How to Make Authentic Green Chilaquiles at Home

This video demonstrates how to prepare authentic green chilaquiles, a classic Mexican breakfast dish featuring crispy tortilla chips simmered in homemade tomatillo salsa and topped with fried eggs, avocado, cheese, and fresh cilantro. The recipe includes instructions for making the verde salsa from scratch and baking tortilla chips as a healthier alternative to deep frying, resulting in a flavorful, hearty meal suitable for any time of day.

Full English Transcript of: CHILAQUILES VERDES | My Favorite Mexican Breakfast Recipe!

- Friends, I am so excited to finally share this chilaquiles recipe with you. It is one of my all-time favorite Mexican breakfasts, where you have crispy tortilla chips simmered in salsa and they kind of soak that up a bit. That's then topped with oozy fried eggs, some sliced onion, cilantro, Mexican crema, and all of your favorite toppings. If you follow my travels on social media, you've seen me eat chilaquiles in Playa del Carmen, Cabo San Lucas, and I'm sure coming up here soon when I'm in Mexico City. But if you're not hopping on a plane to Mexico anytime soon, I'm gonna show you how easy it is to make a chilaquiles at home.

All right, let's dive right in. To get started, we will make the homemade salsa verde because I personally prefer chilaquiles with green salsa. But I know many of you love a salsa roja or red salsa, and you can, of course, use that as well. You could also use store-bought jars of salsa if you wanna make this recipe really quickly on the fly, though I do think that my homemade salsa verde is extra delicious and also super easy to make. All you have to do is remove the husk from 10 tomatillos, then give them a wash to remove that sticky residue that's left over from the husk. In terms of spice level, it's really up to you.

One of my Mexican friends adds serrano peppers and leaves the seeds in for a very hot and spicy salsa. I tried that version, and let's just say that my mouth was on fire. Maybe you need the Mexican genes to handle that one. I personally prefer jalapeno peppers and I remove the seeds, but you could always leave the seeds in one for a medium salsa. Essentially, serranos are hotter than jalapenos, and seeds and membrane increase the heat. From there, you could use one or two peppers and really play around with it until you find the heat and spice level you prefer.

Place the tomatillos and jalapeno peppers on a sheet pan. And I should have removed these stems from the peppers here, but I do remove them before blending. And then, add four garlic cloves that are unpeeled. Broil these items for about four to five minutes until they get a nice char on one side. Then use tongs to flip everything over and broil for another four to five minutes. If you notice the garlic getting a bit too charred, you can always remove that from the oven earlier, but this char on the veggies gives the salsa verde that deliciously smoky flavor.

Transfer the tomatillos, jalapeno peppers, and garlic after you've removed them from their peel to a blender or food processor. And if there's juice that's seeped out from the tomatillos on your baking sheet, you can just tilt your baking sheet and pour that into your blender as well. Then, the last two ingredients are 1/2 of a medium onion that you've diced up, 1/3 cup of roughly chopped cilantro, and one teaspoon of kosher salt. Add the lid and then pulse this all together until it's reached your desired texture. If I'm serving this up with chips as a dip, I'll often leave it a bit chunkier. But when I'm making chilaquiles, I tend to make it a bit smoother.

But this is how easy it is to make a homemade salsa verde, whether you use it for this recipe or something else. And of course, I always recommend doing a little taste test before moving on to make sure that your salsa verde meets your spice level expectations. Okay, moving on to the chilaquiles, you'll need four six-inch corn tortillas and just cut those into eight wedges. Now, many authentic recipes will have you deep frying the chips in oil, but it's honestly so easy to bake them in the oven.

I just line them up on a baking sheet, spray one side, flip them over, and spray again. You can also sprinkle with a little kosher salt if you'd like. (bright music) Bake them in a preheated 400-degree Fahrenheit oven for 10 to 15 minutes, tossing them halfway through until they're golden and crispy. And I don't worry about flipping each chip over individually at the halfway mark. I just sort of toss them around. When they're done, remove them from the oven, transfer them to a plate to let them cool completely for about five to 10 minutes because that also helps them get extra nice and crispy.

