This post has been a long time coming! Until I made them last week, I’d never even tasted a scotch egg. But my husband had them last spring at a beer tasting he went to and was hooked. He asked me to recreate them and they went on my list but I never got around to it. Honestly I wasn’t that gung ho about it – it was eggs and sausage I thought, big deal right? Boy was I ever wrong! Anyway, I intended to make them during my “across the pond” week when I made the Bangers and Mash, Fisherman’s Pie, and a few other revamped classic dishes from the British Isles, but I never got around to it. They seem to be everywhere lately though and I finally decided I had to see what all of the fuss was about…
Before I get to the recipe though, I just have a few quick IBIH updates. First, you may have noticed that I finally hit the 1,000,000 mark this weekend. Oh…you didn’t? What kind of friends are you??? You mean you weren’t sitting there staring at the screen, wearing party hats and holding noisemakers waiting for the counter to turn? Ok, just me then! In case you missed it, I submit this photo because I of course had my camera ready since it was a big moment for me!
When I started this blog just for kicks, I never dreamed I’d get a million hits, let alone in my first year! So thanks a bunch to all of you that have helped make it happen! It would not be nearly as much fun without all of your support and comments.
And speaking of comments, I made a post last week about switching to Disqus commenting format because so many people were having trouble with Blogger not allowing them to comment. Well long story short, not only did it not solve that problem, but when they imported my existing comments they were not threaded so all of my replies to your recipe questions were buried and out of sync which just wouldn’t do. When I contacted Disqus they said they were unable to import threaded comments from Blogger “at this time” (which would have been nice to know before I went to the trouble of installing it). I have since removed Disqus which reinstated the old threaded comments – however, until I figure out how to restore them (and I’ll be honest, I may never figure this out) all the comments you guys made through Disqus in the past few days are gone! I am SO SORRY about that!
I hope to implement my move to WordPress soon so that I can give you a better experience – not only with commenting but also a recipe index and print recipe function, along with some other goodies. It’s going to be a lot of work though and will take some time to implement so please bear with me a little longer! And if any of you (especially my fellow food bloggers) have strong opinions for or against WordPress and your experiences with them (especially exporting an existing blog), I would LOVE to hear them as I am a bit nervous about this undertaking. Feel free to comment here or email me directly at sevigm@yahoo.com. Ok that’s all for the boring stuff, now on to the actual recipe!
Of course I had to make these low carb so regular breading options were out. I experimented with a 50/50 coconut flour to grated parmesan ratio – seasoned with S&P and a little garlic powder. It worked great and that will be my “go to” low carb breading from now on. I used a mild “breakfast style” pork sausage that I found at my local grocery store that had the least amount of carbs in it – I think it was called Jamestown and it came in a roll with an orange and white label. Do check the nutrition labels because a lot of the mainstream sausage brands contain quite a bit of sugar or corn syrup. I’ve seen versions made from chorizo (definitely trying that) and italian sausage as well so feel free to experiment with what you can find.
My biggest challenge in making these was trying to get the yolks to stay soft. I made them a few times, experimenting with different techniques and finally got as close to runny as I think is possible. More than a few of my eggs were too soft to peel and the white oozed out so they had to be scrapped, but I finally hit on the right amount of time to keep the white firm enough to peel and handle, with the yolk staying semi-soft – I just don’t like hard boiled eggs that are light yellow and chalky, but you cook them to your preference. Then you peel them, wrap them, dip them and fry them!
The only problem with these if you’re doing low carb is that you definitely wish you were drinking a great beer when you are eating them! It’s worth the effort to make these because they taste so much better than just the sum of their parts! The salty juicy sausage works perfectly against the smooth egg white, rich yolk, and the crunchy fried coating. And though they need no accompaniment they are also delicious with a drizzle of hot sauce! My husband is happy and thinks they are at least as good as he remembers – as for me, I’m definitely a fan and will be making these again and again! My favorite thing about them? They are just as good cold the next day, so they are perfect to pack for lunch on the go!
Scotch Eggs – Low Carb and Gluten Free
- Yield: 7 eggs 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Eggs
Ingredients
Scale
- 7 large eggs
- 1 tube of breakfast sausage
- 1/4 c parmesan cheese
- 1/4 c coconut flour
- S & P
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 egg, beaten
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Place the eggs in a medium saucepan in cold water. Bring to a boil and boil for 4 minutes. Turn off heat and let them sit in the hot water for five minutes. Remove from the pan and place in ice water. Cool for five minutes.
- While they are cooling, mix your coconut flour, parmesan, salt and pepper and garlic powder in a shallow bowl or dish and set aside.
- Peel the eggs under cold running water and set on a plate lined with paper towels. You may have to blot them as well, because you want them completely dry when you wrap them with the sausage.
