An Ulster Fry will stick to your ribs and your arteries! It’s a traditional Irish cooked breakfast made from Ulster Fry Meats, fried Irish breads, eggs and vegetables.
Ulster is one of the four Provinces in Ireland. It is the Province I am from. This Northern Ireland Ulster Fry is a staple, even in these days of calorie conscious eating. An Ulster Fry will fix anything that ails you, as long as it’s not your heart!
In this Ulster Fry recipe, I’ll cover what an Ulster Fry is, the explanation of the ingredients involved, and links to recipes for some of the ingredients not easily sourced outside of Ireland. There’s step by step instructions and ingredient substitutions included too, so scroll down to see what’s in store.
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 is made up of back bacon, streaky bacon and sausages. In addition, there’s wheaten bread, soda bread and potato farls (flat potato bread). Fried eggs, mushrooms and Irish or British baked beans complete it. Served with a strong cup of tea, it’s a great way to start your day.
If you want to make an Ulster Fry for a crowd, consider making an Ulster Fry Tray Bake.
This is not the type of food you want to be eating before your annual visit to the doctor!
Ingredients for an Ulster Fry Breakfast
- Back bacon: sometimes called British bacon or Ulster Fry bacon. It is a combination of both pork belly and pork loin in one cut. It is difficult to get in the States. I used Hempler Natural European Sliced Bacon from the supermarket deli section. Better yet, make your own like I did here.
- Smoked bacon.
- Sausage links: I used the brown and serve type in this recipe. For a more authentic sausage buy Irish pork sausages or at a pinch buy English ‘bangers’. For the ultimate breakfast sausage, make Irish Style Pork Sausages.
- Eggs.
- Tomatoes: fresh.
- Mushrooms: white button or cremini.
- Wheaten bread: recipe for Irish Wheaten Bread.
- Soda bread: recipe for Irish Soda Bread.
- Potato Farls: potato bread. These are easy to make at home. Use leftover mashed potato and flour to a 5:1 ratio. For example, 15oz mashed potatoes, combined with 3oz flour, and a pinch of salt. On a floured board, form into a round and cut into 4, 6 or 8 pieces using a knife or pizza cutter. Fry all of the pieces in melted butter, in a skillet, over a medium/ high heat, until golden brown on each side (8 minutes total.)
- Baked beans. British or Irish preferably.
Instructions How to Cook an Ulster Fry
Ulster Fry, also known as a Belfast Fry, is not hard to make. It does however require some culinary juggling making sure everything is hot at the same time. In short, once the breakfast meats and the tomatoes are cooked, they are held in a low oven to stay warm. Breads and eggs come off the griddle and can be added to the warm oven too (covered with foil on a baking pan.). Mushrooms come off the stove and beans out of the microwave, so the most challenging part of this recipe is the coordination. Take my advice or do whatever is best in your kitchen. Either way, the goal is to have hot delicious food ready at the same time.
Cooking the Bacon
Arrange the smoked bacon on a Silpat mat, lining a baking tray. Place in a pre heated 350 degrees F. oven for about 20-30 minutes until your desired crispiness level. Once the smoked bacon has finished cooking, remove the bacon from the baking tray and dry on sheets of paper towel. Pour the bacon fat into a dish, to fry the bread with later.
Arrange the back bacon also on a Silpat mat, lining a baking tray. Place in the oven too, at the same temperature until desired crispiness level. Dry on paper towel. Place both bacons back onto the baking tray the smoked bacon was cooked on. Cover with foil and return to a 200 degrees F. oven to keep warm. You can put it in the oven as the tomatoes and sausages are almost finishing, then reduce the heat.
Preparing the Vegetables
Brush the dirt off the mushrooms and rinse the tomatoes under running cold water.
Place the whole mushrooms in a pot and add a tbsp of butter and black pepper. Sauté for about 10-15 minutes with the lid on. Feel free to remove the lid for the final 5 minutes of cooking for the liquid to evaporate.
Cooking with the Griddle
Place the tomatoes and sausages on the baking tray used for the back bacon. The leftover bacon fat is enough to cook these foods. Cook in a 350 degrees F. oven for about 20 minutes. Once cooked, cover with foil and reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees F.
On an electric griddle, set at 350 degrees F. brush each side soda and wheaten bread with bacon fat from the smoked bacon. When the soda bread is golden brown and the wheaten bread is darker, turn and toast the other side. Remove bread from the griddle when done.
Add oil to the griddle if needed, crack each egg into a small bowl or ramekin, then pour each egg, one at at time, onto the hot griddle. Sprinkle with salt and cracked black pepper. Add the potato farls and cook both foods. Farls should be golden brown and the eggs should be cooked to your liking.
Open the can of beans and warm in a pot or microwave. Serve all the ingredients that are hot off the griddle, kept warm in the oven, sautéed in the pot and microwaved onto a large platter or tray. Now all that is needed is a second stomach!
Flexibility
All of the recipes on this blog offer flexibility of ingredients and this recipe is no exception:
Use any type of bacon that is easily available to you. In the States a smoke ham steak or Canadian bacon are the closest substitutes available for Irish back bacon.
Fresh sausage links are an option, follow the manufacturer’s cooking instructions.
The breads can be a bit challenging for my fellow U. S. residents. These 3 breads, wheaten, soda and potato are all important ingredients in an Ulster Fry. I have included recipes for Wheaten and Soda bread here and given an outline how to make potato farls above in the instructions. Sourdough and whole grain breads are also substitutes.
