Best Chilaquiles

This is the best chilaquiles recipe ever because it’s authentic, easy, and full of amazing flavors. To make these chilaquiles rojos even more scrumptious, we like to serve them with a fried egg, pinto beans, avocado, cilantro, fresh cheese, sour cream, and thinly cut onion. 

Thanks to the carbs, fats, protein, and copious amounts of chili, chilaquiles are the best hangover cure. The chilis will burn all the leftover alcohol out of your system. But if you want to enjoy this meal without breathing fire, you can always adjust the number of chilis. 

What Are Chilaquiles And Why Are They So Delicious?

Chilaquiles is a popular Mexican dish made with leftover fried tortilla pieces, salsa, melted cheese, and a multitude of toppings. It’s one of the most popular breakfast foods in Mexico and is said to have magical healing powers against hangovers. 

If you’re expecting guests and you want to delight them with a delicious Mexican dish that’s very easy to prepare, I recommend this amazing chilaquiles recipe. I’m sure you’ll love them! They have a colorful appearance, an irresistible texture, and an exquisite flavor that’ll captivate you from the first bite. 

What Are The Ingredients For Chilaquiles?

To make the best chilaquiles rojos, you’ll need:

• 8 corn tortillas, cut into small squares or strips
• 1 large roasted tomato
• 12 spring onions (with the white part), chopped
• 1 dried roasted mirasol chili (guajillo chili)
• 2 roasted and dried bird’s beak chilis (chile de arbol)
• 1 cup of green tomatoes, roasted
• 1 garlic cloves
• 2 cloves
• Salt to taste (this ingredient is key)
• 4 oz freshly grated Monterrey Jack cheese
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Toppings of choice: avocado, queso Cotija (fresh cheese), cilantro, sour cream, pinto beans, and optional 6 fried eggs

How To Make Chilaquiles Step By Step

Step 1: Assemble the ingredients

Prepare the corn tortillas, roasted tomato and green tomatoes (use more tomato for less acidity), cheese (you can grate it while you cook the other ingredients), wash the spring onions, and gather the rest of the ingredients and toppings. 

Step 2: Deep fry the tortilla pieces

Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan and deep fry the tortilla pieces in batches. Make sure you don’t overcrowd the oil so that they can evenly brown. Salt them halfway through. It should take about 5 minutes per batch.

Once crisp and brown, remove the tortilla pieces from the frying pan and place them in a bowl lined with paper towels to remove excess oil. 

Step 3: Sauté the spring onions with the tortilla pieces

Drain excess oil from the saucepan, leaving about 1 teaspoon. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook the spring onions, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes, until wilted. 

Step 5: Combine and Cook Tortilla with Onions

Add the tortilla pieces back to the pan and mix them together with the onions. Cook them, stirring constantly, for another 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and place in a bowl.

Step 6: Make the salsa

In a blender, place the dried chilis, garlic, cloves, and a cup of water, plus some salt, and blend until no chunks of chili are left. 

Step 7: Strain and simmer the chili sauce in the saucepan

Pour the chili sauce through a colander, directly into the same saucepan to remove any skins and seeds. Turn on the heat to medium-low and start simmering the chili sauce. 

Step 8: Blend tomatoes, combine with chili sauce, and simmer to thickness

Now, add the roasted tomato and green tomatoes to the blender and blend together until creamy. Add the tomato sauce to the chili sauce in the pan, season with salt, and let simmer until thickened. For about 10 minutes.

Step 9: Cook the tortilla pieces in the salsa and top with cheese

Add the fried tortilla pieces and green onions to the salsa, stir and let them boil for 3-5 minutes. Don’t go over 5 minutes because the tortilla pieces will start to disintegrate. 

Step 10: Cook the tortilla pieces in the salsa and top with cheese

When 3-5 minutes are up, turn off the heat and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Wait for it to melt and your chilaquiles are ready to serve. 

Step 11: Garnish and serve chilaquiles with desired toppings and accompaniments

Serve with your toppings of choice – avocado, thinly cut onion, pinto beans, fresh cheese, cilantro, and an optional sunny-side-up egg.

How To Make Chilaquiles Not Soggy

If you prefer the tortilla pieces to be crispy, serve your chilaquiles in central Mexico style. Don’t cook the tortilla pieces in the sauce – instead, place some on a plate, and serve the sauce on top of them, followed by grated cheese and toppings of choice. 

This is a great method for enjoying leftover chilaquiles. If you cook them in the sauce they’ll be too soggy once reheated. 

Shortcuts & Variations

To make healthier, low-fat chilaquiles, you can oven-bake or air-fry the tortilla pieces instead. Check out our detailed guide on How To Deep Fry Without Oil for instructions. 

If you want to make express chilaquiles, there are a few shortcuts I can recommend:

• Use totopos (fresh corn tortilla chips) instead of preparing the fried tortilla pieces from scratch. We teach you how to totopos in our Best Oven Baked Nachos recipe.

• Substitute the homemade salsa (roasted tomato, green tomatoes, garlic, cloves, and chilis) for store-bought salsa or salsa verde (green salsa). I love chilaquiles with salsa verde too. 

Don’t shortcut the cheese – use freshly grated Monterey Jack cheese or a similar cheese like cheddar (we have a vast list of the best cheddar cheeses to buy), Colby cheese, Havarti, or Gouda. 

To make sure this recipe is gluten-free check whether your corn tortillas or totopos have any wheat in them. You can also use flour tortillas instead. 

All the toppings are optional, but I highly recommend the avocado, fresh cheese, and onion. You can also add shredded chicken (this easy Calabrian chicken is delish shredded), another meat, or pinto beans for more protein.

The amount of chilis you add is up to you. This chilaquiles recipe is spicy and has a fantastic flavor thanks to the roasted and dried mirasol chili bird’s beak chilis. But you can use other types of chili such as chipotles, jalapeños, poblano, or habanero chilis.

How To Store Chilaquiles?

First, keep the sauce separate from the fried corn tortilla pieces and heat it up whenever you want a plate of delicious chilaquiles. I would recommend cooking the green onions only when you’re ready to eat the chilaquiles. 

Secondly, the sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 1 year. Once ready to use, cook the green onions, set them aside, and then heat up the salsa.

Thirdly, the fried tortilla pieces can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. They may get a bit stale, but that’s perfectly fine because they’ll be soaking up the salsa anyways. 

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