Best Homemade Potato Birds Nest Recipes

BIRD'S NEST BREAKFAST CUPS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease 24 muffin cups.
• Mix hash brown potatoes, salt, black pepper, olive oil, and 2/3 cup shredded Cheddar cheese in a bowl. Divide mixture between prepared muffin cups and use your fingers to shape potato mixture into nests with hollows in the middle.
• Bake in the preheated oven until hash browns are browned on the edges and cheese has melted, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove hash brown nests.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Whisk eggs and water in a bowl until thoroughly combined; season with salt and black pepper. Pour equal amount of egg mixture into each nest; sprinkle with bacon crumbles and 1 teaspoon Cheddar cheese.
• Bake in the oven until eggs are set, 13 to 16 minutes. Let cool in pans and remove by sliding a knife between potato crust and muffin cup.

POTATO NESTS

Steps:

• Fill a large, heavy-bottomed pot with about 4 inches of oil. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F over medium heat.
• Peel the potato and grate it with a mandoline, making strings about 2 millimeters thick. Rinse the potato strings in a strainer under cold running water. Line a baking sheet with paper towels and spread the potato strings on the towels. Top with more paper towels to dry.
• Place the potato strings in a spider strainer, filling the bottom and going up the sides creating a "nest." Place a slotted spoon on top of the strainer to keep the potato strings in place and carefully lower the strainer and spoon together into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on a baking sheet lined with a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt. Continue with the remaining potato strings.

BIRD NESTS

Steps:

• Prepare mashed potatoes according to package directions. Remove from the stove and let cool slightly while making the meat mixture as follows:.
• In a large frying pan, cook each slice of bacon on both sides until crispy. Remove from the pan, place on a paper towel and let cool, Remove all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat in the pan. Next, brown and crumble the ground turkey or beef in the bacon fat until no longer pink. Drain off the liquid and add the following to the meat: the 1/2 cup water, 1 package taco seasoning mix - minus 1 tablespoon, and 1 cup shredded carrots. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer, cover and let cook approximately 5 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Drain all of the liquid from the pan, then add 1/2 of the crumbled bacon, the drained sundried tomotoes and 3/4 cup each of the cheddar and goat cheese. Mix well. Set on the lowest heat to keep mixture warm and proceed to make the nests.
• To Make the Bird Nests: On 2 cookie sheets, place 4 six-inch squares of foil on each cookie sheet. Using a paper towel, grease each foil piece lightly with the olive oil drained from the sundried tomotoes. Fill a gallon-sized ZipLoc bag with half of the prepared Simply Potatoes Traditional Mashed Potatoes, close and seal the bag while removing as much air from the bag as possible. Cut off one lower corner of the bag to leave an opening of approximately 1/2" and squeeze the mashed potatoes onto each piece of foil in a spiral - starting in the center - to create a base of potatoes about 4" in diameter. Add one more outer circle of potatoes to create an outer wall for each nest. Repeat with the second batch of mashed potatoes to create a total of 8 nests. Lightly sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of taco mix on top of each potato nest with your fingers. Spoon the meat mixture into the center of each nest and top each nest with some of the reserved cheddar cheese, goat cheese and remaining crumbled bacon. Remove each nest from the baking sheet using a spatula placed under each piece of foil. Serve with a green salad and enjoy!