Portuguese sausage and eggs is a Honolulu breakfast I ate long before I ate keto. The usual plate is sausage, eggs, and two scoops of rice. I kept the sausage and the eggs and gave the rice job to cabbage, which fries in the rendered fat and actually tastes like it belongs there. This is late breakfast for me — the meal that opens the eating window — and it is also dinner on nights I do not want to think.
Yield: 4 servings | Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 20 minutes | Total: about 30 minutes
Hawaii Grocery Notes
- Foodland / Times: Redondo’s, Purity, or house Portuguese sausage in the meat case. Turn the package over. If sugar is high on the ingredient list or carbs are more than a couple grams per serving, pick another pack or use less sausage and more eggs.
- Don Quijote: several island sausage brands, plus cabbage, onions, eggs, chili pepper water.
- Costco: eggs, butter, a whole cabbage. Portuguese sausage is hit-or-miss there; I usually get it at Foodland.
- This is not linguica from the mainland catalog, and it is not SPAM with “Portuguese sausage seasoning” unless that is honestly all you can find. Real island Portuguese sausage is the point.
Ingredients
- 12 oz Portuguese sausage, sliced into ¼-inch coins
- 8 large eggs
- ½ small yellow onion, thinly sliced (keep it modest — onion is the carb you can see)
- 4 cups shredded green cabbage (about ½ small head)
- 1 tablespoon butter, if the sausage does not render enough fat
- Black pepper
- Pinch of paprika or chili flakes
- Optional: 2 oz leftover kalua pig, chopped, if you have it
- Optional: chili pepper water or hot sauce with no sugar on the label
- Optional: sliced avocado on the side
- Salt only after tasting — sausage is already salty
Instructions
- Set a 12-inch skillet (cast iron if you have it) over medium heat. Add the sausage coins in a single layer. Cook until both sides are browned and some fat has rendered, 6–8 minutes. Transfer sausage to a plate. Leave the fat in the pan.
- If the pan looks dry, add the butter. Add onion and cook 2 minutes until it just starts to soften.
- Add cabbage and a few grinds of pepper. Toss in the fat until the cabbage wilts and takes on color, 5–7 minutes. You want fried cabbage, not steamed cabbage. If it is crowding, give it another minute rather than adding water.
- Stir the sausage (and kalua, if using) back in. Taste. Add salt only if it needs it. Paprika or chili flakes now.
- Make four wells in the cabbage. Crack an egg into each well, or beat all eight eggs and pour them over for a scramble. I do whole eggs in wells when I have the extra two minutes; scramble when I am in a hurry.
- Cover and cook until the whites are set and yolks are how you like them, 3–5 minutes. For scrambled, stir gently until just set.
- Serve from the skillet. Chili pepper water on top. Avocado on the side if you want more fat and a softer plate.
Kitchen-Estimate Macros (per serving)
Kitchen estimates only, not lab-tested. Assumes 3 oz sausage, 2 eggs, and cabbage, using a typical island Portuguese sausage around 2–3 g carbohydrate per serving. Read your label; some brands run higher because of added sugar. Avocado not included (~2 g net per half).
| Calories | Fat | Protein | Net carbs |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~490 | ~40 g | ~25 g | ~6 g |
Notes
- Hidden sugar: Portuguese sausage is the label you actually have to read in Hawaii. Many recipes treat it as zero-carb. It is not always. If your brand is sweet, brown less of it and fill the pan with eggs and cabbage, or switch brands next shop.
- Leftover kalua pig in this skillet is one of the better breakfasts in my house. Sausage plus kalua is a lot of salt — taste before you add any.
- This reheats. The eggs do not get better in the microwave, but the sausage-cabbage mix is fine the next day with a fresh fried egg on top.