Ground Chicken and Jicama Breakfast Hash with Cilantro
Ground chicken browned with golden jicama, onion, and fresh ginger, finished off the heat with lime and a lot of cilantro for a savory hash that keeps its crunch.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
If your mornings have turned into the same soft, sweet bowl over and over, this is the pan I would hand you. It is a weekday hash, on the table in about half an hour, and it eats like something you chose rather than something you are allowed. I make it when I want texture at breakfast, because crunch is usually the first thing people tell me they miss once the toast and cereal are gone. There is real chicken in every forkful, the jicama gives you something to bite down on, and the lime keeps the whole skillet awake. It reheats well too, so a Sunday pan covers a couple of hurried weekday mornings.
Jicama is the part worth explaining. It is a round, sandy-brown root you peel with a knife, and once it is cut small it behaves in a hot pan the way nothing else does. The cut faces take on color and a faint sweetness while the inside stays white and crisp, so you get browning and crunch in the same bite rather than having to choose. Onion goes in once the jicama has color, then garlic and ginger for less than a minute, and the ground chicken browns last so it picks up everything left on the bottom of the pan. Give the meat a minute of stillness and you get the crisp brown edges that make a hash taste like a hash.
Ground chicken is mild, which is exactly why it takes seasoning as well as it does, and there is enough of it here that the plate carries you well into the afternoon rather than to the next snack. Lime juice and a generous handful of cilantro go in off the heat, both of them things that flatten if you cook them, and the gap between adding them at the end and stirring them in early is the gap between a bright breakfast and a dull one. Savory, warm, crunchy, and green on top is a combination most elimination-phase breakfasts never quite manage, and this one gets there in one pan.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb ground chicken
- 1 medium jicama (about 1 lb), peeled and cut into 1/3-inch dice
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice, plus wedges to serve
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt, divided
Instructions
- Peel and dice the jicama: Cut the ends flat, stand the jicama on the board, and take the skin off with a knife rather than a peeler, since there is a tough fibrous layer under the papery brown skin that a peeler leaves behind. Cut the white flesh into 1/3-inch dice so the pieces brown quickly and stay crisp in the middle.
- Brown the jicama: Melt the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the jicama with a pinch of the salt and spread it into a single layer. Leave it undisturbed for four minutes, then toss and cook another four to six minutes, until the pieces are gold at the edges and still snap when you bite one.
- Soften the onion, then the aromatics: Stir in the onion and cook for about three minutes, until the edges turn translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for forty five seconds, just until the pan smells sweet and the garlic has lost its raw edge.
- Brown the ground chicken: Push the vegetables out to the rim and add the ground chicken to the middle of the pan with the rest of the salt. Break it into large pieces, then leave it alone for three minutes so the underside browns. Stir and cook five to seven minutes more, until no pink remains and an instant-read thermometer pushed into the thickest clump reads 165°F.
- Finish off the heat: Take the skillet off the burner and let it stop sizzling. Add the lime juice, the cilantro, and most of the scallions, and toss for a few seconds so the herbs wilt but stay green. Taste for salt, add more lime if it needs lifting, and scatter the last of the scallions over the top.
Variations
- Warm and golden: Add half a teaspoon of turmeric with the ginger and a splash of coconut milk at the end for a rounder, softer pan.
- Greens on top: Wilt two big handfuls of spinach or watercress into the skillet in the last minute so they collapse into the hash.
- Sweet against the savory: Stir diced mango or pineapple in off the heat with the lime for a tropical lift that plays well with the ginger.
- Herb swap: Trade the cilantro for torn mint and basil if cilantro tastes soapy to you, and add a little extra lime to compensate.
- Bigger plate: Fan sliced avocado over each bowl, or add a handful of griddled plantain for a breakfast that carries you through a long morning.
Storage & Leftovers
Cooled and sealed, this keeps in the refrigerator for four days, and it is one of the few hashes that is arguably better on day two. Jicama does not go soft and grainy the way potato does, so the texture you liked on Sunday is still there on Tuesday.
Reheat it flat in a skillet over medium heat with a small spoonful of coconut oil, three or four minutes, until it sizzles again. The pan brings the browned edges back. A microwave gets it hot but it steams the jicama, and the crunch is most of the reason to make this.
It freezes better than most hashes. Portion it flat in freezer bags, freeze for up to two months, and thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating in a pan. The jicama comes back a little softer, so I save frozen portions for the mornings when getting fed at all is the win.
Notes & Tips
- Peel jicama with a knife: The papery skin hides a fibrous layer that a vegetable peeler skates over, and that layer stays stringy no matter how long you cook it.
- Cut small and even: A third of an inch is the sweet spot. Larger cubes take twice as long to color and you will end up steaming them while you wait.
- Let the pan be still: Jicama browns only when it sits in contact with hot metal. Every unnecessary stir costs you color, so toss it twice and no more.
- Buy thigh-based ground chicken: It has more fat than breast-based grind, browns better, and will not turn chalky if you overshoot the timing by a minute.
- Grate the ginger, do not chop it: Grated ginger melts into the fat and seasons everything. Chopped pieces stay as separate hot bites you will find later.
- Season in two places: A pinch of salt on the jicama early and the rest with the meat gives you a seasoned hash rather than a salty top layer.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Ground chicken, crisp jicama, and a lot of green herbs make a breakfast that reads savory the whole way through. The meat brings the substance, the root brings fiber and crunch, and the lime and cilantro keep the pan from tasting like something heavy at seven in the morning.
- Jicama is mostly water and fiber, and a good share of that fiber is the soluble kind your gut bacteria ferment, which is part of why a raw-tasting root sits so comfortably. It holds on to a fair amount of vitamin C too, even after the cut faces have browned.
- Ground chicken is mild enough to take on whatever is around it, and it is the protein that decides whether a breakfast holds you or hands you back to the cupboard by ten. Thigh-based grind stays juicier, which matters more in a hash than it does in a stew.
- Fresh ginger grated straight into the fat is sharper and more floral than the dried kind, and ginger has been studied for the way it settles a queasy stomach, which is worth knowing if mornings are hard on yours.
- Cilantro and lime both fade when they are cooked, so they go in with the burner off. Between them they do the job people usually hand to the salt shaker, which is making a pan of food taste finished.
- As you eat, notice the crunch of the jicama against the soft chicken, and let that texture slow your fork enough that you feel the meal land rather than simply finishing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a different ground meat?
Yes. Ground turkey behaves almost identically and takes the same 165°F finish. Ground pork is richer and needs 160°F, and it wants a little less coconut oil in the pan since it renders its own fat. Ground beef works but its flavor will run over the ginger and lime.
Where do I find jicama, and what if there is none?
It sits with the roots in most produce sections, brown and heavy, often waxed. Choose one that feels dense with no soft spots. If you cannot find it, kohlrabi is the closest match for crunch, water chestnuts work if you want the same snap, and turnip browns well though it goes tender rather than staying crisp.
Can I get ahead of it on a weekday?
Brown the jicama and the onion the night before and refrigerate them. In the morning, reheat that base while you brown the chicken, then finish with the aromatics, lime, and herbs. That cuts the morning down to about twelve minutes.
Does this work for an AIP elimination phase?
It does. There are no grains, legumes, dairy, eggs, nuts, seeds, or nightshades here, and the seasoning is garlic, ginger, lime, cilantro, and salt rather than a spice blend. Check the label on your ground chicken, since some are seasoned at the store.