The famous English fry-up, but what is a full English breakfast, and how do you make it?
Ingredients include: proper back bacon, butcher's sausage, a fried egg, tomatoes, mushrooms, fried potatoes, and baked beans, all served with a thick slice of buttered bread or toast.
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*Post updated September 2025
Rather than searching for a full English breakfast near me, just make it yourself; that way, you can tweak it to suit your taste.
There's nothing quite like a good-sized English Breakfast to keep you full pretty much all day long.
Even when you travel abroad, to Mediterranean resorts in Spain. For example, you will find a Full English breakfast on the menu in numerous bars and restaurants.
Serve with a nice cup of tea, coffee or fresh orange juice.
What's included in a full English breakfast?
Of course, vegetarians will have their meat-free version, as there are plenty of meat-free options available these days.
Use good-quality ingredients, and you can't go wrong.
Fry up ingredients
- Bacon
- Sausages
- Tomatoes
- Mushrooms
- Cooked potatoes - I use tinned potatoes (although Londoners prefer Bubble and Squeak)
- Baked beans
- Egg
- Thick-sliced and buttered bread
Is a full English breakfast healthy?
Researchers have found an ideal excuse to indulge in a full English breakfast, offering the most exciting news dieters have heard in years!
They found that starting the morning with a fatty meal may boost the metabolism for the rest of the day and prime the body to burn fat more efficiently.
Many people add black pudding, and lately, hash browns have become a popular choice, but I find that a bit unusual.
I like to stick to leftover cooked potatoes, just fry them until they start to brown, along with the rest of the breakfast.
Portobello mushrooms
I LOVE baby portobello mushrooms because they are so tasty. 😋
Pronounced [por-toh-BEHL-loh]. Some people think they're named after the famous Portobello Road in London, but they are not.
The colourful Portobello Road in London is most famous for its half-mile-long market selling antiques, which is the largest in the world.
The street is transformed every Saturday into a glittering treasure arcade.
A plump, juicy tomato is a must-have for a proper full English breakfast, along with one or two beautifully golden-yolked fried eggs. And, of course, make sure the eggs are always free-range!
Tinned baked beans are another favourite.
Serve with a big mug of hot tea and some nice crusty buttered bread on the side of the plate, and you're done!
Eat that lot and you won't need feeding again until the evening meal 😉
There are many regional versions of this breakfast
For example, the Ulster Fry always includes black pudding, potato cakes and soda bread.
Talking of black pudding, I prefer Clonakilty White Pudding, which I tried a while back.
The Scottish breakfast boasts a tattie scone (potato scone), and the Welsh breakfast features laverbread (barra lawr, which is made from seaweed).
The Cornish breakfast often comes with Cornish hog pudding (a kind of sausage) and Cornish potato cakes made from mashed potatoes mixed with flour and butter and then fried.
So, what does your favourite Full Breakfast or 'fry-up' include?
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!
Traditional Full English Breakfast - Fry up breakfast
A full English breakfast, or fry-up, will keep you full all day long! You can add or remove any of the ingredients to suit your taste.
Ingredients
- vegetable oil
- 4 rashers of back bacon - preferably smoked bacon
- 2 sausages
- 2 beefsteak tomatoes - sliced in half
- 8 baby portobello mushrooms
- sliced potatoes - taken from the tin and drained well
- 1 x 400g tin of baked beans
- 2 eggs - free range, of course
- buttered bread for dipping and mopping
Instructions
- Slice and butter your bread, then set it aside.
- Add a small splash of oil to your frying pans and begin by cooking the sausages and bacon.
- In a separate pan, fry the already-cooked potatoes, as they’ll only need a short time.
- Warm the beans in a saucepan while frying the mushrooms and tomatoes in a separate pan. Once everything is perfectly cooked, serve it all onto plates.
- Wipe a frying pan, add a splash of oil, and fry the eggs. Place the fried eggs on the plates and serve with thick, crusty buttered bread.
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