Cast Iron

Red Chilaquiles with Fried Eggs

by:
May 29, 2021
5 Stars
Red Chilaquiles with Fried Eggs
Photo by Bobbi Lin
Author Notes

Have you had chilaquiles before? If you haven't, be prepared to sing "Where have you been all my li-i-i-i-i-i-ife" to a plate of cheese and eggs and sauce. I warn you because I love you, and also because it's warranted. —Kendra Vaculin

  • Serves between 3 to 5, depending on sauce preferences
Ingredients
  • For the sauce:
  • one 12-ounce can peeled tomatoes, plus 1/2 cup of the juices
  • 1 jalapeño, with seeds, roughly chopped
  • 1 small white onion, chopped
  • 2 chiles in adobo (Buy a small can and spread leftover adobo on toast or, if you like spicy foods, eat it with a spoon!)
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon agave
  • Pinch of salt
  • For the assembly:
  • Vegetable oil, for frying
  • Corn tortillas, cut or ripped into triangles
  • Salt and pepper
  • Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • Cotija (crumbly Mexican cheese) or something similar, like feta
  • Eggs (This is vague! I know! How many do you want? That many.)
  • Cilantro
In This Recipe
Directions
  1. Place all sauce ingredients except for the oil, agave, and salt into a blender and blend until smooth. Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium, adding the blended sauce and stirring to thicken. Stir in the agave and salt. Here you will run into your first big hurdle, which is to not drink all of the sauce or to eat the whole lot straight from the saucepan with a bag of Tostitos. Resist. (The sauce can be made ahead of time, cooled, and stored in the fridge up to a day in advance.)
  2. Assemble your chilaquiles! This is a little free-form amounts-wise; you will end up with about 2 cups sauce, which can make a dish for anywhere from 3 to 6 people depending on how saucy you like things. Adjust the tortilla/cheese/egg amounts accordingly.
  3. Preheat the broiler, and then start frying tortillas. Heat 1/4 inch of oil in a saucepan and, working in batches, fry the tortilla triangles, flipping halfway through, until a little crisp but not totally crunchy. You are not making chips, but instead like 3 notches less crispy than that; this way, the tortilla can hold up to the soupy addition of sauce/cheese/egg, but also sort of melt away into that. I know this sounds crazy. Just trust.
  4. Drain tortillas on a paper towel, sprinkling lightly with salt. Second hurdle time: Now you don’t even need the bag of Tostitos because you made almost-chips! Can’t you just eat all the sauce now with these??? No. You cannot. Press on.
  5. In your vessel of choice (for more of a crowd, use a casserole dish or a cast iron skillet; for less, a pie pan or even a sizzle plate works), layer a bunch of tortillas, overlapping as you go. Spoon sauce over them to desired slatheriness (I like a lot), and then cover with both cheeses (again, I like a lot. I mostly always like a lot). This is allowed to look a little soupy -- in fact, it should. Broil until cheese is melted. DO NOT take a fork to this yet. One more step!
  6. Fry eggs over easy in a small pan, keeping yolks intact and uncooked because you know what’s up. Scoop amounts of the saucy tortilla mess into a bowls, add an egg (or two), some fresh cilantro, and salt and pepper. DONE! At long last. Now eat.
Tags:

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Emily Barney
    Emily Barney
  • Kristie Powell
    Kristie Powell
  • deblenares
    deblenares
  • Bailey Rose
    Bailey Rose
Kendra Vaculin

Recipe by: Kendra Vaculin

A fan of female driven comedies, a good beat, your hair today, and making foods for friends.

Popular on Food52

14 Reviews

Emily B.
Emily B. May 29, 2021
The sauce on this is so good! I'm making it again right now and my apartment smells AMAZING as it simmers. Since there were 7 chilies in my 7oz can, I tripled the rest of it. I didn't have fresh jalapenos and I'm avoiding shopping this weekend (need to clear the fridge) so I'll taste it towards the end and decide if I want to add all the adobo sauce or if it's good with the chilies.

