A traditional full English breakfast with beans is a hearty way to start the day, with eggs, sausages, bacon, baked beans, and tomatoes.
Something for the weekend. Or something to cure a hangover. This traditional English breakfast with beans, also known as a fry-up, is probably the heartiest, most copious way of starting the day. Try the Balkan Breakfast too; it is totally different but equally delicious!
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Wendy Klein: This was helpful beyond words! The Love of my life is British and we often share information about our traditional ways, breakfast being the one meal most often spoken aboutโฆso I had to know!
Thank you SO much, I can see you are best choice, though, instinctually, you were my first. (An older woman living in the Southern United States).
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What is a full English breakfast?
The word โfullโ means your plate will have lots of different foods, not that youโll get every typical item at once. The main parts are bacon, eggs, and thick, meaty British sausages. You might also get grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, and other extras depending on where you are - like baked beans and black or white pudding in England, potato scones in Scotland, soda bread in Ireland, or laver bread in Wales.
The best full English breakfast I had was in Wales. It didnโt have laver bread, but there was toast fried in oil, potato scones (so good), and baked beans.
Other things you might get are jam, marmalade, Marmite, kidneys, kippers, hash browns, ketchup or brown sauce, and something to drink like tea, coffee, or juice.
Recipe ingredients
The baked bean recipe serves four, while the fry-up serves two. If making an English breakfast for four people, double the ingredients used for the fry-up.
The beans: You can use dried beans, soaked overnight and cooked until tender, or canned white beans - both taste great in the sauce. Try the Baked Beans with Eggs, too.
- The beans can be made a day ahead and reheated before serving.
Sausages: Use short, thick pork sausages. English ones are best, but if you canโt get them, choose good-quality, meaty pork sausages instead. I use brats most of the time.
- Frozen sausages work too - check out How to Cook Frozen Sausages if needed. I often do that during holidays when shops are closed and fresh meat isnโt an option.
- One sausage per person is usually enough, but you can cook more depending on who's eating. If the sausages are small, two per person might be better.
Bacon: Streaky bacon works well, and back bacon, which is meatier, is also a great choice. Fry the bacon to your liking, turning it once - make it as crispy or as soft as you prefer.
Tomatoes: I use small tomatoes for an English breakfast - they cook faster. Plum tomatoes are a good choice since they have fewer seeds. One tomato per person is usually enough, especially if you're also serving fried mushrooms.
Eggs: Always cook the eggs last. I think fried eggs are the most common way to prepare eggs for this kind of breakfast. But, if you like, you can poach the eggs or make scrambled eggs.
Bread: For this English breakfast with beans, I used wholemeal toasties, but white bread is more traditional.
- You can fry the bread in oil or another fat for a more classic version. I've had it that way - it was delicious - but itโs not something I usually do at home.
Drinks: Prepare the drink just before serving the breakfast. Freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee, or English breakfast tea.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to make Full English Breakfast
Step #1: Cook the soaked beans or heat the canned beans if using those.
Step #2: Fry the sausages in a pan until nicely browned. Cook the tomatoes in the same pan or use a grill pan.
Tip: Turn the sausages in the pan to brown them evenly and make sure they're crispy on all sides. Check that they're cooked through before serving. Cooking should take about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on their size. Use the same grill pan to cook the halved tomatoes.
Step #3: Fry the bacon and let it drain on kitchen towels.
Step #4: Fry the eggs last; the yolks can be runny or set. You can cook them in some of the bacon fat.
Tip: Start cooking the bacon when the sausages are almost done; you will need about 2 rashers per person. This works best if you're cooking for two. If you're making breakfast for more, cook the bacon after the sausages and tomatoes are done.
How to serve?
Arrange the breakfast baked beans, sausages, bacon, and tomatoes on a large, heated plate. Add the fried egg on top. Serve the bread on the side. Bring some ketchup and brown sauce to the table, together with some butter, jam, or marmalade.
I went a bit further this time and served the breakfast in the whole meal of toasties. Place the lower half of the toasted bread on the plate, put some bacon on it, and cover it generously with baked beans. Cut one sausage lengthwise and place the halves on the pile of beans. Add the fried egg and the second bread half. Arrange the grilled tomatoes on the side.
So, if you are in for a real treat for breakfast anytime soon, do give the traditional full English breakfast a try; it is definitely the kind of meal you should at least try once in your life. And I am pretty sure that you will like it so much.
More breakfast ideas
Recipe
Full English Breakfast with Beans
Ingredients
Baked beans:
- 9 oz dried small white beans like cannellini, 250 g, Note
- 1 onion
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ยผ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 can tomatoes 14 oz/ 400 g
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons salsa or ketchup
- 3 bay leaves
Fry-up:
- 2-4 small pork sausages depending on size and appetite
- 2-4 rashers smoked streaky bacon or back bacon depending on size and appetite
- 2-4 small tomatoes preferably plum tomatoes, depending on size and appetite
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon oil or butter
- salt and pepper
To serve:
- 4 bread slices
- ketchup
- brown sauce
- jam or marmalade
- butter
- tea coffee
- freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- The baked bean recipe serves 4, while the fry-up serves 2. If making an English breakfast for 4 persons, double the ingredients used for the fry-up.
Baked beans
- Soak the beans in plenty of water overnight. 9 oz dried small white beans
- Cook the beans in fresh water for about 40 minutes or until tender. The cooking times depend on the size and age of the beans, so keep checking and don't let them turn to mush. Drain well. You can use two cans of beans instead.