- Meanwhile, remove your sausage from the tube and cut into 7 equal portions. Take a piece and using your left hand, flatten the sausage out onto your right hand making an oblong oval that is about 1/4 inch thick. Place an egg in the center of the sausage, cup your hand and use your fingers to wrap the sausage completely around the egg. Then press as you would if forming a meatball to make sure the meat is evenly wrapped and smooth. Set aside and repeat with the other eggs.*
- I started my oil heating (in a heavy duty pan about 1/2 inch deep) while I wrapped these. Once they are all wrapped, dip them first in the beaten egg, then the coconut flour/parmesan coating and place them in your hot oil – I put the completed eggs onto a spoon and rolled them into the oil to prevent splashing.
- They don’t take long to cook, turn them every 2 minutes or less until golden brown all the way around and then take them out and put them on a paper towel lined plate.
- Served hot or cold these are awesome! And filling! I ate one and a half of them after taking the photos and was totally stuffed for hours afterward.
Notes
*It sounds harder than it really is but you’ll get the hang of it quickly. I wish I had a photo tutorial but it’s hard to take photos with sausage covered hands, so hopefully this description gives you the idea. I tried rolling out the sausage between parchment sheets but then when I used a spatula to get it off, it crumpled up – so the hand technique worked the best for me.
For the nutrition data, I’m giving you the eggs dipped, but not fried, because I don’t know how to add the frying calories. Use your own discretion in how much fat and calories that would add to the total.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 egg
- Calories: 321
- Fat: 28g
- Carbohydrates: 2g net
- Protein: 15g
Made these yesterday and they were sooo good! I used about 1 1/2 lbs of mild Italian sausage (’cause I don’t know how much meat is in a “tube”). Received rave reviews. Thank you for posting!
Wow, thank you! I just had Scotch eggs this week (twice!), loved them, but felt bad about the carbs I consumed. I was going to experiment with crushed pork rinds for the breading, but this sounds so good (and easier!) I think I will make a sauce with a little mayo, brown mustard, and a pinch of horseradish. Cannot wait to try!
That is the sauce I make too!! Love it with these eggs!!
Do u have to use coconut flour? My bf is allergic to coconut
You could substitute almond flour Amy – or omit it altogether, you just won’t get the same crunchy outside. They would still taste great though!
I used almond flour as a breading for my eggplant Parmesan and chicken fingers. It’s a great breading and actually turns out pretty crispy!
These were easy to make and insanely crazy delicious! An economical crowd pleaser :)
How long would you cook them in a deep fryer rather than on the stove?
Made these tonight for this week’s breakfast. I had a hard time getting the sausage done all the way through. I’m sure I didn’t use the right portion of sausage to size of egg. I did a couple more and they look perfect and smell heavenly!!!
It definitely takes a few times to get them right! I still have trouble with the first few of every batch I start until I get “in the zone” with wrapping them. They are so worth the hassle though – I LOVE them! Glad you liked them too!!
These sound amazing! Can wait to try them!
Your comment reminded me that it’s been awhile since I made these – definitely time to buy some sausage and get some going! Hope you like them too!
Synchronicity! I had a stab at these recently. I used some really large eggs and found forming a quarter pound of meat around was a bit of a struggle! I resorted to farina to roll the egg in to get it to stick – that’s carby, potato starch. Parmesan would do just that – good tip. I rolled my meat covered eggs in gluten-free crispbread crumbs, deep fried in dripping and enjoyed over a salad.
Here: http://livingintheiceage.pjgh.co.uk/2012/05/scotch-eggs.html
I’m totally addicted to these things! Really need to make a batch soon!
These look yummy. I’ve come across a few recipes for them lately, but I think I’ll look for a baked version. I always get spattered with hot grease when I try to fry stuff.
I love WordPress. It is so much better than Blogger, IMHO. When you, as admin, reply to someone’s comment, it will send them an email of your reply. (uses a free plugin) That way, they get your answer even if they don’t remember to go back and check. It is much more customizable as well, and easier for people to leave comment, less spam because of the great spam filter plugins, ect.
Thanks Melisa, let me know if you find a good baked version! And I appreciate the feedback on WordPress. I really want to do it but I’ve heard mixed reviews from people and I don’t want to make even more work for myself by switching to a more complicated platform. But there is so much that Blogger can’t do that wordpress would really be a better fit for me. I appreciate your positive review of it! Thanks!
Looks so yummy! I love scotch eggs!
Thanks Jeannie! I went without them for years in ignorant bliss but now that I know they exist I must have them on a regular basis! :)
Hi Mellissa: FWIW…..we love these too, but I only use egg and sausage, and I bake them…..I’ll have to try the more “breaded” version…everyone in my house loves these, the only downfall is that we have backyard chickens, and fresh eggs are OH SO hard to peel. Marie Gray
Thanks Marie, I never thought of baking them but I bet that’s good too! I love the crust though so don’t know if I could skip that part of it! I recently learned that fresh eggs are harder to peel and I found that fascinating! It was definitely true when I experimented with them though. It pays to keep some aside for a few extra days if I’m planning on hard boiling them. And I don’t even get them freshly laid like you do! We used to have Guinea Hens but never chickens. I’d have them now but our neighborhood has zoning regs that don’t permit it. My neighbor can have 8 dogs in an outdoor kennel barking their heads off but I can’t have a few birds – so unfair! :)
I have chickens too. I tried every which way of cooking them so I could peel them. Finally found steaming worked best. I like my yolks soft so I steam 12 min then ice bath
Wow! its amazing dish! I can’t wait anymore definatly I am going to make it for my husband.Thank you for this post. craig
Hope you guys enjoy them!
