Huevos rancheros
Photo: 1000b · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

Huevos rancheros is a Mexican breakfast dating to 19th-century ranches in central Mexico, brought across the border with Mexican-American kitchens. The Austin version was canonised at Cisco's on East 6th Street, where founder Rudy Cisneros served politicians and constituents the dish from 1948 onward. Cisco's is credited with making huevos rancheros famous in Austin and across central Texas. The classic plate is two fried eggs on warm corn tortillas, with ranchero salsa, refried beans and avocado.

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Common allergens: Eggs, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 2Hands-on 15 minTotal 30 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 large eggs
  • 4 corn tortillas
  • 400g canned crushed tomatoes
  • Half a medium onion, diced
  • 2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • Half a teaspoon dried oregano
  • 300g refried pinto beans, warmed
  • 60g queso fresco or feta, crumbled
  • Half an avocado, sliced
  • Cilantro and lime wedges, to garnish
  • Neutral oil, salt and pepper

Method

  1. Make the ranchero salsa: heat 1 tablespoon oil in a saucepan. Cook onion 3 minutes, add garlic, jalapenos, cumin and oregano, cook 1 minute. Add crushed tomatoes, simmer 10 minutes. Season with salt.
  2. Warm the tortillas in a dry pan, 30 seconds per side. Place two on each plate.
  3. Spoon a layer of warm refried beans over the tortillas.
  4. Fry the eggs in 2 tablespoons of oil, sunny side up, until the whites are set and the yolks still runny. Lay two eggs over each pair of tortillas.
  5. Ladle ranchero salsa over the eggs, leaving the yolks visible.
  6. Top with crumbled queso fresco, avocado slices, cilantro and a squeeze of lime.

Tip from the editors. The salsa should be chunky, not pureed. Char the tomatoes first under a broiler if you want a smokier version closer to the Austin canon.

Where to eat huevos rancheros

Huevos rancheros in Austin

Cisco's Restaurant Bakery & Bar ★ 4.0

$$ MexicanEast Austin

Cisco's in Austin is Rudy Cisneros's East 6th Tex-Mex breakfast counter since 1948, the room that ran the city's politician breakfasts and helped make huevos.

OrderHuevos rancheros plate with refried beans and a side flour tortilla.

TipThe morning rush peaks at 8:30am; smoother before 7:30 or after 10. Cash and card both work fine.

Directions Book

El Naranjo ★ 4.6

$$ Mexican

El Naranjo is a mexican room in Austin. The mole negro is the canonical order; daughter Ana Torrealba's Sunday-supper menu is the most experimental window.

Why locals goIliana de la Vega's James Beard-winning Oaxacan dining room on South Lamar has a permanent reservation queue but flies under the visitor radar of Suerte and Comedor.

TipThe mole negro is the canonical order; daughter Ana Torrealba's Sunday-supper menu is the most experimental window.

Directions

Fonda San Miguel ★ 4.5

$$$ MexicanNorth Loop

Fonda San Miguel in Austin is Tom Gilliland's 1975 interior-Mexican dining room on North Loop, a pioneer of regional Oaxacan and Yucatecan cooking.

OrderThe cochinita pibil from the Sunday hacienda brunch buffet, plus a bowl of pozole.

TipThe Sunday brunch buffet is the showcase; book the dining room for it at least a week out and arrive at 11.

Directions Book

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