Chilaquiles is a comfort food from Mexico. Chilaquiles are basically fried corn tortilla triangles that are cooked in fresh salsa, and sprinkled with cheese, cilantro, sliced onions.
They are often served for breakfast with eggs and a side of beans. It was a solution for stale tortillas that needed to be used up.
It’s made very quickly, it’s a simple version of a tortilla casserole.
It usually includes a freshly made tomatoes salsa, stale tortillas that are often fried, avocado, sliced onions, cilantro, fresh cream o crema fresca, Cotija Cheese or queso fresco, fried eggs, sometimes shredded chicken, even re fried beans may be used.
The salsa can be red or green; you can always add some chiles to the sauce depending on your preferences.
In my case, I baked my tortillas in the oven. This dish should be served right after you’ve stirred in the tortilla chips because they will quickly become soggy.
For me the secret of great chilaquiles is the sauce, I prefer freshly made with no chiles, or maybe just one small jalapeno. Here is the recipe for a quick, flavorful comfort breakfast.
Ingredients
- 8 to matoes
- 1 jalapeño chile seeded for a milder sauce and chopped
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves halved
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 tablespoon oil
- Salt to taste
- 1 large chicken breast poached and shredded about 2 cups shredded meat
- 10 corn tortillas toasted and coarsely broken up, or 2 cups baked tortilla chips
- Fried eggs optional
- FOR THE GARNISH
- ½ cup crumbled queso fresco or cotija cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 small red or white onion cut into small cubes
Instructions
- Heat the water in a pot over medium heat, add the tomatoes, jalapeño and chopped onion, let the veggies cook for 15 minutes. Then let the tomatoes, jalapeño and onion cool and add the garlic, put all in a blender with all the liquid, and blend until coarsely pureed.
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy nonstick skillet or a wide saucepan over medium-high heat, and add all of the tomato puree, and cook, stirring, for about five to ten minutes, until the sauce thickens then season to taste with salt. Turn the heat to low, and simmer, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken and heat through. Stir in the tortilla chips, stir together for a half minute, and remove from the heat. Sprinkle the cheese, cilantro and sliced onion over the top, and serve.
6 thoughts on “Chilaquiles”
Wow! I’ve never heard of chilaquiles, but they basically look like amazing breakfast nachos. And I can most definitely get behind having nachos for breakfast. Love that egg on top! I’m going to be dreaming about this one all day now. 🙂
David!! yes that is sort of what they are, incredible breakfast nachos. Loved that!! 🙂
Hi Gaila!!! I hope you have been having a great summer. What an awesome dish this is – so easy and I know my kids will love it. I’d easily eat this for lunch or dinner too. The fried egg on top is the bomb!!!
Allie!! you are totally right, this is such a fun dish for kids to eat! I did had a great summer, I just got back! now I need a vacation from my vacation!! hahahaha 🙂
This recipe is very similar to one that a friend shared with me. The only thing I did different was that I reduced the amount of tortillas. Really filling, really good. works everytime.
Thank you for stopping by! I agree with you works every time!