We love Waffles as much as anyone, but our heart belongs to Mexican breakfast dishes, like Huevos Rancheros and this easy chilaquiles recipe. Topped with an egg, chilaquiles, pronounced “chee-lah-kee-lays,” are brunch bliss. Need even more out-of-the-box breakfast ideas? Check out our 50 BEST Breakfast Ideas.
What Are Chilaquiles?
Three components you simply must use in chilaquiles are freshly fried Tortilla Chips, salsa, and cheese. When topped with a fried egg (not a must, but a good idea!) Mexican chilaquiles are a delicious way to use up stale tortillas as a base for the best, easy Mexican breakfast dish, ever. Exactly what type of chilaquiles you make mostly comes down to the salsa you decide to use. Because we use Salsa Verde in our chilaquiles recipe, they’d be considered “chilaquiles verde,” and if we used red salsa, they’d be chilaquiles rojos. Chilaquiles recipes vary quite a bit, and so you should feel free to play around and make it your own! Chilaquiles toppings can be as elaborate or basic as you want, and we’ll share some of our favorites below.
Chilaquiles Recipe Ingredients
Tortilla chips. For our recipe, we make them fresh, with corn tortillas and a little oil and salt. However, in a pinch it’d be OK to use store bought tortilla chips.
Salsa verde. Once again, homemade salsa verde is always delicious, but it’s fine to buy a high-quality salsa verde at the store so you can get brunch done, fast.
Lime crema. To us, this is make-or-break. With sour cream, lime juice and our trusty taco seasoning, drizzling this all over your finished chilaquiles makes the whole dish work.
Seasoned cabbage. A little crunch and brightness is really nice, and we season the shredded cabbage simply with oil, vinegar and taco seasoning (again)!
How to Make Chilaquiles
Season the cabbage! Topping your chilaquiles with our signature seasoned cabbage adds a hint of acid and brightness to the cheesy, saucy dish! Don’t skip this step!
Make the tortilla chips! Tight on time? Make them ahead of time, or store-bought tortilla chips will work well here, too.
Make the salsa verde (you could do this a few days ahead of time) or grab your store-bought salsa.
Make the crema.
Warm the salsa in a small skillet, and add the chips.
Cook the chips gently in the salsa until they’re soft and saucy.
Top your chilaquiles! You can serve them as they are and enjoy them for dinner, but we love to top them with a fried egg and say “breakfast is served!”
Chilaquiles Toppings We Love
Eggs. We love love love to top chilaquiles with a fried egg.
Avocado or Guacamole.
Queso fresco.
Hot sauce or more salsa.
Jalapeños.
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