A lighter fry-up: how to make a healthy English breakfast

Poached eggs, sourdough toast and steamed bacon can result in half the calories of the traditional English breakfast



A 'steamed' fry-up with venison sausaged, confit tomatoes and sourdough bread Photo: MIELE

By Franky Kentish
5:34PM BST 08 Jul 2015

A healthy Full English breakfast? Surely impossible, I thought, when I received an invitation to the Grease-less Spoon Café, a one day pop-up in Covent Garden hosted by kitchen manufacturer Miele. A proper fry-up is synonymous with bacon dripping in fat, oily sausages and grease-smeared plates – and there is something extremely satisfying about revelling in the unhealthy glory of it all.

Yet, with the help of Professional Masterchef finalist, Sven-Hanson Britt, the pop-up set out to put a spin on the ‘fry-up’ – in which there would be, well, no frying at all. The whole breakfast was cooked in Miele's new range of steam ovens and racked up a mere 553 calories. In comparison, a traditional full English comes out at 1,035 calories or, in other words, half a woman’s recommended daily calorie allowance.

It was the steamed bacon I had been most sceptical about, but it proved to be delicious. In fact, all the the food was, from the slow-cooked egg to the sourdough toast, and the confit tomatoes to the home-made baked beans (plus a venison sausage and oyster mushrooms). An impressive amount of food for 553 calories.

“I’m never going to be the type of chef that preaches to people what they should eat, but it’s great to be able to show people that there are different ways of cooking things, which can be fun and not compromise on taste," Britt told me.
told me.




The battle of the cooked breakfasts: (l) traditional English fry-up and (r) steamed breakfast (MIELE)


Indeed, none of the food felt like a healthy compromise. The sausage and black pudding were still wonderfully rich, whilst the baked beans were packed full of flavour not found in the tinned equivalent. It was an elevated version of the full English that left one feeling full, rather than about to have a heart attack.
Britt says the trick is: “Buying great ingredients and cooking them respectfully.” As not everybody is a professional chef - and steam ovens aren't exactly standard - I asked him for a few tips on replicating the grease-less breakfast at home.

How to cook a light fry-up at home


  • Skip the oil: It sounds obvious, but leaving out the oil is the key thing in keeping a breakfast healthy. Experiment with different cooking methods instead, such as grilling your sausages or poaching your eggs, rather than frying them.
  • Cook rather than re-heat: Where possible make your own food, that way you know exactly what you’re eating. Cook your own baked beans (recipe below), which you can pack full of healthy ingredients like garlic, chicken broth, fresh tomatoes and several types of beans. A batch will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge.
  • Buy quality ingredients: Sausages bought from a farmer’s market might be more expensive than people are used to, but the people selling them know what’s inside and have made them with care. You’re much less likely to get surprises such as reconstituted chicken, which is worth the extra few pence.
  • Think about the bread: Fried bread is clearly not going to be good for you, so think about interesting alternatives. Sourdough bread really complements the breakfast with its characteristic tang and is a lot healthier.
  • Consider leaner meats: Pork sausages vary hugely in their fat content, which makes it worthwhile considering venison instead. Venison packs in big flavour with the advantage of being a naturally lean meat and low in calories.



Healthy fry-up recipe

Healthy homemade baked beans