- Chop the onion finely. Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion until golden and softer, about 5 minutes. Add the smoked and sweet paprika and stir well for another minute.1 onion + 1 tablespoon oil + ยผ teaspoon smoked paprika + 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- Simmer: Add the chopped tomatoes and their juices, cooked beans, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, salsa or ketchup, bay leaves, some salt, and pepper. Simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.1 can tomatoes + 1 tablespoon soy sauce + 1 tablespoon sugar + 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar + 3 tablespoons salsa or ketchup + 3 bay leaves
- Adjust the taste with more salt and pepper and depending on taste with more sugar. If I make the beans with ketchup, I usually don't need to add any sugar anymore, in the case of salsa I might add a pinch more, depending on the brand of salsa I use.
Fry-up:
- Cook sausages: Heat a grill pan. Add the sausages and cook them on medium-low heat, turning often, until nicely browned and crispy on all sides. To make sure they are cooked through I usually cut one in the middle (the one I am eating myself afterward). Depending on the size of the sausages, cooking them might take between 10 and 15 minutes.2-4 small pork sausages
- Grill tomatoes: Halve the tomatoes, lightly sprinkle the cut side with salt and cook them on the cut side until done and slightly caramelized. This should take about 10 minutes. Turn them on the other side for a minute or so at the end of the cooking process.I only have one grill pan, the one I use for the sausages as well, so I usually cook the sausages and tomatoes together. If they don't fit together in the pan, cook the sausages in a regular pan and use the grill pan for the tomatoes.2-4 small tomatoes
- Fry the bacon in the same pan for a few minutes on each side until the desired level of crispiness is achieved. Let drain on kitchen paper. If the pan is not large enough, fry the bacon after the sausages are ready; it will not take long.2-4 rashers smoked streaky bacon or back bacon
- Fry eggs: When ready to serve, fry the eggs in a little oil or butter. You can fry them to your liking; the egg yolk can be runny or set.1 teaspoon oil or butter + 2 large eggs
- Toast the bread.4 bread slices
- Serve: Arrange the beans, sausages, bacon, tomatoes on a large heated plate and place the fried egg on top. Serve with toasted bread, tea, coffee, orange juice, jam or marmalade, ketchup, and brown sauce.
- Or you can serve the breakfast between two slices of toasted bread or toasties as suggested above.
Notes
- Beans: You can use two cans of cannellini beans instead.
Wendy Klein says
This was helpful beyond words! The Love of my life is British and we often share information about our traditional ways, breakfast being the one meal most often spoken aboutโฆso I had to know!
Thank you SO much, I can see you are best choice, though, instinctually, you were my first. (An older woman living in the Southern United States).
Adina says
Hi Wendy. Thank you for the nice words, I am glad to help. ๐
AJ says
Great description of a full English! Loved reading this it is a great informative piece of writing. But can I just say fried bread ideally done in beef dripping or goose/duck fat for a special treat and some bubble and squeak too.?
Adina says
Thank you!
Barbara says
I was watching below deck sailing and guest ate beans every breakfast so I did a google search and found your post! You explained everything perfectly! Now this American needs to try to serve a proper English Breakfast!
Adina says
Hi Barbara. It seems unusual to have beans and sausage for breakfast, but it tastes amazing. And you will not need any more food until dinner! ๐
Chap Macduff says
Adina
As a Btit that was the best write up for a full English that I have ever has the pleasure of reading. All that detail was just marvellous. You are a very talented writer, especially considering English is not your first language.
I do love all the detail that you include with all your recipes. It makes your blog that extra bit special.
One inclusion that you mentioned, that my mum always youst to make for us, but that I haven't eaten in 30 plus years is fried bread. I guess that is a dying but best part of the full English for me in my memories. I guess as a nation we have become so much more health conscious these days..... But if you are going to go full monty and have a proper fry-up then the fried bread could be considered a wee treat and your main meal of the day.... Once again that you for a fantastic and entertaining blog. Keep up the good work.....
Adina says
Hi Chap. Your comment really made my day! Thank you.
Ben says
Why do I need to scroll through so much of your nonsense just to get to the recipe. Ffs stop.
Adina says
I need 8 to 10 hours to write a post and that pays my bills. If you are too lazy to even scroll down for 3 seconds, please stay away.
Jimmy Redox says
What is wrong with you? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the toilet?
StevenHB says
When are the beans added to the bean sauce?
Adina says
Sorry I missed that, Steven. Add the beans together with the chopped tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients.
StevenHB says
Thanks. That's what I did. They were great; though, I might omit the sugar altogether if I made them again (I used ketchup).
Adina says
So glad you like them, Steven. ๐
Nicholas says
I traveled throughout the UK sixty or more years ago -- what you delight in was NOT a British breakfast then. What I ate as a full British breakfast was overcooked fried eggs, cold toast (in a toast rack), bangers (inferior sausages), fried tomatoes (the only truly edible paet of the meal) and 10/40 strength British tea made drinkable by mixing it 1-3 parts with milk. Things have obviously changed, but what apparently has not is that the British fancy themselves connoisseurs when, really, they just eat to stay alive!
Adina says
Hi Nicholas. Things have changed tremendously in the food area in the UK. I have never managed to get any good fish and chips, but we often had wonderful traditional British pub meals. And not to mention the Indian restaurants, I would visit London anytime only for that.