I made a traditional Irish breakfast for St. Patrick’s Day and the hearty meal fueled me through my workday

I tried making an Irish breakfast for the first time and, although it was delicious, it was a lot of work.

Erin McDowell/Business Insider

When I was young, my first-generation Irish grandparents often served me a full Irish breakfast.
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I decided to make a traditional Irish breakfast for myself.
I enjoyed the sausages, white pudding, and beans on toast, but next time, I’ll skip the tomatoes.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I decided to tap into my Irish roots and prepare a traditional Irish breakfast for the first time.

My grandparents were first-generation Irish immigrants who later moved to England.

I also grew up in England and would often eat a traditional Irish breakfast at their house. After I moved to the United States when I was 7, I would always have a full Irish or English breakfast when I went to visit them each year.

An Irish breakfast differs slightly from a “full English” in that traditional Irish breakfasts always include black or white pudding and are often served with soda bread in addition to regular toast.

Some of the products I used in this breakfast came from the specialty British food shop Myers of Keswick, founded in 1985 in New York City.

While British and Irish shops can be rare finds, even in major cities like New York, they offer international visitors an authentic taste of home, and I couldn’t have come close to making a traditional Irish breakfast without this store.

I found the breakfast was so hearty and filling that it fueled me through a busy workday, and didn’t take too long to prepare.

Here’s how I made a traditional Irish breakfast, and how you can, too, this St. Patrick’s Day.

I was able to snag some real Irish bacon and bangers from a specialty food shop in Manhattan.

I could have stuck with American breakfast sausages and bacon, and nixed the white or black pudding altogether, but I wanted my breakfast to be as traditional as possible.

Myers of Keswick in the West Village had everything I needed for my breakfast: sausages, Irish bacon, white pudding, and even HP sauce, which is technically a British favorite, but I decided to add it anyway.

If you don’t live in New York City, you can also order many types of British and Irish meat online at retailers like Jolly Posh Foods.

I was also able to pick up some white pudding, which was even made in Ireland.

irish white pudding sausage — Irish white pudding sausage.

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White pudding usually consists of oats, pork meat, fat, bread, and seasonings, while black pudding, which contains pork or beef blood, is also known as blood sausage.

While this may not sound appetizing to some Americans, I grew up eating and loving the stuff. It’s perfectly salty, fatty, and is often hard to find anywhere in the US.

I also bought some Irish soda bread.

It’s usually difficult to find soda bread in stores. However, since I prepared my breakfast around St. Patrick’s Day, I was able to find some Irish-style soda bread in my local Wegmans grocery store.

Back in my kitchen, I started by chopping mushrooms and tomatoes.

chopped tomatoes and mushrooms — Chopped mushrooms and tomatoes.

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I quartered the tomatoes and thinly sliced the mushrooms before adding them to a skillet.

For my breakfast, I took guidance from a recipe by Happy Foods Tube.

I added about a tablespoon of Irish butter to the skillet and let the mushrooms cook slightly down before adding the tomatoes.

mushrooms in a pan — Mushrooms in a pan.

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You can also use olive oil or any butter you have on hand, but using Irish butter like Kerry Gold will add a lot of flavor to the dish.

I then added the tomatoes and cooked them together until the tomatoes were slightly roasted on the outside.

cooked mushrooms and tomatoes — Cooked mushrooms and tomatoes.

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There was a lot of water in the pan from the mushrooms, tomatoes, and the butter I added. I poured a little bit out then set the tomatoes and mushrooms aside while I began cooking the other ingredients.

I placed my bangers and sliced white pudding in a glass casserole dish with a drizzle of olive oil.

white pudding and sausages in a glass baking pan — White pudding and sausages in a glass baking pan.

Erin McDowell/Business Insider

I was glad I bought the bangers, since they’re much thicker than American breakfast sausages. I cooked the sausages and the white pudding in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes.

While the sausages and white pudding were cooking, I started frying the bacon.

irish bacon in a skillet — Irish bacon in a skillet.

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Bacon in the British Isles looks noticeably different compared to most standard bacon you’ll find in the United States.

In Ireland, bacon typically comes from the back, or the loin, of the pig, rather than the belly. It more closely resembles what we know as Canadian bacon or “country ham” in the South.

Next up, I made the baked beans, which I expected to be my least favorite part of the breakfast.

While baked beans are super easy to make — all you have to do is pour the can into a bowl or saucepan and heat them up — I was ready to eat by this point and was dreading making yet another ingredient.

I also remembered not being a huge fan of baked beans when I ate this meal as a child. Still, I decided to give them a fair shot.

After about 30 minutes of cooking, my sausages were crispy and ready to eat.

cooked sausages and white pudding — Cooked sausages and white pudding.

Erin McDowell/Business Insider

I realized immediately that I had made way too much food, but thankfully I had two roommates who were also dying to partake in the traditional breakfast.

This meal admittedly took quite a while and four different pans to make. I usually stick to yogurt and honey for breakfast, so this felt like a lot of work.

I decided brown sauce was a necessity for my plate.

HP Sauce, which tastes tangy and vinegary, is typically added to English breakfasts, but I grew up adding it to the breakfasts at my grandparents’ house, so I figured it would be alright. In Ireland, a similar brown sauce by Chef is also used for breakfasts.

When I assembled everything on my plate, I was shocked at how delicious and authentic my breakfast looked.

It looked just like the Irish breakfast recipe by Happy Foods Tube that I was following.

The sausages had the perfect amount of snap and the white pudding was unlike anything I’ve tasted in years.

full irish breakfast — My finished Irish breakfast.

Erin McDowell/Business Insider

The white pudding was perfectly crumbly and tasted so authentic — it honestly tasted like I was back in my grandparents’ home. The bacon slices, or rashers as they’re sometimes called, were perfectly browned without being too crispy.

The bacon definitely wasn’t as greasy as most American bacon I’ve had, which I greatly preferred. I also enjoyed the beans on toast and the mushrooms — the savory flavors really complemented all three kinds of meat.

I also tried soda bread for the first time. I toasted it and spread a little bit of the Irish butter on top.

It was slightly sweet and I enjoyed the taste of the dried fruit inside. However, I think I preferred the regular toast, which I dipped in the sunny-side-up eggs as I always do.

The only ingredient on my plate I really didn’t like was the grilled tomato.

irish breakfast tomato — The cooked tomato.

Erin McDowell/Business Insider

I didn’t like the texture and thought the tomato slices were mushy and unappetizing. Something about a warm tomato just didn’t sit right with me.

Overall, I was blown away by the Irish breakfast and found it made me nostalgic for my childhood.

The scents that wafted through my kitchen, combined with the taste of the food, instantly brought me back to my grandparents’ house when I was younger. I haven’t seen my grandparents in many years, but this meal really made me feel like I was 8 years old again.

While I wouldn’t make this meal every weekend, I would make the effort for a special occasion, especially now that I know I can find authentic sausages, bacon, and white pudding here in New York City.

This story was originally published in March 2022, and most recently updated on March 17, 2025.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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