Chilaquiles Two Ways: Red with Chicken, and Green with Epazote

A beloved Mexican breakfast: crisp, homemade corn tortilla chips simmered just until tender in a smoky red tomato-chile sauce or a bright green tomatillo sauce, piled with shredded chicken, then finished with cool Mexican crema, crumbled cheese, avocado, and radishes. Top it with a fried egg, and it's the most satisfying brunch there is.

Yield: Serves 4 · Active: 45 min · Total: 1 hour (plus 24 hours for the crema) · Year-round (tomatoes and tomatillos peak in North America in late summer) · Best eaten: morning or midday

Your Game Plan

• 1–2 days ahead: Start the Mexican crema.

• Up to 3 days ahead: Poach and shred the chicken (and save the broth).

• The morning of: Make the chips and your sauce, then bring it all together.

The Foundations

Mexican Crema (Crema Mexicana)

Makes 1 cup · Active: 5 min · Total: 24–36 hours

• 1 cup heavy cream (raw from pasture-raised cows, or at least not ultra-pasteurized)

• 2 tbsp cultured buttermilk (with live cultures, not ultra-pasteurized)

• Optional: a pinch of Baja Gold sea salt

1. Combine. Stir the cream and buttermilk together in a clean glass jar.

2. Culture. Cover it loosely with a lid, or with a cloth and a rubber band, so it can breathe, and leave it undisturbed at room temperature (68–75°F) for 24–36 hours, until thickened to a pourable consistency with a mild tang.

3. Chill. Stir it gently, add the salt (if using), and refrigerate at least 4 hours to finish setting.

4. Store refrigerated in an airtight container up to 7–10 days.

If it doesn't thicken after 36 hours, your cream or buttermilk may have been ultra-pasteurized, or your kitchen may be too cold. Try again with fresher, non-ultra-pasteurized dairy in a warmer spot. For a thicker crema, use a higher-fat cream, or strain it through cheesecloth.

Poached Shredded Chicken

• 1½ lb pasture-raised boneless chicken thighs or breasts (or the meat from a roast chicken)

• 4 cups chicken bone broth (or water)

• ¼ white onion, 2 garlic cloves, and 1 bay leaf

• 1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt, ½ tsp black pepper, and a pinch of cumin

1. Poach. Simmer the chicken gently in the broth with the onion, garlic, bay leaf, and salt for 15–20 minutes, until cooked through (165°F for breasts, 175°F for thighs).

2. Shred it while it's still warm, for the most tender texture, and season with the pepper and cumin.

3. Save the broth for your sauce.

Homemade Tortilla Chips (Totopos)

• 12 nixtamalized corn tortillas (or cassava tortillas, for grain-free), each cut into 6 wedges

• Lard, tallow, or avocado oil, for frying (about ½ inch deep)

• Baja Gold sea salt

• To fry: Heat the fat in a heavy skillet to about 350°F. Fry the wedges in batches for 1–2 minutes, turning once, until golden and crisp. Drain on a rack, and salt them right away.

• To bake: Brush the wedges lightly with melted lard or avocado oil, spread them in a single layer, and bake at 375°F for 12–15 minutes, flipping once, until crisp.

1. Red Chilaquiles with Chicken

Ingredients

Red tomato-chile sauce

• 4 large ripe tomatoes

• Optional: 2–3 dried guajillo or pasilla chiles, stemmed and seeded, for depth

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled

• ¼ white onion

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt, to taste

• ½–1 cup chicken broth

• 1 tbsp lard or avocado oil

For the chilaquiles

• About 6 cups homemade tortilla chips

• 2 cups shredded chicken

• 1 cup Mexican crema

• ½ cup crumbled queso fresco or cotija

• 1 ripe avocado, sliced

• 2–3 radishes, thinly sliced

• Optional: fresh cilantro, pickled onions, and fried eggs

Method

1. Roast the tomatoes. Char them in a dry cast iron skillet or under the broiler, turning occasionally, for 10–12 minutes, until blistered and soft. (Or boil them for 5 minutes.)

2. Soften the chiles (if using). Toast them in a dry skillet for 20–30 seconds per side, until fragrant, then soak them in hot water for 10–15 minutes.

3. Blend the tomatoes, drained chiles, garlic, onion, cumin, and salt with enough broth to make a smooth sauce.

4. Simmer. Heat the lard in a wide skillet, carefully pour in the sauce (it will spatter), and simmer 5–7 minutes, until slightly thickened.

5. Add the chips. Add the chips and gently fold them into the sauce for 1–2 minutes, until coated and just beginning to soften, but not soggy.

6. Add the chicken. Scatter it over the top and fold it in gently to heat through.

7. Finish. Take it off the heat, drizzle with crema, and top with crumbled cheese, avocado, radishes, and cilantro, pickled onions, or a fried egg, if you like. Serve right away.

