Loaded Cauliflower Hash Browns

Expert Tips

• tip 1
  Customize with your favorite hash brown add-ins, including: cooked ground sausage, crumbled cooked bacon, mushrooms, garlic or sweet onions.
• tip 2
  Whether you’re using cauliflower or potatoes, the key to golden-brown hash browns is not to stir or flip them too often. Let everything sit unbothered in a hot skillet for several minutes to ensure the hash browns get…well…browned.
• tip 3
  Several years ago, I went paleo. Which, for me, ended up actually meaning “paleo-ish” because it’s really hard to stick to one specific diet when you taste-test and develop recipes for a living. And in this blogger’s paleo-ish opinion, I think the single best thing to come out of that diet movement is the existence of cauliflower mashed potatoes and cauliflower rice. Before this paleo stuff took over the internet, I never, never, never, never would choose to eat cauliflower. It just was not my veggie in any way. But whip it up into a batch of mashed “potatoes” or chop it to make cauliflower “rice” and suddenly, I can’t get enough of the stuff. My veggie intake has tripled, simply because cauliflower has now become my go-to for so many dishes. So imagine my joy when I discovered that you could also grate the stuff and make a killer cauliflower version of hash browns. (Hello, breakfast. I love you.) If you’d never tried a cauliflower-swap recipe, you’ve gotta give this one a try. You’ll never know you’ve swapped a single thing. Because, I KID YOU NOT, they taste JUST like regular hash browns. Admittedly, the prepping part of this gave me a little anxiety. Cutting into cauliflower leaves a huge mess of crumbles everywhere. So, grating it seemed like the way to go here. And to keep the mess minimal, try this: place a large shallow bowl (or a 9x13-inch baking dish) in the bottom of a clean sink, and grate the cauliflower in there. Takes just minutes, and cleanup is so simple. Once you’ve got the whole head of cauliflower grated, cook it up just as you would potato hash browns. And just like with potatoes, the key here not to stir or flip them too often. Let everything sit unbothered in a hot skillet for several minutes, to ensure the hash browns get…well…browned. Between the peppers and ham in the hash browns and the cheese and green onions on top, you’ll have yourself a skillet scramble so good, you’ll go potatoes over it. Except, in this case, you