Food with My Dude: Hash Brown Mini Quiches

Hi, I hope the week is starting off wonderfully for you and that you’re staying safe! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve shared a FWMD post, but I thought now would be a fitting time since we’re all at home and cooking more. I’ve made some new recipes since being in quarantine and I can’t wait to share them with you all!

My friend sent me the Tasty video of this recipe on Instagram because I mentioned how I wanted to make quiche at some point. The meal seemed easy enough, so I was super excited to make it! Although, can it really be called quiche if it doesn’t have crust? This recipe doesn’t include crust, so I somewhat consider it an omelet muffin. I don’t know the technicality of it, but I really enjoy making it so that’s the important part, right?

Stephen and I first made this recipe a couple of weeks ago. It turned out good for a first try. We realized that due to shredding our own potatoes, we needed a cloth to squeeze out the starch and excess liquid.

This was our second attempt at making it and we came back ready and prepared! We ordered cheesecloth to wring the homemade hash browns out and it made a big difference.

Since it’s just us two, we half the recipe. The pictures I’ve included in this post will show the amount of ingredients that makes 6 quiches. What I’ve listed below and instructed throughout the post will be the original recipe that makes 12 total:

• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 bag of hash browns or 4 potatoes [1 bag = 20 ounces, usually, or the potatoes that we use are about 5 ounces each]
• 8 sausage patties [equals 10 ounces if you’re using ground sausage]
• 1/2 cup of yellow onion
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• handful of spinach [Honestly, I just cut up enough spinach leaves to equal the amount of the other ingredients, which is 10-15 leaves, but it varies.]
• chives, optional for garnish

Price: $

Luckily these ingredients are cheap to buy and you can make a few batches before you completely run out of an item. Stephen and I buy a 10 pound bag of potatoes, so you can imagine how many different things we make out of them before we run out!

Ready? In That Quiche, Let’s Start!

I’m only half sorry for that pun. What I always do before I prep any meal is set the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit [205 degrees Celsius] and let it do its thing. The quiches will be baked two different times, but we’ll get to that later!

Cheesecloth Sidenote

*If you’re making homemade hash browns, the steps below involve cheesecloth. If you are using a store-bought bag of hash browns, you can skip through this section.

Since we bought a cheese grater a few weeks ago, we’re putting it to use! We didn’t wring out the hash browns the first time, so the starchiness and potato liquids altered the final outcome. To remedy this, we purchased a Grade 90 cheesecloth and cut it up into smaller sizes because it came as one piece of fabric.

Before using the cheesecloth we washed it by boiling the fabric in hot water for at least 5 minutes, then let it dry. After using the cloth, I immediately washed and dried the cloth again. If there are stains in the cloth, you can put baking soda in the water, rinse it out, then boil it again for extra sterilization. Stains are normal to have in the cloth after using. Once dried, keep the cheesecloth in a tightly sealed bag and store in a cool place to use again.

Be super careful when grating the potatoes, especially when they dwindle down to nubs — then it gets super tricky!

You’ll want to set the cheesecloth in a bowl to catch the potato starch and whatnot.

The picture below is the amount of one potato. The hash browns look fine, but you’ll realize once all the other ingredients are mixed together that more liquid magically shows up and it looks muddy.

I had Stephen wring out the hash browns in the cheesecloth.

Time to Mix and Fix!

You don’t necessarily need to weigh your hash browns if you don’t have a scale. We did just to have a general idea of how much a single potato weighs. The Russet potatoes we use equal about 5 ounces per potato.

Once the hash browns are ready, it’s time to mix these ingredients together in a bowl:

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper

It was a bit more time consuming to grate our own potatoes and cheese, but it was pretty fun and we felt a bit more proud of the meal that we made.

Mix the ingredients together, then scoop out 1/4 cup of the mixture and place it in your greased muffin pan.

You don’t really have to measure. I take a spoon and fill up the cups until they have an even amount.

It may seem like a lot to fit in the cups, but push the hash browns down and around the sides to create the “nest” since it’s where the other good stuff will go.

Below is our first attempt making this recipe without wringing the out the homemade hash browns:

Not exactly appetizing. As you can tell from the previous picture and compare it to the one above, there is cloudy, excess liquid in each cup. The first try of this meal came out more starch flavored and it overpowered the end taste. Although, it was still a yummy first attempt but not as good as the second outcome.

Anyways, once you’ve filled all the cups, put it in the oven, and leave them in there for 10-15 minutes. I usually let them cook for 13 minutes, but you can check on them around this time to gauge whether they’re ready to be taken out of the oven.

While they’re in the oven, cut up a yellow onion to equal 1/4 of a cup. Then, cook 8 sausage patties, [or in my case, ground sausage].

When the sausage is cooked, I put it in a bowl with a paper towel on the bottom to soak up the grease before I cut the pieces into smaller sizes.

Once the hash brown nests are finished cooking the first time, they can be taken out of the oven and they’ll look like this:

If you can tell from the picture, the eggs have cooked inside of the cups and they appear more solid.

Next, combine and stir these ingredients in a bowl:

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup of yellow onion
• 2 tbsp heavy cream

Then, add:

• 8 sausage patties [or eyeball and judge a good ratio of sausage]
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 15-20 cut up spinach leaves, or an amount that you prefer

Stir once again.

Once the mixture is stirred thoroughly you can use a 1/4 measuring cup, or a spoon, and place them in the nests.

Below are the before and after baking pictures once the sausage mixture is added to the hash brown nests. For the second bake time, keep them in the oven for 14-16 minutes. I kept them in for 15 minutes.

Once you remove the quiches from the oven and out of the baking dish, plate them, then you can sprinkle some chives on them to add a little extra flavor! You can also sprinkle the chives as you scoop the mixture before you bake them if you desire.

I decided to have some fun with my plate and added some Sriracha to it. I can never say no to spicing up a recipe.

Also, here is what you’ll see inside of the quiches.

Taste: The hash browns aren’t crispy like I thought they’d be; instead, they’re soft as the egg and still delicious. I really like the blend of the ingredients and the sausage is the strongest flavor. If you’re a fan of omelets, this recipe gives them a different look and has a wonderful flavor. The Sriracha is a wonderful flavor enhancer as well. Overall: Yum!

I’ve never had quiche with crust, but I am curious as to how different it would taste. I’ll have to add that to my list of recipes I want to try at some point because I feel like it will slightly change the taste.

Rating: ★★★★★

Heat level: N/A

This has quickly become a favorite breakfast meal of ours. I hope you enjoy it as well if you try it!

Also, you can save to Pinterest: