Sorghum & Sausage Breakfast Skillet
Ditch the boring breakfast hash. This Sorghum & Sausage Breakfast Skillet features nutty pearled sorghum, caramelized sweet potatoes, and rich, cream-baked shirred eggs.
Easy Sorghum Breakfast Skillet
I love any breakfast I can cook in one skillet. This Sorghum & Sausage Breakfast Skillet recipe brings it all -- packed with protein, sneaky veggies, and plenty of fiber. Eat this healthy all-in-one breakfast when you need a solid start to your day.
The skillet starts with browned breakfast sausage, onion, peppers, garlic, and fresh sage. Sweet potatoes are cooked until tender with cinnamon, red pepper flakes, and a spoonful of sorghum syrup, then combined with the sausage, spinach, and cooked sorghum. The sorghum makes the skillet more filling and gives it a pleasant, chewy bite that works beautifully with the soft eggs.
The eggs are nestled right into the skillet, finished with cream, and baked until the whites are set and the yolks are still soft. It is a sturdy breakfast, a good brunch dish, and a smart way to start your day.
If you're a fan of sorghum, check out my Gluten Free Sorghum-Sorghum Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Disclosure: I partnered with Kansas Grain Sorghum to create this recipe and received payment for my work. I love sharing practical ways to cook with high quality ingredients, and every idea and opinion shared here is authentically mine.
Ingredients
- The Sorghum Duo: Cooked pearled sorghum provides a gluten-free, fiber-rich foundation with a sturdy texture that holds its own against heavy skillet proteins. A final drizzle of dark sorghum syrup cuts through the richness with a deeply complex, sweet-savory punch.
- Breakfast Sausage & Aromatics: High-quality loose breakfast sausage brings comforting, smoky fat to the pan. Sautéing it alongside diced onions, sweet bell peppers, garlic, and fresh minced sage builds an aromatic base layer that smells like a crisp autumn morning.
- Sweet Potatoes & Spice: Cubed sweet potatoes absorb the rendered sausage fat and caramelize beautifully with a pinch of warming cinnamon, red pepper flakes for subtle back-of-the-throat heat, and a spoonful of deep flavored sorghum syrup.
- The Greens: A mountain of fresh baby spinach gets folded in at the final second. It melts instantly into the hot grains, adding a bright pop of emerald color and a sneaky dose of daytime nutrition.
- The Grand Finale: This is the key to authentic shirred eggs. A tiny splash of heavy cream poured over each egg protects the delicate yolks in the oven, creating an ultra-velvety, rich texture as they bake.
- The Crunch Factor: A final, mandatory scattering of raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds) or chopped pecans. They toast directly on top of the skillet while it bakes, providing a beautiful structural contrast to the creamy eggs and soft sweet potatoes.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Sorghum and Sausage Breakfast Skillet
1. Build the Flavor Base
Start by browning your breakfast sausage in a large, oven-safe skillet (cast iron is perfect here). Once it's browned, toss in your diced onions, peppers, garlic, and fresh sage, letting them sauté until fragrant and soft. Set aside for a few minutes while you get those sweet potatoes carmalized.
2. Saute the Sweet Potatoes
Stir the cubed sweet potatoes in that same skillet along with the cinnamon, red pepper flakes, and a couple of spoonfuls of sorghum syrup.
3. Bring the Grain, sweet potatoes & Greens Together
Stir in your pre-cooked pearled sorghum and sausage mixture. Toss everything together and prepare for the eggs.
4. Bake the Eggs
Use a spoon to make a 6 little wells in the mixture and crack your eggs right into them. Drizzle a little heavy cream over the top of the eggs, blanket the whole skillet in chopped pecans or pepitas, and pop it into the oven. Bake until the whites are opaque but the yolks still have that perfect, luxurious jiggle. Rest for two minutes and serve.
Cooking for One or Two
This recipe can easily be adjusted to serve breakfast for one or two. Simply cut all the ingredients in half and use a medium skillet. Cooking temperatures and baking times should remain the same.
Substitutions & Variations
🧡 Alpha Gal Friendly Breakfast Skillet
- use turkey or chicken sausage instead of pork sausage
- Skim the fat off of canned coconut milk in place of heavy whipping cream
Storage & Reheating
In the Fridge - Because of the runny egg yolks, this skillet is absolute prime estate when eaten fresh out of the oven. However, leftovers can be scooped into an airtight container and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.
