Isn’t a hearty vegan breakfast is the best way to start your day? Fire up your skillet and make fried potatoes, crispy oyster mushroom jerky mixed with a rainbow of veggies like green peans, onions, and bell peppers to create a delicious vegan hash.

Black cast iron skillet from above with a wooden spatula and colorful chopped veggies like green peas, red bell pepper, yellow potatoes, brown mushroom, fresh parsley

If you also like savory breakfast or brunch recipes try this vegan frittata (chickpea flour) or this easy vegan breakfast casserole or this vegan Mexican rice casserole.

Table of Contents hide

1. What is a vegan hash?

2. Ingredients

3. How to make vegan breakfast hash in a skillet?

4. Breakfast hash variations

5. What to serve with it?

6. FAQs and substitutions

7. More oyster mushroom recipes

8. More savory vegan breakfast recipes

9. Hearty Vegan Breakfast Hash (Oyster Mushroom Jerky)

What is a vegan hash?

Classic breakfast hash calls for bacon, sausage or other meat, eggs, potatoes, and sometimes leftover veggies. If you want to make a vegan hash, you can use potatoes plus whatever veggies you have in your pantry, fridge, or freezer. However, you either skip all animal-related products and have a purely veggie hash or choose vegan meat substitutes.

In this recipe, we fried an abundance of potatoes and added colorful veggies like red bell peppers, green peas, and onions as a start. To make it more filling we also added vegan sausages and turned oyster mushrooms into fake beef jerky.

What is an oyster mushroom jerky taste like? Well, you can cook oyster mushrooms in 11 ways, but frying them in a cast-iron skillet until they are crispy on all sides is the best. Thanks to its meaty, sturdy texture, it can mimic all kinds of meat quite perfectly. With the right seasoning, you can have a smoky, flavorful, and completely plant-based beef jerky substitute.

Ingredients

While you can make vegetarian hash with any combination of potatoes, veggies, legumes, and meat substitutes, this recipe calls for the following 6 ingredients. See the recipe card for quantities.

Oyster mushrooms – you can choose any types of oyster mushrooms or if you don’t have any, choose one from these 13 oyster mushroom substitutes
Russet potatoes
Onion
Green peas – pre-cooked and frozen
Red bell pepper – any color is good, but red makes it really colorful
Vegan breakfast sausages – homemade or store-bought

Several glass bowl with the different ingredients to make vegan breakfast hash like chopped yellow potatoes, green peas, mushroom strips, chopped red bell pepper, sliced sausages, chopped white onion, marinade, and parsley

How to make vegan breakfast hash in a skillet?

Frying potatoes first

Wash, peel and dice potatoes.
Heat up a large cast-iron skillet* (we use the brand UnoCasa) over medium heat and add 2 Tablespoons of any high heat-resistent vegetable oil (like sunflower oil or coconut oil).
Add diced potatoes and fry them for approx. 15-20 minutes. Use a slotted turner to make sure they will get crispy on all sides. Stir at the beginning more frequently as they tend to stick to the skillet. Season it with salt only.
When it is ready, remove them from the skillet to a separate plate.

Black cast iron skillet from above with yellow diced potatoes

Making oyster mushroom jerky

Shred pearl oyster mushrooms with your hand into pieces. No need to wash them or cut them. For more tips read our how to prepare oyster mushrooms article for the when and why.
Use the same cast-iron skillet without washing it and add a bit more oil.
Add the shredded mushrooms and the “beef jerky” spice mix, which consist of olive oil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, soy sauce, cumin, smoked paprika powder, lemon juice, and salt.
Stir and fry mushrooms for 5-6 minutes or until they get as crispy as you want. You can gently push them down and you can hear them sizzle. Medium-high heat will get them to the right texture.

Black cast iron skillet from above with crispy brown oyster mushroom

Adding everything else

When the oyster mushrooms are ready, lower the heat and add additional oil if you need it.
Add chopped onion, thawed green peas, chopped bell peppers, and sliced vegan sausages. Fry them together for approximately 4-5 minutes until the onion is tender and golden brown.
Finally, add the previously fried potatoes. Stir to re-heat it. It is ready to be served with freshly chopped parsley or red pepper flakes if you want it fiery.