Girl, I hope you are working on a low-carb cookbook! I’ll be first in line to buy it even if it is just the recipes already shown here to have them easier to access. This is just genius! I was kinda depressed about being driven by necessity back to low carb but I feel more invigorated with these unique new recipes of yours.
Thanks Jan and no reason to be depressed! Losing weight while eating delicious food is a win win once you get used to not eating traditional pasta and bread. Glad my recipes are helping you! I am working on a cookbook proposal but sadly there is no guarantee that it will be published as there are many bloggers out there doing the same thing. Fingers crossed though! :)
Congratulations on hitting a huge milestone! Wow, that is a LOT of views. Not surprised though, I just love your blog. Your recipes always appeal and your photos are gorgeous. I’m paleo and my husband is low carb, so these scotch eggs fit the bill for us both. As soon as I finish my whole 30 I am also going to make that fab looking coconut cake from a few days ago. Looks sooooo amazing.
Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to your blog, those of us who are fans really appreciate the effort that must go into creating and photographing your gorgeous recipes!
Thanks so much Carolyn! The blog is a lot of work but I love doing it, and all of the comments and emails really keep me motivated to keep coming up with new low carb recipes for you guys to test out! I’m glad the recipes are adaptable to a wide range of low carb lifestyles too – until I started doing low carb myself I never knew how many different versions of it there are out there! I will likely move to Paleo myself eventually so I can sustain it for the long term – although I’m not sure I could completely give up dairy. Do you find that difficult???
Hi Mellisa,
Honestly, yeah.:-( The no dairy thing is the hardest thing to get past for me. Grains and all that stuff I don’t really miss, and even the sweeteners I can live without…but black coffee is a harsh mistress.(!) I miss cream, and my greek yogurt, and cheese! I love cheese! The whole 30 is a great cleanse to do where you eliminate all of those things, but just for 30 days and then you can reintroduce certain things, such as dairy (full fat and not too much) if you can tolerate it. Lots of people who follow paleo seem to eat feta cheese, greek yogurt and full fat cream, for example. That may not be true paleo but I’m a big believer in making the best choices we can and still being realistic about this way of eating as a way of life. I haven’t been doing it long and so far I feel pretty good…my skin looks good and I have lost weight. So I think I will end up being somewhere between paleo/low carb for the longterm as I think I may find that easier to sustain. meanwhile I have your wonderful recipes to keep me on the right track while eating delicious and interesting food. Now I just have to work on getting my kids off carbs….wish me luck on that one!
I just realized that I logged in under the wrong name, I am Carolyn B.!
Getting kids off refined carbs is no easy task but I’m sure you can do it if you’re offering delicious alternatives. The only things I would truly miss for dairy would be cheese and cream in my coffee. I have gotten used to no yogurt but the other stuff would be hard. Especially the coffee – so right that black being a harsh mistress – lol’d at that! I did it for a year but didn’t enjoy it – I’ve heard of people using coconut oil but I don’t know if I could do that. Maybe coconut milk? Might experiment with that one! I’ll probably do a modified version like you are so that I can sustain it long term as well. Compared to the strict low carb I’m doing now with no fruit or starchy veg, paleo will seem decadent to me! :)
Congrats on the million page views! I found you through foodgawker a few months back and now I visit often. The recipes I have tried have been AWESOME. These look great and I will definitely be trying them. Thanks so much~Love your blog! :-)
Thanks so much Carolyn! Your visiting “often” helped me get to a million views so I appreciate your loyalty! I’m glad you’ve had success with the recipes and I hope to keep you busy in the kitchen trying new ones for a long time! :)
I always wondered what these were…so thanks! I’ll be making them very soon. Oh…and a big “you go girl” on your count!
Your welcome Diane and thank you! I never knew what they were either until last spring – the name isn’t very descriptive is it? :)
These look FAB! Can’t wait to try them out! Thank you for sharing….excited to be a new follower!
Thanks Janis and welcome to IBIH – we’re excited to have you! I hope we see you around the comments and you’ll tell us what you think of the recipes! :)
These look great! Can’t wait to get some sausage and get started. You are my LC hero!
Thanks Laurali! Let me know how they come out!
Congrats on hitting the million mark!
Hubby is Scottish and has wistfully reminisced about these….guess what I’ll be making him this weekend; thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hope he likes them Jacqueline!
First, congratulations on your page views! WOW
I will be definitely making these! :)
Thanks Kristine! These are worth the effort – hope you like them!