The Reheat Trick - Skip the microwave, which will turn your beautiful eggs into rubbery discs. Instead, scoop the leftover sorghum hash into a small skillet, tent it loosely with aluminum foil to trap moisture, and warm it over medium-low heat on the stovetop for 6 to 8 minutes until sizzling.
Top Tip
Cook pearled sorghum in the Instant Pot for ease.
- Rinse and drain ⅓ cup pearled grain sorghum.
- Pour 1 cup water and sorghum into a pressure cooker. Set the pressure cooker to high pressure for 15 minutes.
- Once the pressure cooker has completed, remove from heat and release all of the pressure before opening the lid.
- Drain the sorghum into a small sieve colander. Rinse the sorghum and fluff with a fork. Add your favorite ingredients or add the grain to your favorite recipe.
FAQ
Look in the baking or bulk grain aisle. Sorghum syrup is a beloved southern staple made from the pressed juice of sorghum cane - it tastes like a cross between dark molasses and pure maple syrup. Pearled sorghum looks similar to Israeli couscous or pearl barley and can be found in the organic grains section of most major grocery stores or ordered online.
Absolutely. Make it the night before to make throwing this breakfast skillet together easy.
If you can't find sorghum syrup, the best substitute is a 50/50 mix of pure maple syrup and unsulfured molasses. This mimics the deep, rich, slightly earthy sweetness that sorghum syrup brings to the sausage and sweet potatoes. Honey or straight maple syrup work too, though they will taste a bit sweeter and less complex.
In short, no. The water content of milk is too high in this use. For a dairy-free option consider skimming the fat off of canned coconut milk in place of heavy whipping cream.
It's just a fancy, old-school term for eggs baked in cream. Traditionally, shirred eggs were baked in a flat-bottomed gratin dish with butter and cream. Nestling them directly into a hot grain hash and blanketing them with heavy cream gives you the same insanely decadent result right inside a single pan.
Absolutely. If you aren't a fan of sweet potatoes, diced butternut squash works seamlessly as a 1:1 swap. If you want a purely savory profile without the sweet undertones, use gold or russet potatoes and omit the cinnamon.
Hosting the Sunday Brunch?
This skillet is a massive crowd-pleaser all on its own, but it loves company. Balance out the rich, savory sausage and creamy shirred eggs by serving it alongside a basket of warm Blueberry Banana Bread, little bowls of fresh fall Caramelized Apples, and warm lattes made with White Chocolate Coffee Syrup.
Sweet & Savory: More Ways to Use Sorghum
Got Leftover Sorghum? Here's What to Make Next:
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Sorghum, Sausage, and Shirred Eggs Breakfast Skillet
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Rinse and drain ⅓ cup dry pearled grain sorghum. Pour 1 cup water and sorghum into an instant pot. Set the pressure cooker to high pressure for 15 minutes. Once the pressure cooker has completed, remove from heat and release all of the pressure before opening the lid. Drain the sorghum into a small colander. Rinse the sorghum and set aside.1 cup water, ⅓ cup pearled sorghum
- Preheat the oven to 325 ℉.
- In a large skillet, over medium high heat, cook breakfast sausage, onion, peppers, garlic, and sage. Cook until the sausage is browned.1 pound breakfast sausage, ¼ cup onion, ¼ cup colored bell pepper, 1 clove garlic, 3 leaves fresh sage
- Stir in the baby spinach and cook until wilted. Add salt to taste. Set aside.5 ounces baby spinach
- In the same skillet, add the olive oil and diced sweet potatoes. Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and cinnamon. Cook until tender and browned. Remove from heat. Add the sorghum syrup and stir well.1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 small sweet potatoes, kosher salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons sorghum syrup
- Pour the sausage mixture into the sweet potatoes, add the cooked pearled sorghum and stir to combine.
- Using the back of a ladle or dry measuring cup, make 6 indentations for the eggs. Carefully crack the eggs into the indentations without breaking the yolks.6 large eggs
- Pour the heavy whipping cream around the eggs. Season each egg with salt and pepper. Top with nuts.½ cup heavy whipping cream, ⅓ cup chopped pecans or pepitos
- Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until whites of eggs have set and yolks are still soft. Remove from oven, and allow to set for 3 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Notes
- use turkey or chicken sausage
- Skim the fat off of canned coconut milk in place of heavy whipping cream
Pearled sorghum is a game-changer for this skillet. That nutty, chewy texture never gets soggy. The combo of savory sausage, caramelized sweet potatoes, and those cream-baked eggs is pure brunch perfection. 10/10!