4 photo collage of a cast iron skillet from above showing the different ingredients, brown oyster mushroom, green peas, chopped white onion, chopped red bell pepper, chopped yellow potatoes

Breakfast hash variations

There are so many variations and things you can add, skip, or substitute. It all depends on your taste and the ingredients available to you. In the below list, we would like to give some examples which you may find useful when creating your own vegan breakfast hash combination.

Vegetables – We recommend adding veggies that are quick to soften in a skillet. So those where no pre-cooking is needed. These are zucchini, eggplant, other mushrooms like portobello mushrooms, butternut squash, sweet potato, spinach, kale, or other leafy greens.
Legumes – This hash can be a prime example of lazy vegan breakfast if you add canned legumes like chickpeas, corn, black beans, or any type of lentils.
Meat substitutes – Apart from sausages, you can add vegan bacon bits, vegan shredded chicken, pressed tofu, textured vegetable protein, or any other store-bought products like Beyond Meat or Impossible Meat.
Egg substitutes – You can make chickpea flour omelet, tofu scramble, or vegan fried eggs.
Vegan cheese – If you want a cheezy vegan hash, and have a favorite vegan cheese brand, then shred some at the top.

Let us know your favorite combination in the comments!

Black cast iron skillet from above with a wooden spatula and colorful chopped veggies like red bell pepper, yellow potatoes, brown mushroom, green peas, fresh parsley

What to serve with it?

While this vegan potato hash is filling and hearty on its own. You can add

Choose toppings – If you want your vegan hash to have a Mexican vibe, top it with avocado, vegan sour cream, tvp taco meat, or a bit of salsa sauce and fresh cilantro.
Add toast – Turn it into a breakfast sandwich by adding a slice of crusty bread or a few biscuits.
Wrap it up – If you have some tortillas, wrap and roll to make vegan breakfast burrito or quesadillas. If you need a homemade recipe, try these high protein grain-free tortillas made of buckwheat and red lentils.
Breakfast for dinner – Have you thought of eating breakfast for dinner? This vegan hash recipe can become a full course meal if you add veggie balls like these mushroom meatballs, chickpea meatballs, eggplant meatballs or these vegan tvp meatballs. This juicy vegan lentil loaf is surely a yummy addition too.
Get creative – Serve it with sweet potato rice or add grains like quinoa, millet or buckwheat.

A wooden spoon with colorful chopped veggies like red bell pepper, yellow potatoes, green peas, brown mushroom, fresh parsley.

FAQs and substitutions

Can you use other mushrooms?

Yes, you can either choose any of the 7 types of oyster mushrooms or seek out one of these 13 oyster mushroom substitutes or you don’t know where to buy them or don’t want to grow your own at home.

If you have classic button mushrooms or portobello mushrooms, you can certainly make this recipe as the spices and the flavor profile matches perfectly with many mushroom types.

What to use instead of soy sauce?

If you need to follow a gluten-free diet, you should avoid using soy sauce since it is not gluten-free. You should use tamari or any other substitute listed in our “is soy sauce gluten-free?” post.

If you need this recipe to be soy-free, use coconut aminos.

You can also use Worcestershire sauce as it is quite close to soy sauce, but sadly the original sauce is also not gluten-free. However, there are several brands that produce vegan and gluten-free alternatives.

How to store leftovers?

Dishes are usually best served fresh. That being said you can store this vegan breakfast hash in an air-tight container for 3-4 days in your fridge.

Can you make them ahead of time?

You can store oyster mushrooms easily up to a week in the fridge, or at room temperature for 1-2 days. For more tips, read our how to store oyster mushrooms article. The finished dish can be stored in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. When you are ready to serve them, reheat them in a frying pan or skillet. Potatoes tend to have a weird texture if you reheat them in the microwave.

This hearty vegan breakfast hash recipe is meat-free, egg-free, and dairy-free. It is suitable for a vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, nut-free, and soy-free diet provided that you choose a soy sauce substitute and vegan sausage based on your dietary needs. It is not WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) as you would need oil to make it.

More oyster mushroom recipes

You can find several delicious oyster mushroom recipes here or check out one from the below list:

More savory vegan breakfast recipes

Browse through our vegan breakfast recipes gallery or check out one of these from below:

Hearty Vegan Breakfast Hash (Oyster Mushroom Jerky)

What is a vegan hash?

Ingredients