The Best Chilaquiles Recipe

First off, grab a medium to large pan onto your cooktop and I’m going to use six guajillo chilies today. You could also use ancho if you like, or any combination of them. The only thing is I’m going to remove the seeds and stems, so cut the ends off. I’m gonna just pop all the seeds into a little bowl so it’s nice and neat. You can have some seeds; it’s not a big deal, but just, you know, try and get most of them.

Now we’re gonna smash those garlic cloves. You got a few more if you want; it’s not a hard and fast rule. No mincing today for us. My last bit of prep for the sauce is just to dice one yellow onion. This is all going to get blended up, so don’t worry about having the perfect dice—rough chop is fine.

Now we’re going to add our chilies, the onion, and garlic right into the pan, and to get the sauce going I want to cover it with about an inch of water. Now we’re going to place this over high heat and bring it to a boil. Everything needs to get nice and tender; it’ll be about 10 to 15 minutes. Just keep an eye on it so you know nothing’s boiling over.

In case you’ve never had them, chilaquiles are a delicious breakfast meal coming from Mexico. It’s like an Aztec meal; it means “chilies and greens.” We’re gonna make a wonderful sauce from scratch with homemade tortilla chips. You’re gonna pile it high with avocado, cheese, sour cream, cilantro. I love having mine with some over-easy eggs.

It’s been about five minutes; this is bubbling away and things are softening. The color is changing, but we’re not there yet. I want you to see this is like less than 50% of where we want to be. We’re going to get a lot more color and flavor out of these chilies, further cook the garlic and onions, and make this really delicious.

While this is bubbling away, grab a heat-proof bowl and a colander and just have them at the ready. We’re going to strain this, but we need to reserve some of the liquid too. Also, find your blender if it’s hiding around; we’re going to use that too.

My mixture’s been bubbling away for about 15 minutes. You can see the color looks gorgeous and everything’s really softened up. Right now I’m taking this off heat—careful, the pan is probably very hot—and now we’re going to pour this into our colander right over our heat-proof bowl. This stuff can go right into our blender. I’m going to save all the juice just in case, but we only need half a cup.

Now we’re going to add the chilies and veggies right into our blender, carefully. One half-cup of the liquid. I also want to add one and a half teaspoons of salt. Let’s give this sauce some taste; the salt is going to really help you taste everything. Now we’re gonna blend this up until it’s very smooth.

This smells so good. I want you to see the color—that is gorgeous. There are so many different kinds of chilaquiles; two big categories, though: green and red. Today we’re making red. You can make this sauce in advance; you can make a double or triple batch and have a bunch in the refrigerator on hand.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

Set your sauce aside, grab a rimmed baking sheet, and we’re just gonna line it with paper towels and plop a wire rack right on top. Now we’re going to make some homemade chips. I’m using 15 corn tortillas. A lot of times the ones you get from a package are almost too flimsy to accept the sauce and hold together, so homemade is best.

In that same skillet I’m going to add half an inch of oil. I’m going to heat this over medium heat until I get to about 350 °F. You’ll see the oil dancing in the pan, and if you’re not sure just do a test tortilla; it should start bubbling away pretty quickly.

I’m getting close—I have 360 °F. Okay, we’re ready to go. Grab some chips to be and you’re just gonna place those in there in one single layer. It’s gonna be about 30 seconds per side depending on the temperature of your oil. Keep your fingers away from this. Keep track of your oil; I would reduce heat to like medium-low right now. It depends on your burner. We don’t want it to get too hot, but you don’t want it to get too cold, so keep an eye on it.

It should be about 30 seconds per side. I’m turning them over; the top is still white, the edges are just starting to be golden. Err on the side of slightly lighter chips because they will darken in a flash. My chips look nice and golden; let’s pull them out. As soon as they come out, just get a little sprinkle of salt. You might have to fry some extra chips because I guarantee you’re going to be very tempted to snack.

My last batch is done—final sprinkle of salt. You’re going to have some that are right on the dark side and some that are golden and perfect; it doesn’t matter. The dark ones still taste good unless they’re like totally charcoal.

Bringing It All Together

Now we’re going to add our red sauce to the pan. I’m going to stir this occasionally; I just want it to be nice and steamy. In the meantime, let’s get all of the toppings out because chilaquiles is really about what I’m adding on. Yes, this is my delicious base, but what else is there?

I’m going to slice some avocado. This is looking nice and steamy, so I’m interrupting my garnish patrol. I’m going to add the chips back in. I’m taking this off heat; I’m going to toss to coat. It’s a little bit daunting at first, but you’ll get the hang of it. The key is to really just let all those chips have some of that delicious red sauce so they’re ever-so-slightly wet but really crunchy on the inside.

My chilaquiles are almost ready. Let’s pile on the toppings. You could plate and pile or just do the pan and everyone can serve themselves, which is what I’m going to do today.

Toppings

Some fans of avocado are a must for me. You can use your favorite cheeses; I love queso fresco, so I’m gonna just add that liberally on top. Cotija is another popular one, but it’s a little salty for me. If you’re wondering how much cheese I’m using, it’s a lot—I would like to use like half a wheel on this.

I’m adding a nice drizzle of crema on top. If you can’t get any crema, just go ahead and add some sour cream that you’ve thinned out with lime juice and/or cream; it’s a good substitute. Here we have all those spicy, creamy, crunchy, cheesy moments, and we’re not even done yet.

A sprinkle of onion, some cilantro—always a must for everything. Optional, but I have to have some fried eggs on here. It’s like I got the best hug ever. The chips and onion are nice and crunchy; everything else is soft and creamy. It’s warm, it’s full of spices, but it’s still light and refreshing. It’s basically amazing.