“Huevos rancheros” translates to ranch eggs, which makes sense considering the history behind this traditional Mexican dish. When I say ranch eggs, I mean in the form of livestock, not the buttermilk-based condiment!

On days when we both have mornings off, I like to cook this traditional Mexican dish for my mother..  My mother and I enjoyed the dish while talking about how she was introduced to this meal. This meal is what Mexican cuisine is all about, the simplicity but richness highlights what Huevos Rancheros brings to the table. 

This dish was traditionally served to farm workers during their “almuerzo,” which is a second breakfast. The idea behind this dish was to make the workers a quick, but hearty meal for their break during their long, laborious day. Now this dish has made its way into Mexican-American cuisine and can be enjoyed any time.

Traditional “huevos rncheros” include tortillas, eggs, salsa and refried beans, but my family has our own way. The difference is my family doesn’t eat beans for “almuerzo”, we typically have them for dinner and lunch. That is the beauty of cooking; everything is customizable. 

As the name of the dish implies, the main component is eggs, a staple in Mexican cuisine for two reasons: They are cheap and complement many dishes well. 

Now that I am making myself hungry thinking about this dish, let’s get to cooking! Before we begin, I’ll list some key ingredients and equipment.

Prep Time: 10 minutes (without having the salsa made) 20 minutes with salsa prep.

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes 

Serves: Two people

Equipment:

• Cutting board 
• Rubber cooking spatula 
• Kitchen knife 
• Air fryer (optional)
• Two cooking pans (one for the toppings and another for frying the eggs)

Ingredients: 

• Salt, pepper and chicken bullion to season 
• Six grilled tomatillos, half of an onion chopped and three green serrano peppers for the salsa
• Half of a green and yellow pepper
• Half of an onion 
• Two eggs
• Two tortillas
• Cheese of your choice 
• Cooking spray 

Procedure: 

The salsa takes the longest to prepare, so I recommend making it in bulk! I used green salsa. 

After you either make the salsa or take it out of the fridge (like I did), the next step is to cook your tortillas because the eggs will reside there.

There are many ways to crisp up your tortillas, such as frying them in oil, but I used my handy-dandy air fryer for this step. 

I sprayed both of my tortillas with non-stick cooking spray and set my air fryer at 400 degrees for eight minutes for my desired consistency. Just make sure to keep an eye on them.

Now it’s time to put your kitchen knife and cutting board to work. Grab the halves of your bell peppers and onion, and start dicing. I cut mine on the smaller side, because that’s how I prefer them, but you can cut them up however large or small you want.

Set your stove to medium-high heat, add some non-stick cooking spray and let it warm up. Once the pan is heated, add your diced up vegetables and start sauteing them. Once the vegetables have a nice color and soften up, you can proceed to add your salsa.

Reduce the heat to low and let all the ingredients simmer for a couple minutes to allow the flavors to incorporate with each other.

The final step is to cook your eggs. There are multiple ways to cook your eggs to complete this dish, but I chose to cook them over-easy.

Spray some non-stick cooking spray to your pan and add your eggs. To make them over-easy, just let the eggs cook until the egg whites develop a crust, and once they do you flip them over. Then you let the other side cook for a few seconds, but don’t let the yolk cook all the way through.

Once the eggs are cooked, it is time to assemble your plate. Set your tortilla down on a plate, then put your egg on top. This is where the salsa and vegetables make their appearance. Ladle them all over the egg and tortilla. Cheese is optional but I added it on top because it complements the other parts of the dish well. Queso fresh (fresh) or anejo (aged) would be ideal, but I didn’t have any at hand. 

Give it a try! This will fulfill your tastebuds and makes a great pick me up meal.

Javier Hernandez can be contacted at [email protected] or @jhm1226 on Twitter.