Christmas Leftover Bubble and Squeak Recipe
Serves: 4 PeopleThis bubble and squeak recipe is the best thing that can happen to your Christmas leftovers. Cornish chef Paul Ainsworth takes the roast potatoes, sprouts, parsnips, carrots and mash you didn't finish and turns them into one golden, bubbling pan the whole family will dive into.
Crispy bacon, a little nutmeg and a blanket of melted cheddar make it properly comforting. Then a Luxuriously Large Rich Yolk St. Ewe egg goes on top, and that deep orange yolk becomes the sauce. Short on time on Boxing Day? There's a quicker 20-minute pan version further down, plus tips for the crispiest crust, swaps for whatever's in your fridge, and how to store it safely.
Instructions
How to make bubble and squeak with leftovers
Paul's method builds flavour in one pan on the hob, then lets the oven do the work while you put the kettle on.
Step 1: Crisp the bacon
Preheat your oven to 190°C fan. Heat the vegetable oil in a large ovenproof frying pan over a high heat. Add the bacon and fry until crisp and golden, then lift it out and set aside. Leave the fat in the pan.
Step 2: Soften the onion
Mix the onion, grated garlic and thyme leaves in a bowl. Tip them into the same pan (hello, bacon flavour) with a pinch of salt. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes over a medium-high heat until soft and golden, then season with black pepper.
Step 3: Add butter, bacon and spice
Add 30g of the butter and turn the heat down slightly. Return the bacon to the pan with a pinch of mace or nutmeg.
Step 4: Fold in the leftover veg
Chop the roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots and sprouts into small pieces, roughly the size of a sugar cube. Add them to the pan and mix well. Taste and adjust with Cornish sea salt and pepper.
Step 5: Bind with mash and neeps
Stir through the mashed potato and neeps until everything is combined. Leave on the hob for 4 to 5 minutes, without stirring, so the base starts to crisp. Smooth the top and transfer the pan to the oven.
Step 6: Bake, then add the cheese
Bake for 35 minutes. Take the pan out, grate over the cheddar and return it to the oven for a final 10 minutes, until melted and bubbling.
Step 7: Fry the eggs
While the cheese melts, heat the remaining butter in a frying pan until it turns nut-brown. Crack in the Rich Yolk eggs and fry to your liking.
Step 8: Serve
Spoon the bubble and squeak onto warm plates and top each portion with a fried egg. Serve straight away and let the yolk run into the crispy bits.
Ingredients
- 4 Rich Yolk Luxuriously Large Eggs (to serve)
- 2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
- 6 Jolly Hog Bacon
- 1/2 White Onion Finely Chopped or Sliced
- 1 Garlic Clove Grated
- 3 Thyme Sprig
- pinch Salt
- pinch Black Pepper
- 50 grams Unsalted Butter
- pinch Ground Nutmeg (or mace)
- 4 Leftover Roast Potatoes
- 150 grams Mashed Potato
- 200 grams Neeps (Swede & Carrot Mash)
- 100 grams Carrots Cooked
- 150 grams Brussels Sprouts Cooked
- pinch Black Pepper
- 79 grams Quickes Cheddar Cheese Grated
What is bubble and squeak?
Bubble and squeak is a traditional British dish of leftover potato and vegetables, fried or baked until golden and crispy. It's a fixture of Boxing Day and the day after a Sunday roast, when there's always more veg than anyone could eat.
There's no single "correct" version. Mash and cabbage or sprouts are the classic base, but anything from a roast dinner can go in: roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, swede, even a little stuffing.
Why is it called bubble and squeak?
The name is said to come from the sounds the mixture makes as it fries: it bubbles in the hot fat and squeaks as the greens hit the pan. Early 19th-century cookbooks describe it as leftover beef fried with cabbage. Potato became the star later, and the dish really took hold during wartime rationing, when using up every scrap mattered.
Is bubble and squeak the same as colcannon?
Not quite. Colcannon is an Irish dish of freshly made, buttery mash folded with cabbage or kale, and it isn't fried. Scotland's rumbledethumps is closer to this recipe: potato, cabbage and onion baked with cheese on top. Paul's version sits between the two, starting in the frying pan for flavour and finishing in the oven under a layer of cheddar.
Swaps depending on what you’ve got leftover
- Cabbage, kale or savoy: shred finely and swap in for some or all of the sprouts.
- Roast parsnips or carrots: chop them small so they crisp up at the edges.
- Leftover turkey, ham or pigs in blankets: chop and add them when the bacon goes back into the pan in step 3.
- Stuffing: crumble a little in with the veg, but not too much or it will make the mixture dry.
- Peas or broccoli: fold them in at step 5 along with the mash.
- No mash: roughly crush some extra roast potatoes and use those instead.
