There’s nothing quite like an Ulster Fry breakfast! Although, have you ever wondered how to serve an Ulster Fry to a group of people, rather than just one or two? In this post you will learn how to make an Ulster Fry for a crowd. I’ll explain what a tray bake is, what an Ulster Fry is and what an Ulster Fry Tray Bake is. There are step by step instructions and even a video to watch! I’ll go into detail about Ulster Fry Meat, which breads to use and what to serve with an Ulster Fry Tray Bake. There’s even recipe links to some of the ingredients, that are not readily available.
Layers of Ulster Fry ingredients come together to form a savory Tray Bake. Easy to prepare and serve to a group of people. Your overnight guests, kid’s football (soccer) team and other willing participants will sit down readily for a plate of Ulster Fry Tray Bake!
What is a Tray Bake?
Food that has been baked or roasted using a tray is a tray bake. In the States a tray is a sheet pan.
Tray bakes are typically sweet, allowing the baker to produce a larger quantity of baked goodies. Tray bakes for cake are very popular, there’s a reason for that – they are easy to make, bake, divide, cut and serve. Popular sweet baked Tray bakes include lemon bars, and millionaire’s shortbread. Tray bakes also come in the no bake version such as fifteens and Malteser bars.
In the States popular baked and no-bake tray bakes include brownies, Rice Krispie treats and fudge.
Savory Tray Bakes are also a thing. Sausage, salmon, chicken thighs and eggs are popular proteins to use for savory Tray Bakes. In Northern America, the ‘sheet pan’ dinner has become quite the thing for a midweek easy dinner.
What is in an Ulster Fry?
An Ulster Fry is traditional Irish cooked breakfast made from breakfast meats, fried Irish breads, eggs and vegetables. Due to its hearty nature, an Ulster Fry up also takes pride of place at the lunch and dinner table too.
Let’s look at these Irish Ulster Fry ingredients a little closer. A full Ulster Fry usually ( I say usually because throughout the province there are slight variations) contains:
Ulster Fry Meat
This includes bacon, sausage and black pudding. For further details about Ulster Fry Meat, click on this link.
- Ulster Fry Bacon: has to be Back Bacon. In the States it can be a challenge to buy Back Bacon, so I have a recipe for it here. Thankfully, it’s easy to make.
- Sausage: Irish butcher style pork sausages are the ideal type of sausage to serve. Butcher style sausages are usually thicker and contain more natural ingredients. Occasionally I’ll see thick fat pork sausages in a grocery store in the U.S. and I’ll grab them, but most of the time I make my own Irish Style Pork Sausages. Fresh onion and dried sage lightly season these sausages.
- Black Pudding: made from fresh or dried beef or pig’s blood, with a binding such as rusk or oats and flavored with warm spices. In the UK and Ireland, Black Pudding can be found in any supermarket and butchers’ shops. Black Pudding variations appear in other European countries, such as Boudin Noir (France), Marcela (Portugal), and Kaszanka (Poland). Black Pudding is virtually impossible to buy in the States, due to the use of animal blood, so I came up with my own recipe using liver instead of blood. Click here for that recipe.
Ulster Fry Meat Substitutions
Substitutions for these individual Ulster Fry Meats include:
- use streaky bacon (regular bacon in the America), the bacon made from pork belly, instead of or in addition to Back Bacon.
- substitute Irish pork sausages with ‘English bangers’. I often see packages of English bangers sold in the States. At an absolute pinch use bratwursts, make sure they are pork based and raw.
- black pudding is a difficult ingredient to substitute. Possible substitutions include blood sausage or vegetable roll (in Northern Ireland). Or, make your own using my recipe which uses liver instead of beef blood.
Fried Irish Breads
Usually only two breads are served as part of an Ulster Fry. However, there are more than two options:
- Potato farls: made from leftover mashed potatoes, flour, butter, salt and pepper. Form the mixture into a disc, cut into 6-8 triangles and pan fry.
- Soda bread or farls: is a non yeast leavened bread made primarily from flour and buttermilk. When shaped into a round, it is called a bannock which gets oven baked, then sliced as needed. When shaped into a shallower round that gets divided into 6-8 pieces and baked on a griddle or cast iron skillet, they are called soda farls.
- Wheaten bread: is similar to a soda bread except a whole meal flour replaces the white flour. It is baked as a bannock or formed into farls.
- Pan bread: is the name given to white bread made in a long loaf pan. The result is a rectangular prism (aren’t I technical?!) It is sold sliced and it’s great for making sandwiches and toast with, due to the uniform thickness of the slices.
