Skip The Tortilla And Wrap Your Breakfast In This Crispy Side Dish

Craving a breakfast burrito but run out of tortillas? We've got your back! Instead of using a flour tortilla to wrap up your scrambled egg, veggies, and bacon, you can use a layer of hash browns. The easiest way to do this is to scatter a thin layer of frozen hash browns over the surface of a hot skillet so each strand overlaps. Once the underside has developed a touch of color, simply pour over a beaten egg and pop on the lid to allow the huevos and the partially-cooked hash browns to become tender. Finally, add in any extras, such as sliced avocado, chopped veggies, bacon, cheese, or cooked sausage, before rolling the whole thing over to create a burrito shape.

If you don't have frozen hash browns on hand, you can grab a raw potato and use a mandoline to slice it into paper-thin rounds that can be laid directly onto your pan instead (just make sure to use a guard to protect your fingers!). You'll also be surprised by how far a single potato can stretch using this technique. Slicing the spuds thinly is super-important here because you want to create a crispy exterior for your burrito that cooks at speed. A vegetable peeler can do a similar job, but bear in mind that it will take a little longer to create enough lengths of potato to cover the base of your skillet.

This technique works with almost any burrito recipe with a couple of slight tweaks. For instance, in this weekday-friendly breakfast burrito recipe, the filling already contains cubes of cooked potato along with sausage and bell peppers. Simply, skip adding the spuds to the filling, slice them into paper-thin rounds, and fry them in your skillet to turn them into a crispy and carby exterior for your eggs and veggies. Better yet, once the potatoes are cooked, remove them from the pan and scatter in some shredded cheese. Once the cheese has melted, put your hash brown pancake on top, add in your fillings, and roll to give your burrito a crispy cheese coating.

One of the perks of using potatoes is that there won't be any additives, stabilizers, or emulsifiers in your breakfast (store-bought tortillas tend to contain preservatives so they can remain fresh on the shelf), which is a real boon if you're limiting the refined and processed foods in your diet. That said, the top benefit of subbing a tortilla for spuds is their unmatched flavor and texture.

Some of the other things you'd never think to do with pre-shaped hash browns include using them as the bread in a sandwich, crisping them up in a panini press to give them frilly edges, or using them as a pizza base.