One thing you'll notice is that chips made from tortillas are much thicker than store-bought tortilla chips, and that's what you really want in this recipe because the thicker chip definitely holds up to the sauce better. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Pour in the salsa verde and bring it to a simmer. Now, if you're using my homemade version, you really just need to warm it up as it's naturally thick. But if you're using a more watery store-bought version, you can simmer it for three to five minutes until it's slightly thickened.

Add the tortilla chips and toss them around until they're coated for about a minute. You want them softened, but not soggy. Then, turn off the heat. (bright music) Now, at the same time, the salsa is warming up in one pan, heat some oil in a separate pan to fry your eggs. It's best to have both these salsa and eggs started at the same time, so they finish about the same time. Crack four eggs into the pan and fry them to your liking.

I prefer sunny side up and usually love a really runny yolk, though, as you can see here, my pan is a bit too hot, so I'm going to get extra crispy fried eggs, which no complaints for me on that, as I do love a crispy bottom. You can season your eggs with salt and pepper, and then you are pretty much done because all that's left to do is assemble your chilaquiles. Add a portion of the salsa-soaked chips to a plate and then add your fried eggs. Top the eggs with a few slices of avocado, some sliced white onion, a few dollops of Mexican crema, or my lime crema, which is extra yummy.

A few sprinkles of queso fresco or cotija cheese. And lastly, a little sprinkle of fresh cilantro. Now, tell me that doesn't look like one amazingly delicious breakfast that you just wanna dive into. It's packed with so much flavor, it's hearty, and will keep you full, whether you enjoy it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and it's just all-around satisfying. I also personally love it, as I have so many fond memories traveling through Mexico and enjoying it at different destinations. So, before I finish and take my bike, here are two little videos where I've enjoyed it on my travels.

(bright music) It is now a little after lunchtime here, and I think that this makes for the perfect lunch. (bright music) The chips still have a little bit of crunch, but they've soaked up some of the salsa verde. And the salsa verde, for me, is perfectly spiced, though, again, you can always add a little more spice to it, if you'd like. The eggs provide that protein and hardiness, and I personally love a very oozy yolk. And then you get the creaminess from the avocado, and the crema, and the queso fresco.

It is just. It's perfection. Now, this should be two servings, though I made quite a big plate today, so a normal portion size would be a bit smaller than this. But, it's definitely enough to fill up two people. And I will say that if you make my homemade salsa verde, it really doesn't need much time at all to simmer on the stove because it's naturally thicker than store-bought versions. Store-bought jars of salsa verde tend to be a little bit more watery, just based on how they're made mass production. So, if you're using a store-bought jar, you might want to simmer it on the stove for a couple of minutes,

but mine, all you really need to do is warm it through. Now, I do also have a recipe on my website for huevos rancheros, and so when I'm in Mexico, I usually alternate between ordering that for breakfast and chilaquiles. As I mentioned at the beginning, I am headed to Mexico City very shortly, so if you wanna follow along on that adventure, make sure that you're following me on Instagram Stories. That's usually where I post all my behind the scenes of my travels, and it's such a foodie city, from what I've heard. So, I cannot be more excited to go. And don't forget that I have a ton of Mexican recipes on my website.

It's the cuisine that I actually have the most recipes for, not only 'cause it's my personal favorite, but so many Mexican recipes are just naturally gluten-free. And with Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, I think you can get a lot of tasty inspiration for those recipes. So I will leave a link to the entire category of Mexican recipes in the description box below. I hope you guys enjoy today's recipe and video for chilaquiles, and I cannot wait to see your photos making it in your kitchens at home. And do tell me below what your preference is. Is it green salsa or red salsa? Salsa verde or salsa roja? All right, with that, I will see you guys in the next video.

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