- Plain bread: is a batch bread that is shorter but much taller than pan bread. It has a dome shape and a slightly shiny top. Plain bread has an open crumb and is typically sold sliced. It is a heftier bread when compared with a white pan bread.
Finally, Eggs and Vegetables
Use fresh eggs – you choose the color and quality. Fried eggs are typical (it is after all an Ulster Fry). At a pinch, poach them but do not scramble or boil them.
Vegetables included in an Ulster Fry are generally fresh tomatoes and mushrooms. Large tomatoes are halved or quartered, then pan fried or grilled (broiled in the U.S.). Mushrooms are white button or cremini mushrooms that had been cleaned (use a mushroom brush to remove dirt) and sautéed in butter.
For an Ulster Fry recipe please refer to my post on the ingredients used, and how to cook an Ulster Fry.
What is in this Ulster Fry Tray Bake?
An Ulster Fry Tray Bake incorporates the ease of one pan cooking, easy portioning and having enough Ulster Fry components to feed a crowd.
Ulster Fry Tray Bake Ingredients
- Ulster Fry Meats: Back Bacon, Irish Style Pork Sausages and Black Pudding.
- Mushrooms: white button.
- Tomatoes: I used Roma tomatoes.
- Eggs: pasture raised is best.
- Breads: potato farls and soda bread.
Slice the bacon, clean and quarter the mushrooms, wash and quarter the tomatoes, and slice the black pudding and soda bread.
Cook the food before Traybake assembly. For more information about how to cook these foods, please refer to my Ulster Fry post.
Putting together an Ulster Fry Traybake
Take the tray or sheet pan you want to use and brush the bottom and sides well with oil.
Lay the potato farls onto the tray.
Add back bacon, I allowed 16 pieces for this recipe, so 2 per potato farl.
Next lay one piece of black pudding.
Half the sausages if they are thick and lay each sausage half on either side of the potato farl.
Top the black pudding with fried soda bread.
Place the tomatoes on the tray. I chose to tuck them under the soda bread.
Fill in all the gaps with sautéed mushrooms, then cover with foil and place the tray into a preheated 350 degrees F. / 180 degrees C. for 30 – 40 minutes, until hot.
Remove the tray from the oven and serve the eggs. Make eggs to order individually or make them as a batch.
Serving up is easy. Each portion is pre determined.
Video How to Make an Ulster Fry Tray Bake
See how to make an Ulster Fry Tray Bake by watching this short video, complete with narration.
A Tip From Me
Assemble everything involved in the Ulster Fry Tray Bake the day before, except for the eggs. Cover with foil and chill overnight in the refrigerator. The following day, place the tray, complete with foil, into a preheated 350 degrees F. / 180 degrees C. for 30 – 40 minutes, until hot. Remove from the oven and serve with eggs.
This Tray Bake can be made available for everyone at the same time, or plated up over the course of the morning as needed. This is a great breakfast to serve for Airbnb guests.
Got Questions?
I’ve got answers – hopefully!
Batchelors baked beans (made in Dublin) or Heinz baked beans (made in England) are considered the perfect accompaniment to an Ulster Fry. Also some sort of ‘brown’ sauce is used as a condiment, HP Sauce and Daddies are the two most popular. Ketchup will also appear on the plate. And of course no Ulster Fry, tray bake style or otherwise, is complete without a nice cup of tea!
There technically are no differences between these terms as they all describe the same thing. Different restaurants and cafes will have their own version adding whatever they want to their dish.
Ulster Fry Tray Bake
Ingredients
- 8 potato farls
- 8 slices black pudding
- 8 sausages
- 16 slices back bacon
- 8 eggs
- 4 tomatoes I used Roma
- 8 slices soda bread
- 2 lbs mushrooms
Instructions
- Take the tray or sheet pan you want to use and brush the bottom and sides well with oil.
- Lay the potato farls onto the tray.
- Add back bacon, I allowed 16 pieces for this recipe, so 2 per potato farl.
- Next lay one piece of black pudding.
- Half the sausages if they are thick and lay each sausage half on either side of the potato farl.
- Top the black pudding with fried soda bread.
- Place the tomatoes on the tray. I chose to tuck them under the soda bread.
- Fill in all the gaps with sautéed mushrooms, then cover with foil and place the tray into a preheated 350 degrees F. / 180 degrees C. for 30 – 40 minutes, until hot
- Remove the tray from the oven and serve the eggs. Make eggs to order individually or make them as a batch.
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