2. Green Chilaquiles with Epazote

Ingredients

Green tomatillo sauce

• 1½ lb tomatillos, husked and rinsed

• 2–3 serrano or jalapeño chiles (seeded for milder heat)

• ¼ white onion

• 2 garlic cloves

• ½ cup fresh cilantro

• 1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt

• 1 tbsp lard or avocado oil

• 1 cup chicken broth

• 1 sprig fresh epazote (optional, but highly recommended)

• Optional: a pinch (⅛ tsp) of baking soda, to soften the acidity

For the chilaquiles: the same chips, chicken, and toppings as the red version

Method

1. Simmer the tomatillos and chiles in a pot of water for 8–10 minutes, until the tomatillos turn olive-green and soften. Drain.

2. Blend the tomatillos, chiles, onion, garlic, cilantro, and salt until smooth.

3. Fry the sauce. Heat the lard in a wide skillet over medium-high heat, carefully pour in the sauce, and simmer 5 minutes, until it darkens slightly.

4. Add the broth and simmer until the sauce coats a spoon. If it's very tart, stir in the pinch of baking soda (it will foam briefly).

5. Add the epazote. Add the sprig, simmer 2–3 minutes more to release its aroma, then remove it.

6. Finish exactly like the red version: fold in the chips and chicken, then top with crema, cheese, avocado, radishes, and eggs.

Tip: Ripe tomatillos (fully filling their husks and starting to turn pale yellow-green) make a sweeter, rounder sauce. Fresh epazote gives a uniquely Mexican aroma. Look for it at Latin American markets, or grow it easily in a pot.

Optional Additions

• A fried egg on top, cooked in lard

• Sautéed onions or nopales (cactus paddles)

• Refried or black beans on the side, soaked and slow-cooked, for those who eat them

• Café de olla (Mexican spiced coffee with cinnamon), in the morning

Storage

• Chilaquiles: best eaten right away, since the chips soften as they sit.

• Sauces: refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen up to 3 months.

• Chicken: refrigerated up to 3 days.

• Chips: airtight at room temperature up to 3 days.

• Crema: refrigerated up to 7–10 days.

Nourishment Notes

Nixtamalized corn — Soaking and cooking corn in an alkaline solution, a Mesoamerican technique thousands of years old, makes its niacin available to your body, improves its protein quality, and greatly increases its calcium. (Read more about it in my Duck Tacos post.)

Pasture-raised chicken — complete protein, B12, choline, and selenium.

Tomatoes — lycopene, made more absorbable by cooking with fat, plus vitamin C and potassium.

Tomatillos — vitamin C, vitamin K, and withanolides, plant compounds being studied for their anti-inflammatory effects.

Chiles — capsaicin, vitamin C, and beta-carotene.

Epazote — a traditional Mexican herb, long used to support digestion (and famously added to beans to make them easier to digest).

Mexican crema — live cultures, plus vitamins A and K2 when it's made from grass-fed cream.

Queso fresco and cotija — calcium and protein.

Avocado — monounsaturated fats, potassium, and fiber, which help you absorb the carotenoids in the sauce.

Radishes — vitamin C and glucosinolates.

Lard and tallow — stable fats for frying, rich in vitamin D when they come from animals raised outdoors.

For your cycle: With chicken, eggs, and plenty of fat and fiber, this hearty breakfast supports steady energy in every phase, and it's especially satisfying in the luteal phase, when appetite often rises.

Sourcing

• Corn tortillas — made from heirloom, nixtamalized corn, organic when available (Masienda makes heirloom masa harina for making your own), or cassava tortillas, for grain-free

• Store-bought tortilla chips — nixtamalized corn chips fried in tallow, not seed oils, like Masa Chips (use code: MARSHALL at checkout)

• Chicken — pasture-raised, from a local farm or White Oak Pastures

• Heavy cream — raw from a farmer you know and trust, or organic, grass-fed cream that isn't ultra-pasteurized

• Buttermilk — organic and cultured, like Kalona SuperNatural

• Queso fresco and cotija — made from whole milk, with no added starches

• Tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles, onions, garlic, cilantro, avocados, and radishes — organic, from a farmers' market or Latin American grocer

• Dried guajillo or pasilla chiles — organic when available, pliable and fragrant (not brittle)

• Epazote — fresh, from a Latin American market or your garden

• Lard or tallow — lard from pasture-raised pigs, or tallow rendered from grass-fed suet

• Avocado oil — cold-pressed and third-party tested for purity, in dark glass

• Bone broth — homemade, or Bonafide Provisions (organic, sold frozen)

• Ground cumin — organic and non-irradiated

• Salt — Baja Gold sea salt

— Anna aka Food Marshall