- Red cabbage: use sparingly. It tastes great, but it turns everything purple.
- Cranberry sauce or gravy: serve these on the side, because mixed in they make it soggy.
Tips for the crispiest bubble and squeak
The difference between good and great bubble and squeak is the crust. These five tips will help you make the best bubble and squeak ever;
Use cold leftovers
Cold, day-old potato is drier and firmer than freshly made mash, so it fries rather than steams. That's why bubble and squeak tastes better on Boxing Day than it would on Christmas Day.
Chop the veg small
Small pieces mean more edges, and edges are where the crispy bits come from. Aim for sugar-cube size or smaller.
Don't keep stirring
Once the mash goes in, leave it alone for those 4 to 5 minutes on the hob. Constant stirring breaks up the base before it has a chance to brown.
Get the pan hot first
The fat should be shimmering before anything goes in. A heavy-based or cast iron pan holds heat best and gives a more even crust.
Squeeze out wet veg
If your sprouts or cabbage were boiled, pat them dry with kitchen paper. Excess water is the main reason bubble and squeak turns soggy.
Why bubble and squeak needs an egg on top
A runny yolk is the finishing sauce: it soaks into the crispy potato and ties the whole plate together. A large egg with a rich, deep orange yolk, like St. Ewe's gives you more of the yummy golden stuff!
How to fry the perfect egg for bubble and squeak
Paul fries his eggs in nut-brown butter, which adds a toasty, savoury flavour. Melt the butter over a medium heat until it foams and smells nutty, then crack the eggs in. Spoon the hot butter over the whites as they cook so they set before the yolk does.
- Sunny side up: cook over a medium heat for about 3 minutes, basting the whites with butter, for a fully runny yolk.
- Crispy edged: use a higher heat and a little more fat for 2 to 3 minutes, for extra crunch on top.
- Over easy: flip the egg for the last 20 to 30 seconds, for set whites and a still-soft yolk.
- Poached: for a lighter option, follow our perfect poached eggs recipe.
Cooking for a crowd?
Fry the eggs in two pans, or crack them straight into small wells in the bubble and squeak for its last 8 to 10 minutes in the oven. The whites set in the heat while the yolks stay soft.
Bubble and squeak variations
Quick Boxing Day bubble and squeak (20 minutes)
No oven, no cheese, one pan. This is St. Ewe's speedy hob version, with sausages for an extra-hearty brunch. Serves 4.
Ingredients: 4 St. Ewe Rich Yolk eggs, 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil, 25g salted butter, 1 white onion (sliced), 200g Jolly Hog bacon, 300g Jolly Hog sausages, 250g cooked Brussels sprouts, 300g cooked leftover potatoes, salt and black pepper.
- Heat the oil and butter in a non-stick pan. Slice the bacon and tear the sausages into bite-sized pieces.
- Fry the bacon and sausages until golden, add the onion and soften. Lift everything out and set aside.
- Fry the potatoes in the same pan until well coloured, and season generously.
- Return the bacon, sausages and onion, add the sprouts, and fry until a crust forms underneath.
- Press the mixture down with a potato masher to make one big cake, then turn it out onto a plate and keep warm.
- Fry the eggs in a little more oil, then serve on top. Bucks fizz optional.
Vegetarian bubble and squeak
Leave out the bacon and fry the onion in butter instead. Add smoked paprika or a few chopped chestnuts for depth, and check your cheddar is made with vegetarian rennet.
Bubble and squeak cakes
Shape the mixture into 8 patties, dust lightly with flour and chill for 20 minutes so they hold together. Fry in butter and oil for 3 to 4 minutes a side until golden and piping hot. Great for a brunch board or a crowd.
What to serve with bubble and squeak
With the bacon, cheese and egg already in, this is a full meal on its own. To stretch it further:
- Cold leftover turkey or ham with pickles and chutney
- Leftover gravy, warmed until piping hot, for pouring
- Baked beans, or brown sauce and ketchup on the table
- A sharp green salad to cut through the richness
Storing, freezing and reheating
Bubble and squeak is best eaten fresh. Because it's made from food that has already been cooked once, it's worth being careful with it.
Storing in the fridge
Cool any leftovers quickly, cover, and refrigerate within 2 hours. Eat within 24 hours, and make sure your original Christmas leftovers were no more than a day or two old to begin with.
Reheating
Reheat only once, in a hot oven or frying pan, until it's steaming hot all the way through. Don't reheat it a second time.
Can you freeze bubble and squeak?
Yes, but it's best frozen before cooking. Shape the uncooked mixture into cakes as soon as your leftovers have cooled, wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge, pat dry, dust with flour and fry until golden and piping hot. Expect a slightly softer texture, as frozen potato can turn a little watery.
