The day will be what you make it, so rise, like the sun, and burn. ~William C. Hannan
This skillet-baked Huevos Rancheros is not only flavorful and hearty, but this vegetarian version is also surprisingly healthy, too. This is my favorite “breakfast for dinner” meal — and it’s pretty darn good for brunch and breakfast too!
It can be made in about 45 minutes, and it’s perfect for company or lazy weekend brunches. For a fun twist, use mini cast iron skillets for individual servings- or a large cast-iron skillet. To boost nutritional value, add stray veggies from your refrigerator drawers. See recipe notes!
Huevos Rancheros | 60-Sec Video
Ingredients in Huevos Rancheros
- olive oil
- onion and garlic
- tomatoes or pico de gallo
- cooked beans: black beans, pinto beans or your favorite heirloom beans!
- salt and spices
- tortillas- feel free to make your own homemade tortillas
- eggs (or sub-Crispy Tofu)
- optional garnishes: cotija or queso fresco, feta or goat cheese, avocado, cilantro, lime wedges, sour cream, Hot Sauce, Pico de gallo
Canned beans make this recipe fast and easy, but if you have dried beans, feel free to use! Most types of beans work great — but black beans and pinto beans are my favorite. You could make a batch of these Mexican Pinto Beans and use some here!
How to make Huevos Rancheros
Step one:
Saute onion, garlic until tender, then add tomatoes, cooked beans, and Mexican spices and let this simmer. A little Enchilada sauce with ramp up the flavor here!
Step two:
Once the beans are seasoned, get out your mini skillets or large cast-iron skillet and brush with olive oil.
Step three:
Prep the tortillas. A fast, but optional trick with tortillas if you have a gas stove is to lightly toast the tortillas directly on the stove burner….just for a few seconds on each side. Somehow this brings the earthy corn flavor out. Skip this step if you don’t have a gas stove!
Brush olive oil on the bottom and sides of the skillet and lay the tortillas down. Brush tops with oil. This will get the tortilla nice and crispy.
If using a large cast-iron skillet, layer 4 to 5 tortillas, so the bottom is covered, and they come up the edges. Brush a little more olive oil over the tops of the tortillas.
I love how crispy the tortillas get in the Huevos Rancheros when baked in the oven.
Step four:
Divide the warm bean mixture among the skillets, over the tortillas, making little indentions with a spoon where the egg yolks will go.
If using a large skillet, just layer the beans over the tortillas. Carefully crack the eggs into the indentations and sprinkle with a little salt and cracked pepper.
Optional: A little crumbled queso fresco or cotija cheese is a nice addition. Crumbled feta and goat cheese work great too.
Step five:
Place the huevos rancheros in a 400F oven until egg whites are white, and yolks are to your desired doneness. This usually takes about 10-20 minutes. You could broil for a couple of minutes too.
Step six:
Serve with avocado slices, lime wedges, chopped cilantro, fresh tomatoes, sour cream and hot sauce.
More recipes you may enjoy:
- 65 Best Breakfast Ideas!
- Mexican Breakfast Bowls!
- How to make Tortillas
- Pico de Gallo
- Farmer’s Market Veggie Quesadillas
- Mexican Pinto Beans
- Roasted Enchilada Sauce
Skillet Huevos Rancheros
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Skillet Huevos Rancheros – a healthy vegetarian version of one of our favorite Mexican-style breakfasts! Eggs are baked over flavorful beans & crispy tortillas, then topped with avocado, fresh tomato and cilantro…a simple healthy vegetarian brunch recipe!
Ingredients
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 onion- diced
- 3 garlic cloves- minced
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced (or sub pico de gallo)
- 1 can rinsed beans ( black bean, pinto, cannellini, or heirloom beans) about 1 1/2 cups
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- cracked pepper
- 2 tablespoons water
- Four 6-inch tortillas ( I use a corn and flour blend)
- olive oil for brushing
- 4 eggs (1 egg per serving -you can add more if you want)
- optional: 1/2 cup crumbled cotija, queso fresco, feta or goat cheese (optional)
- Garnishes: 1 large avocado-sliced, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro,lime wedges, sour cream, Hot Sauce,Pico de gallo
- Optional Additions: bell pepper, kale, zucchini, mushrooms, see notes.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- In a large pan over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil until tender, about 5 minutes (at this point, if you are adding other veggies, do this now, cooking until tender). Add garlic, sauté for a minute or two. Add 1/2 of the diced tomatoes (saving half for garnish) and beans, spices, salt, and 2 tablespoons water. Let simmer on med-low until tomatoes break down a bit, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, keeping them nice and warm. Taste and adjust spices and salt to taste.
- Brush cast-iron skillets (or one large skillet) with olive oil, coating the edges too. Lay tortillas down and brush tops of tortillas with a little olive oil.
- Divide the warm bean mixture, making little indentations with the back of a spoon, for the eggs to rest in, so they stay in place. (If using a large skillet, layer the tortillas so they come up the sides of the skillet a bit -you may need a couple extra), and spread all of the beans evenly over the tortillas, making indentations for the eggs).
- Carefully break the eggs and place them in the indentations. Sprinkle eggs with salt and pepper, and if you want, crumbled cheese, and place in the hot oven to bake.
- Check after 10-12 minutes. Continue cooking until egg whites are white and yolks are to your desired doneness ( another 5-10 minutes). Baking will go faster depending on how hot the beans are.
- Serve with avocado, lime, sour cream, cilantro, hot sauce, and fresh tomatoes.
Notes
Make sure to keep the beans warm until assembly time and placing in the oven.
Feel free to add other veggies to the mix sauteing with the onion and garlic. Or stir in a handful of chopped spinach to the warm beans.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 411
- Sugar: 2.8 g
- Sodium: 811.5 mg
- Fat: 22.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 6.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 36.9 g
- Fiber: 12.9 g
- Protein: 18.1 g
- Cholesterol: 201 mg
Great, love using a cast iron skillet to make these. The tomato bean mixture flavorful and I used two peppers in it also. Fun to make and looks nice! We had for dinner along with some Nappa slaw with squeeze of lime, colorful chopped peppers, and cilantro, corn on cob on side.
Will make again and would also try adding another veggie like zucchini to this too.
Sounds so good Frances! Love that you are playing around with it and adding your special touches.
These look amazing! What size mini skillet do you recommend?
These were 5 1/2 inches and the tortilla came up the edge a bit. 🙂
Delicious! I don’t have mini cast iron skillets, and 4 tortillas wouldn’t fit in our large one, so I made these on a rimmed baking tray. The indents in the bean mixture held the raw eggs from running off the sides, and 10 minutes in a 400° convection oven was just the right amount for the eggs to set. It was a marvelous dinner and we can’t wait to make these for a weekend breakfast!
Perfect Jimmy! Love it.
I haven’t tried this particular huevos rancheros recipe yet (but I will, it sounds and looks delicious), but I have a question about something else: you mention that you could make lasagna in those tiny cast iron skillets – how on earth?
Yes, but just 2 pasta layer and one filling layer. 🙂