British beans have a 7g sugar content compared with 12g of sugar in the American equivalent based on a 130g serving. British beans, such as Heinz are quite easily available in U.S. food stores, but they are easily double the price. Use American beans if preferred.
Mushrooms used in Ulster Fry are white button or cremini. If you have portobello, shiitake or oyster mushrooms, feel free to use them.
Eggs – fried in an Ulster Fry (the name of the recipe gives it away!) However, scrambled or poached eggs would also compliment the final dish.
Tomatoes can be any size. Use fresh if you want to oven roast as I did. Some people used canned stewed tomatoes instead.
Black Pudding can be another ingredient. Challenging to find in countries outside of Europe, it can be easily made. In this recipe for Black Pudding, I tried to reproduce a Clonakilty Black Pudding using easily sourced ingredients. Commonly found in an English breakfast, it does make an appearance in an Ulster Fry. Black pudding is a blood sausage made from beef blood, beef suet and oatmeal.
Uses for an Ulster Fry
An Ulster Fry is a decadent want to start the day! Mostly reserved for a weekend treat, often served more as a brunch than a breakfast. Many restaurants around the Province are known for their Ulster Fry, such as Maggie May’s in Belfast.
The Ulster Fry is not difficult to make, it is a bit time consuming and there are definitely culinary balls to juggle. As a result, many people tend to make this as a lunch or dinner option which makes more sense.
Storage
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container and eaten the following day. Keeping it longer than that will make the different components of the dish less appealing.
The breakfast meats and fried breads can be frozen for up to 3 months and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator. I do not recommend freezing the eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes or beans. Freezing compromises their textures.
Equipment
A Tip From Me
An Ulster Fry needs to be enjoyed with a strong cup of tea and a generous dollop of HP sauce.
Got Questions?
Ive got answers – hopefully!
An Ulster Fry will always include some sort of mashed potato dish in the form of potato farls or Boxty. From my experience, an Irish Fry will have Irish breads but not necessarily potato based breads.
A farl is a flatbread that has little to no leavening in it. It is shaped in a circle and cut traditionally into quarters, depending on how big the circle is. It is pan fried, usually in butter or animal fat.
Good question, vegetable roll is a uniquely Northern Irish delicacy. It is made from lean beef and seasoned with fresh herbs and vegetables such as leeks and onions. It will oftentimes make an appearance in an Ulster Fry and it has every right to be there. I did not include it because it is impossible to buy here in the States.
There’s not a huge difference. There are only subtle differences in the breads used. English Breakfast would contain toast or fried white sandwich bread, whereas an Ulster Fry contains at least one fried Irish bread.
Food Safety
The USDA recommends cooking eggs thoroughly until yolks are firm. Eggs should be cooked to a safe minimum internal temperature of 160 °F. Use a food thermometer to be sure.
The USDA state that “it is very difficult to determine the temperature of a thin piece of meat such as bacon, but if cooked crisp, it should have reached a safe temperature.”
With regard to sausage links, the USDA has this to say, “To prevent foodborne illness, uncooked sausages that contain ground beef, pork, lamb or veal should be cooked to 160 °F. Uncooked sausages that contain ground turkey and chicken should be cooked to 165 °F.”
Ulster Fry
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 tomatoes
- 8 slices back or European style bacon
- 8 slices smoked bacon
- 8 sausage links
- 16 button mushrooms about 8oz
- 1 14oz can of baked beans
- 4 slices wheaten bread
- 4 slices soda bread
- 4 wedges potato farls
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp salted butter
Instructions
- Ulster Fry is not hard to make. There's a lot of food to be cooked, so once food is cooked, it needs to be kept warm in a 200 degrees F. oven. The goal is to have hot delicious food ready at the same time.
- Arrange the smoked and back bacon onto two separate Silpat mats. Place onto two baking trays. Place in a pre heated 350 degrees F. oven for about 20-30 minutes until your desired crispiness level. Remove cooked bacon from the baking tray and dry on sheets of paper towel. Reserve all bacon fat, pour it into a dish, it will be used for the fried bread.
- Place both bacons back onto one baking tray. Cover with foil and return to a 200 degrees F. oven to keep warm.
- Brush the dirt off the mushrooms and rinse the tomatoes under running cold water.
- Place the whole mushrooms in a pot and add a tbsp of butter and black pepper. Sauté for about 10-15 minutes with the lid on. Feel free to remove the lid for the final 5 minutes of cooking for the liquid to evaporate.
- Place the tomatoes and sausages onto the spare baking pan, that was used to cook bacon. The leftover bacon fat is enough to cook the sausages and roast the tomatoes. Cook in a 350 degrees F. oven for about 20 minutes. Once cooked, cover with foil and reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees F.
- On an electric griddle, set at 350 degrees F. brush each side soda and wheaten bread with bacon fat. When the soda bread is golden brown and the wheaten bread is darker, turn and toast the other side. Remove bread from the griddle when done. Place in on a baking tray, cover with foil and place it in the 200 degrees F. oven where the bacon, sausage and tomatoes are being kept warm.
- Add oil to the griddle if needed, crack each egg into a small bowl and pour each egg, one at at time, onto the hot griddle. Sprinkle with salt and cracked black pepper. Add the potato farls and cook both foods. Farls should be golden brown and the eggs should be cooked to your liking.
- Open the beans and warm in a pot or microwave. Serve all the ingredients that are hot off the griddle, kept warm in the oven, sautéed in the pot and microwaved onto a large platter or tray. Enjoy with a nice cup of tea!
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