Huevos Rancheros!
/
Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis (and thank you!) know that as much as I love to cook, morning isn’t my favorite time for it. It takes two cups of coffee to lurch the brain into gear and by then it usually feels too late to start anything too very complicated, and thus I’ve never made these for breakfast. I just thought you should know. Not that huevos rancheros is all that complicated, just maybe a little more effort in the morning for something that doesn’t even have frosting on it.
That’s why, even though most people do, I don’t really think of this as breakfast. Today it was lunch. And oh my ever lovin’ goodness, was it amazing. I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to figure out my favorite way to eat huevos rancheros, but there you have it. It’s taken me this long. But now that I know, there’s no stopping me.
Let me quickly give you the lowdown on how to make what I think are some crazy good huevos rancheros. First we must start with a good corn tortilla. Some people/cooks/chefs keep the tortilla soft, but I like mine crispy, so I bake it. Fry yours if you must, but I think baked ones stay crispier longer. Because then we’re going to dip that tortilla in some delicious ranchero sauce.
Don’t be put off by the concept of ranchero sauce. The ones I’ve tasted seem like sort of a hybrid of enchilada sauce and a good salsa, so that’s how I made mine. I always have homemade enchilada sauce in the freezer and salsa in the pantry, so that was a snap to put together.
After we dip that crispy tortilla into the“ranchero sauce”, we'll top it with some refried beans, and yes, I do believe that all huevos rancheros should have beans (here’s my recipe), and then some cheese.
Then we’re going to melt that cheese and top it with some crumbled chorizo (I know) and then a fried egg.
The fried egg gets topped with some more chorizo, a drizzle of ranchero sauce, salt, pepper and a slice of avocado.
A sprinkling of fresh cilantro is a nice touch and quite scrumptious, but not crucial to the total enjoyment of your already delicious huevos rancheros.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whenever, it doesn't make much difference when you make these, just as long as you do. Here’s the recipe…
Huevos Rancheros
Click here for a printable recipe
These are some of the best huevos rancheros we’ve had the pleasure of eating. I realize there are 2 schools of thought when it comes to huevos rancheros… beans or no beans. I come down squarely on the side of beans. Yes, always beans. Here's the recipe. The other question is the ranchero sauce. My experience with this says that ranchero sauce is something like a hybrid sauce that’s very much like a combination of enchilada sauce and salsa, so I combined my favorite versions of both of those those and it was perfectly awesome. Enjoy!!
For each serving…
1 corn tortilla
¼ cup ranchero sauce (see headnote)
1/3 cup refried beans
3 tablespoons crumbled, cooked chorizo (here's my recipe for homemade)
1 egg
1/3 cup grated cheese ( I used a combination of jack and cheddar)
1 slice avocado
Chopped fresh cilantro
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place your corn tortilla(s) on a baking sheet. Spray with nonstick cooking spray and place in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until the tortilla is crispy. Let cool slightly. Alternately, you can fry the tortillas.
Heat the ranchero sauce in a shallow sauté pan. Heat the refried beans.
Place the crisped tortilla in the pan with the ranchero sauce and coat it completely. Place the tortilla on a plate and then top with the warmed refried beans. Top the refried beans with the grated cheese, sprinkle half of the chorizo on top of the cheese and place this in the oven for a minute to melt the cheese.
Meanwhile, fry an egg and then place it on top of the chorizo and cheese. Drizzle some of the ranchero sauce on the egg, sprinkle it with the rest of the chorizo, top with a slice of avocado, some cracked black pepper, salt and then some chopped cilantro. Serve imediately.
