriander/cilantro.
One-Pan Vegan Chipotle Breakfast Hash
ingredients:
- 3 cups of cubed potato (approx 3 or 4 medium potatoes) rinsed well to remove excess starch
- 1 small onion or 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 bell pepper/capsicum thinly sliced
- 1 pack firm tofu (around 300g)
- 1 tsp mexican oregano
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp chipotle chilli powder (use less or a mild chilli powder if you aren't a fan of heat)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp kala namak (black salt)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to season
- lime to garnish and vegan sour cream to serve
instructions:
How to cook One-Pan Vegan Chipotle Breakfast Hash
- Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F) or 180°C or 350°F for fan ovens.
- Heat up a large cast iron skillet and add a drizzle of olive oil. How much you need will be dependent on how well seasoned your cast iron pan is, for newer pans you may need to add a little more oil.
- Add the cubed, rinsed potatoes to the cast iron pan, season with salt and pepper and cook on a medium heat, flipping regularly until the potatoes begin to cook and you see the first stages of browning on the outside of most cubes.
- Place the pan of potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes, checking and flipping the potatoes at 10 minute intervals to ensure they don't stick to the pan.
- After the 30 minutes, you should have crispy, cooked potatoes.
- At this stage, add the thinly sliced pepper and onion to the pan, on top of the potatoes. Add a little more olive oil to coat them, along with salt, pepper, the paprika, chipotle powder, garlic powder and mexican oregano. Toss to coat them but leave them on top of the potatoes as much as possible.
- Put the pan back in the oven for ten minutes, or until the peppers and onions are cooked.
- Remove the pan from the oven and crumble the tofu by hand in with the potatoes, peppers and onions. It's okay if some pieces are larger than others but it should be roughly the size of scrambled eggs.
- Add in 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, the kala namak and turmeric.
- Stir the pot so the tofu is evenly dispersed with the potatoes and veggies, cook on a medium heat for five minutes until the seasoning is evenly spread and the tofu resembles scrambled eggs.
- Serve with lime wedges, vegan sour cream (I love to serve with Oatly oat fraiche!) and your favourite hot sauce.
NOTES:
Wrap the tofu in a clean kitchen towel and place on a chopping board. Place a heavy object like a cast iron pan or some cookbooks on top of the wrapped tofu and leave there until a lot of the water has left the tofu block and gone into the kitchen towel. Repeat if necessary until the required firmness is achieved.
Kala Namak gives the eggy taste to the scrambled tofu and is a great item to have in a vegan kitchen. Check the product links below for the one I buy, as well as the Mexican oregano.
