This Easy Red Chilaquiles recipe features baked corn tortillas, a red chile sauce and sunny side up eggs. Ready in 25 minutes! (gluten free, vegetarian)
Gooooood morning!
Today I’m bringing you the easiest, tastiest, best breakfast ever – an easy red chilaquiles recipe! (Also check out our chilaquiles verdes!)
What are chilaquiles?
Chilaquiles (pronounced “chee-lah-keel-ehs”) are a Mexican dish made up of crispy corn tortillas covered in a chile sauce and lots of cheese. Often served for breakfast or brunch, the corn tortillas in chilaquiles are traditionally fried and served with a side of refried beans.
Though I don’t mind eating fried foods, I try to avoid frying things myself because a) I usually make a mess and b) it’s not really a healthy option. So instead of crisping up the corn tortillas by frying them, I baked them and made them into tortilla chips. It’s a super easy process and is worth the 10 to 12 minutes of baking time.
After the tortillas are baked, all that’s left to do is cook some sunny side up eggs, toss the baked tortilla chips in a cup of red enchilada sauce (I highly recommend using this authentic enchilada sauce or this easy enchilada sauce) and top with the eggs, cotija cheese, cilantro, radishes and red onions.
Brunch dreams do come true!
Ingredients in chilaquiles
The two crucial ingredients in chilaquiles are the tortillas and the chile sauce. Because the recipe only contains a few ingredients, quality matters. Here’s what I recommend.
For the tortillas
As tempting as it may be to use store-bought tortilla chips, I don’t recommend it. Making your own baked chips literally takes 10 to 12 minutes and the end result is so much better. (Instructions on how to make your own are in the recipe below.)
I find that store bought chips tend to get soggy really quickly when mixed in the sauce, whereas homemade chips are sturdier and can withstand more liquid. Plus, the taste of homemade chips is way more corn-y and grain-y, which I absolutely love.
For the sauce
I highly recommend making your own. Here’s an authentic enchilada sauce recipe I like. It’s made with whole dried chiles and Mexican chocolate. The complex flavors don’t even compare to any store-bought red enchilada sauce I’ve ever tried. You can also make this easy enchilada sauce version made from pantry ingredients like chile powder and broth.
That being said, it’s totally okay to use store-bought enchilada sauce. When looking for a premade sauce, I prefer to buy ones that don’t contain tomato sauce/puree listed in the ingredients. I like to see water, chiles, spices and salt in my sauce. That’s it.
Ready in only 25 minutes, these red chilaquiles are by far one of my favorite Mexican breakfast/brunch dishes. They’re filling, easy to make and make for a beautiful presentation. I mean just look at all those colors!
Makes me just want to dig in.
More recipes to try
Ingredients
- 9 guajillo chiles, rinsed, stemmed, and seeded
- 2 árbol chiles*, optional, rinsed and stemmed
- water, as needed
- 1 Roma tomato
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ medium white onion
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 12 corn tortillas
- 1.5 teaspoons vegetable oil, plus more for frying
For serving
- Cotija cheese
- Chopped cilantro
- Diced white onions
- Mexican crema or sour cream
- Fried eggs
Instructions
- In a medium pot, add the guajillo chiles, árbol chiles, and enough water to completely cover them. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the chiles soak for 10 minutes to soften.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the softened chiles to a blender. Add 1 ½ cups fresh water, the tomato, garlic, onion, and salt. Blend until completely smooth. If the sauce is not smooth, strain it through a fine mesh sieve to remove any solids.
- Stack the corn tortillas on top of each other and cut them into eighths to create small triangle wedges. Line a large plate with paper towels and set it aside.
- Fill a large sauté pan or deep skillet with about 2 inches of oil and heat over medium-high heat until the temperature reaches at least 350°F. (To test, drop a small piece of tortilla in the oil. If it sizzles, it's ready.)
- Working in batches, add half of the tortillas and fry for 8 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until they are crispy. Transfer them to the lined plate to drain and repeat the frying process with the remaining tortilla wedges.
