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Huevos Rancheros

Source of Recipe

From "All-Time Best Brunch" by America's Test Kitchen


Recipe Introduction

"Huevos rancheros is a perennial crowd pleaser, with its spicy, smoky tomato-chile sauce, runny fried eggs, soft tortillas, and flavorful fixings like diced avocado and melted cheese, but tackling its many components can be challenging. To streamline this brunch staple while keeping its deep flavors intact, we prepared all of its elements in a sheet pan. To start, we built a strong tomato sauce by roasting canned diced tomatoes, onions, and chiles, concentrating their flavors and imparting some tasty char. Stirring in the juice drained from the tomatoes created a saucy, bright-flavored bed for our eggs. After sprinkling on pepper Jack cheese, we created eight wells in the sauce and cracked in the eggs. Stacking a second pan underneath the sheet offered just enough insulation against overcooking, promising perfectly runny yolks nestled in our rich, brick-red sauce. As soon as the eggs were just set, we topped off our one-pan huevos rancheros with cool diced avocado, sliced scallions, and minced cilantro and tucked the eggs and sauce into tortillas softened in the oven. We like our eggs slightly runny; if you prefer well-done eggs, cook them to the end of the time range in step 4. Use heavyweight rimmed baking sheets; flimsy sheets will warp. Serve with hot sauce."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
â—¦ 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
â—¦ 1 tablespoon lime juice
â—¦ 1 onion, chopped
â—¦ ½ cup canned chopped green chiles
â—¦ ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
â—¦ 3 tablespoons chili powder
â—¦ 4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
â—¦ Salt and pepper
â—¦ 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
â—¦ 4 ounces pepper Jack cheese, shredded (1 cup)
â—¦ 8 large eggs
â—¦ 1 avocado, halved, pitted, and diced
â—¦ 2 scallions, sliced thin
â—¦ ¼ cup minced fresh cilantro


Recipe

Adjust oven rack to lowest and middle positions and heat oven to 500 degrees. Drain tomatoes in fine-mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing with rubber spatula to extract as much juice as possible. Combine 1 ¾ cups drained tomato juice, sugar, and lime juice in bowl and set aside; discard extra drained juice.

Combine tomatoes, onion, chiles, oil, chili powder, garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt in bowl, then spread mixture out evenly on rimmed baking sheet. Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil and place on lower rack. Place sheet with tomato mixture on upper rack and roast until charred in spots, 35 to 40 minutes, stirring and redistributing into even layer halfway through roasting.

Remove sheet from oven and place inside second rimmed baking sheet. Carefully stir reserved tomato juice mixture into roasted vegetables, season with salt and pepper to taste, and spread into even layer. Sprinkle pepper Jack over top and, using back of spoon, hollow out eight 3-inch-wide holes in mixture. Crack one egg into each hole and season with salt and pepper.

Bake until whites are just beginning to set but still have some movement when sheet is shaken, 7 to 8 minutes for slightly runny yolks or 9 to 10 minutes for soft-cooked yolks, rotating sheet halfway through baking.

Remove sheet from oven and top with avocado, scallions, and cilantro. To serve, slide spatula underneath eggs and sauce and gently transfer to warm tortillas.

Serves 4