Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican recipe that combines fried corn tortillas with a red or green chile sauce.  The chips are then topped with fried eggs and other toppings like beans, cotija cheese, and cilantro to make a delicious savory breakfast!

I’ll never forget the first time I had chilaquiles. It was my first trip to Mexico, and I was staying at Villa La Estancia Riveria Nayarit and was told by some guests that I had to try their chilaquiles for breakfast. It was literally love at first bite. The combination of the fried chips that were soaked in this delicious chile sauce along with being topped with eggs was a combo that I never knew I needed. Ever since that day when the cravings for chilaquiles hit I make my own version at home. Not to mention since the start of restaurants closing it’s been hard to get certain foods (I do not recommend ordering chilaquiles as a togo order because by the time it gets to you the chips will be super soggy) it’s been fun trying to recreate my favorite dishes at home.

Check out these Quesadilla recipes!

There are two main types of chilaquiles: Rojos and Verde

Rojos uses a red chile sauce or salsa while verde uses a green chile sauce or salsa. I honestly can’t decide if I like the red version or green version better it really just depends on the kind of mood I am in. For today’s recipe I went with a red chile sauce. The green sauce can be slightly more acidic in taste so that’s a good way to distinguish the two. 

The best way to make this dish in my opinion is to fry your own tortilla chips. I’ve tried making them with store bought tortilla chips and it’s just not the same. All you need to do is grab yellow or white corn tortillas, cut them into triangles and fry them just until they turn golden brown. If your fry them till they are crispy they won’t be as soggy when you go to soak them in the chile sauce.

The Sauce

For the sauce I used a can of red enchilada sauce along with a can of red tomato sauce. I of course added some seasonings to the sauce because the sauce is just a base. I added some cumin, oregano, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and s0me red pepper flakes and let the sauce simmer for 10 minutes. If you don’t want to use the enchilada sauce you can just use tomato sauce, but I like the flavor of the enchilada sauce along with the tomato sauce. The two make an excellent combo.

The Toppings

After you soak the chips in the sauce you want to add your toppings immediately. You can use whatever toppings you like but traditionally chilaquiles are topped with beans, red onions, chiles, and cotija cheese. The cotija cheese is a crumbly cheese and is crucial in this dish. You can also add meat (like chicken or beef) to bulk this dish up even more. I sometimes add shredded chicken, and it tastes so good. As far as the eggs go; I’ve had versions with scrambled eggs and a fried egg sunny side up. My favorite way is the fried egg sunny side up because I like a runny yolk over the chips. In Mexico, a lot of the versions I had came with scrambled eggs.

To assemble place your chips that have been soaked on a plate. Then start adding your toppings. I used black beans, red onions, radishes, avocado, jalapeños, and finally the cotija cheese. I then placed my fried eggs on top, some cilantro, and then a drizzle of sour cream. That’s it! This dish couldn’t be any easier to make; check out the recipe below.