This Classic Mexican Dish Was A Cowboy Staple In The American West

It's easy to see (or should we say taste) how Mexican cuisine has won the hearts of Americans and the rest of the world. While tacos, enchiladas, and guacamole are among some of the most beloved Mexican dishes, Mexican breakfasts are equally iconic and historic. The classic Mexican breakfast huevos rancheros was a cowboy staple in the American West as far back as the 19th century.

Originating in northern Mexico during the reign of Porfirio Diaz in the 16th century, huevos rancheros, or rancher's eggs, were a hearty and satisfying breakfast ranch hands and Mexican cowboys enjoyed after early morning chores. The dish was really more of a resourceful innovation that utilized leftover salsa and tortillas to fry in oil, topping them with fresh eggs which are plentiful on most ranches, haciendas, or farms. Mexican herders who crossed over the border from Sonora and Chihuahua into Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona brought the recipe with them. They paired the salsa poached eggs and saturated tortillas with beans, another well known cowboy staple.

While ranchers and cowboys may very well continue to enjoy huevos rancheros to fuel a hard day's work, now the meal has become a staple on menus for everyday breakfast lovers to enjoy. Its Mexican influence still makes it most popular in the Southwestern states which have numerous variations on the classic egg, tortilla, salsa, and bean combination. For example, New Mexican huevos rancheros use New Mexican chilies in their salsas and serve them with both beans and potatoes.

As a hearty and comforting breakfast for ranch hands on the move, huevos rancheros had to be quick and easy to make — and the cooking method still applies today. This simple and delicious breakfast can be made at home in a single pan. Not to be confused with the scrambled Mexican-style eggs, huevos a la Mexicana, our one-pan huevos rancheros recipe skips the tortilla and instead creates a base of red salsa and black beans in which to poach the eggs. You can always use warm tortillas to sop up the salsa and egg yolks.

A key step to bring even more flavor to your Ranchero sauce is to cook it down in the pan for around 10 to 15 minutes to deepen the tasting notes of the onions, tomatoes, and chilies. Then, blacken the tomatoes, onions, and chilies on a skillet or over an open flame to impart a charred flavor to the sauce. If you can't decide between red or green salsa, you can always make huevos divorciados. Although, in contrast to huevos rancheros' easy one-pan cooking method, huevos divorciados requires making each element separately.

Most American versions doll up the simple cowboy staple with sour cream and shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese. You can swap American cheeses and sour cream for Mexican cotija, Mexican crema, and a sprinkle of diced cilantro. However you put the dish together, know that you're continuing an Old West tradition that ought to be preserved.