- In a separate sauté pan or skillet, heat 1 ½ teaspoons of vegetable oil. Pour in the salsa roja and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add in the fried tortilla chips. Gently toss them together to coat.
- Serve immediately and garnish with cotija cheese, cilantro, onions, and Mexican crema. Top with a fried egg if desired.
Isabel’s Tips:
- Spice level: The árbol chiles add a little heat to this salsa roja. If you don’t want it spicy, you can leave it out.
- The sauce: I highly recommend you make your own salsa, but if you don’t have time, feel free to use 1 1/2 cups of your favorite store-bought red enchilada sauce.
- Baking instead of frying: If you don’t want to lightly fry the tortilla wedges, you can bake them instead. Simply spread them in a single layer on two greased baking sheets and lightly spray the tops with nonstick cooking spray or brush with olive oil. Bake at 400°F for 10 to 15 minutes until crispy.
- Store-bought chips: I’m not a fan of using store-bought tortilla chips because they tend to get soggy really quickly when mixed in the sauce, whereas homemade chips are sturdier and can withstand more liquid. However, if you do use store-bought chips, make sure they’re thick and sturdy. Many Mexican grocery stores often sell homemade tortilla chips that you can purchase!
- Serving: One of the most popular ways to serve chilaquiles is with a fried or sunny-side-up egg!
Nutrition Information
On the Chilaquiles can you add beans? If so what kind of beans my job serve them with beans every Friday
Hi Karla! You can add refried beans at the very end before you top it with cheese, or you can serve them on the side!
This is NOT authentic chilaquiles sauce. What a shame.
Hi Yadira. This is an authentic recipe to Isabel’s family. The best part about Mexican food is that depending on the region of Mexico they come from, common recipes have their own unique twist!
You are a rude person. Perhaps authentic to you means from a can? This recipe is fantastic
It’s easy though and it’s exactly what I was looking for. I’m 100% authenic as well. 🙂
Made this tonight for a quick late night dinner. I had to sub a few things for the authentic enchilada sauce-subbed a pasilla Chile for the ancho and some dark ghiradelli chocolate for Mexican chocolate. Didn’t have cotija on hand so used some white cheddar and my refrigerator pickled onions with radish and cilantro. The enchilada sauce was spicy but not overwhelmingly, just a nice warmth cooled down with the egg yolk and the radishes. Great quick dinner with a homemade brown ale from my hubby’s garage brewery!
Great, simple, tasty! This has always been one of my favourite breakfasts. Made it for Christmas Day breakfast (with tamales). Great recipe, easy to follow instructions, yummy photos to inspire. Luckily we have a great Mexican grocer here so could buy cojita cheese and the fresh enchilada sauce. Thanks Isabel. I can’t wait to try more recipes.
Loved it! I baked the chips and made enchilada sauce. I used queso fresco because I already had it on hand. So good, thank you!
Easy to follow recipes at my disposal & easily accessed. Thank u
Thanks, Sophie! 🙂 I’m so happy you’re loving the recipes!
I made this and added some fresh chorizo from Whole Foods. So delicious!
I’m so glad you liked it, Lance! Adding some fresh chorizo is genius – that sounds so good!
I made an adaptation of this but still ended up baking it all together in the oven. Mmmm! My first time making chilaquiles!
Similar to how I cook quiles, I have to try this recipe.
Yes, I’d love to hear how you like it!
I will cook this recipe this recipe and I’m excited to see the results!
Nice, simple and straight-forward. Came out great!
Thanks! So glad you liked it!
nice post
Made this for breakfast last weekend and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you! So happy you liked it.
Swoon. This looks amazing- definitely one of the few breakfasts that could actually coax me out of bed on the weekends!
Hi- this recipe looks delish. I want to make it for a teacher brunch. Any suggestions on how to avoid cooking it morning of? Can I heat/toss everything morning? Also thinking of making with scrambled eggs and chorizo. Thanks!!