Huevos Rancheros: Oklahoma’s Penicillin

Posted by Dawn Welch

huevosracherosPrep time: 12 min
Cook time: 30 min

After a long and crazy day at the Rock, I totally crave a bite of comfort for dinner. For my family, huevos rancheros fits the bill—it’s our chicken soup. I usually have all of the ingredients in my fridge too, so not only is it friendly on my wallet and totally delicious, but it’s easy to throw together. Sometimes, when I’m too beat to bother with frying the tortillas, I’ll throw in the towel and use store-bought chips instead. In fact, huevos rancheros is a great use for the last few chips in the bag—and I get more chill time (and sometimes that’s worth a heck of a lot more than money!).

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Ingredients
3–4 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
4 corn tortillas (4″–6″)
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 large red or green bell pepper, seeded, ribbed, and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with juices
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons chili powder
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 large eggs
1 cup grated Mexican Blend cheese
Hot sauce or salsa for serving

Fry the tortillas. Heat the oven to 250°F. Warm 3 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tortilla and fry until crispy and brown on each side. Transfer it to a paper towel–lined plate (an opened-up brown paper bag works too) to drain, and then put it on a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven to stay warm. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, reducing the heat and adding more oil if necessary.

Cook the vegetables. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, salt, and black pepper to the same skillet you used for the tortillas, cooking them until the onion and pepper soften and the garlic is fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, cilantro, chili powder, and cumin, bring to a strong simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the tomatoes begin to break up, about 5 minutes.

Fry the eggs and assemble. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Crack 4 eggs into the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover the pan, and fry until the white is opaque, about 3 minutes. Place the tortillas on 4 plates. Slide 2 eggs onto 2 of the tortillas and top each of the 2 plates with a quarter of the tomato mixture and some cheese. Serve the first 2 portions immediately while you fry up the second batch of eggs.

2 Responses to “Huevos Rancheros: Oklahoma’s Penicillin”

  1. Bari says:

    Another great recipe! I had a can of fire roasted tomatoes on-hand so I used it and cut out the cumin. Turned out great and the kids loved it. (My son said I should cook more recipes from the “daughters of cupcakes” site!)

  2. Dawn Welch says:

    Love the translations of children! Sometimes their translations are even better than ours. And what a great idea to swap ingredients with things on hand! Loving it !!! I may even run out and purchase some just to try it.

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