I'll use some for Chilaquiles this weekend (per this recipe) and the rest for Chicken Tinga. I've done that with this sauce as a buffet party dish a few times, serving the shredded chicken & this sauce in a small crock pot with tostadas and toppings (cilantro, cotija, lime wedges, onions, & thinly sliced radishes & chillies if I want to get fancy) in individual dishes so people can assemble them to taste.
 
Jessamin
Jessamin January 10, 2021
This is absolutely incredible. The sauce is perfect, and I'm so glad I doubled it when I made it tonight for the first time. It is so hard not to just eat all of the fried tortillas dipped in sauce! We poached our eggs instead of frying them- absolute perfection.
 
Kristie P.
Kristie P. January 16, 2019
I've made this recipe many times, and it's ruined me from all other chilaquile recipes. I always double the sauce because I love it so much!
 
KOKelley
KOKelley May 25, 2016
I've made this a thousand times (nearly). I freaking cannot get enough! I'm swapping this delectable sauce in for my usual red enchilada sauce for a big family dinner this weekend. Traditional? No. But it is going to be delicious! Thanks for sharing such an awesome recipe.
 
cindy
cindy September 29, 2015
FABULOUS ! I made these a bit healthier: First roasted a head of cauliflower (broken in to florets) 2 carrots, sliced, and 1 green pepper largely chopped. Mixed them with olive oil, 1 lemon juiced, salt, pepper and 2 garlic cloves minced. Roasted them at 400 for approx 30 minutes or so until charred and tasty ! Sauce: Used a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, 14 oz. Used 6 corn tortillas, sprayed both sides with veg. oil and baked for approx 20 min at 350 until crisp. Layered the tortillas as suggested in a cast iron pan, spooned over most of sauce, sprinkled most of roasted veggies, and cheese. Broiled and topped with fried egg. Unbelievable TASTY !!! Definitely a favorite...
 
Gerardo G.
Gerardo G. June 15, 2015
Not quite mexican, but I guess they do the trick.
 
deblenares
deblenares February 2, 2015
I cheated and used a jar of sauce, added a layer of black bean, threw some sour cream and guacamole on top. It was delicious! Thank you!
 
Bailey R.
Bailey R. February 2, 2015
I made these last night, but instead of blending the sauce, I chopped everything finely and simmered for a bit. Swapped honey in for the agave, and double jalapeño and a large spoonful of chili powder in place of the adobo. Everyone loved it! Great recipe. Thanks!
 
Laurie C.
Laurie C. January 28, 2015
This was delicious! Thank you.
 
erinbdm
erinbdm January 24, 2015
Thank you for posting this delicious recipe. I lived in Mexico for many years, and ate chilaquiles all the time there. I hadn't made them since returning to the states though. I made the recipe exactly as you said and everything worked beautifully. I just wanted to add that in Mexico chilaquiles are served with crema (creme fresh). I didn't have any in the house, so served with Greek yogurt, which worked just fine. The cream is lovely with the spice and tomato.
 
weshook
weshook January 21, 2015
I like your recipe writing! And it's 9:30 p.m. and I am hungry for this.
 
Rhema
Rhema January 21, 2015
First of all, I have to say it always bugs me when people comment about a dish when they don't even make it according to the recipe. Tonight I am guilty of this. Thus, I will say I did not use the flour tortilla aspect of the recipe. I made the sauce, cooked the eggs, added the cheese and they were fantastic. I thought the spice was spot on and the flavor was great. I resorted to baking thinly sliced potatoes in the microwave and serving it over them because I had no desire to go out in the snow to get either corn chips or tortillas, but really wanted to make this tonight anyway. The sauce is so good, you could serve the eggs on a shoe and it would taste great! Did I mention it's also super easy? What's not to like?
 
Brittani
Brittani January 19, 2015
This speaks to my belly so so sweetly....ermahgerd. And you're not alone, I've taken a spoon or two...or three of adobo chiles when making a recipe..
 
Alex C.
Alex C. January 19, 2015
Can you bake the eggs right on top of that in the broiler? For like 5m?