Chilaquiles Verdes — Tortilla chips are smothered in a homemade tangy tomatillo serrano chile salsa verde before being garnished to the max with avocado, queso fresco, crema, cilantro, and onion! EASY and ready in 20 minutes! They have the perfect amount of spiciness to keep you wanting just one more bite!
Easy Chilaquiles Verdes Recipe
Chilaquiles verdes are a favorite comfort food Mexican breakfast.
Crispy tortilla chips are smothered in a spicy tangy green salsa causing them to soften a bit.
I make my own salsa verde by boiling together tomatillos, serrano chile peppers, onion, and blending them together with a bit of water and salt. It only takes 10 minutes to make! (Although you can cheat and use store-bought salsa verde if you like.)
Garnishes and plenty of them are how I like to serve and devour my chilaquiles verdes.
My favorite garnishes include avocado, queso fresco, Mexican crema, cilantro, and extra onion although it’s all optional and to taste.
Fun fact: I’ve read that chilaquiles were invented as a way to use up day-old or leftover tortillas, but now they are their own dish and not just a recipe to use up something else!
Ingredients in Chilaquiles Verdes
When it comes to making these hearty and scrumptious chilaquiles verdes, you only need a handful of ingredients:
- Tomatillos
- Serrano chiles
- White onion
- Garlic
- Salt
- Tortilla chips
- Avocado, for serving
- Queso fresco, for serving
- Mexican crema or sour cream, for serving
- Cilantro, for serving
- White onion, for serving
How to Make Chilaquiles Verdes From Scratch
To make these mouth-water chilaquiles verdes, follow these easy and straightforward steps:
- Make tomatillo serrano chile salsa by boiling together the tomatillos, serranos, onion, and garlic.
- Transfer the tomatillos, serranos, onion, garlic, water, and salt to a blender and blend to make your salsa verde.
- Pour the salsa verde into a large skillet and heat until simmering.
- Add the tortilla chips and coat them with the salsa.
- Garnish with avocado, queso fresco, crema, cilantro, white onion (all optional and to taste) before serving.
Do I Have to Make Homemade Salsa Verde?
Part of the allure to me with this recipe for chilaquiles verdes is the homemade salsa made with tomatillos and serrano chile peppers. And being that it’s easy and ready in 10 minutes, why not?
But, if you want to save time and don’t care so much about salsa, most any store bought green salsa will work. They come in many heat and spiciness levels so choose one that’s in line with your taste preferences for heat.
In fact, in my recipe for Salsa Verde Chicken Chilaquiles I rely on store-bought salsa verde.
Are Chilaquiles Verdes Spicy?
These salsa verde chilaquiles do have a fair amount of spiciness. However, if you’re not a fan, here’s how you can tone down the heat:
- I use 3 serrano chile peppers. Use 1 or 2 serranos for less spiciness.
- I don’t scrape out the seeds of the serrano chiles. Remove the seeds to reduce the heat.
- Use jalapeño peppers instead of serranos because they are far less spicy.
What Kind of Tortilla Chips are Best for Chilaquiles Verdes?
For the best tasting chilaquiles verdes, I recommend using the Mexican hard tortilla chips which are found in most Mexican stores.
I do not recommend using regular tortilla chips because they are thinner, more delicate, and tend to get very soggy.
How to Make Hard Tortilla Chips Yourself
If you cannot find the hard chips I mentioned above, you can make your own hard tortilla chips:
- Simply cut corn tortillas into wedges.
- Heat 2 inches of vegetable or another oil in a deep pan.
- When the oil is nice and hot fry a few chips at a time.
- Drain on a paper towel lined plate.
- You will need about 3 or 4 cut tortillas per person.
Serving Suggestions for Chilaquiles Verdes
Chilaquiles verdes are a classic and versatile Mexican breakfast (or lunch or snack) and are wonderful served with:
- Scrambled eggs
- Place a fried egg on top of each person’s portion of chilaquiles verdes
- Refried beans are great alongside chilaquiles verdes
- I love them topped with extra onions, cilantro, and avocado
- Queso fresco adds a great touch to your chilaquiles
- Mexican crema (or sour cream thinned with a bit of milk) complements the green salsa
- Shredded chicken is also great for Chicken Chilaquiles
How to Store Chilaquiles Verdes
Chilaquiles are one of those foods, like nachos, they for me are definitely best fresh and hot.
Although extra chilaquiles verdes will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. Note that as time passes, they will get soggy, but they are still delish.
To combat sogginess, you can store your homemade green salsa separately in the fridge for up to 1 week. And only add the salsa to the amount of tortilla chips you plan to consume and right before you plan to serve them.
Tips for the Best Chilaquiles Verdes
Tomatillos: If you’re not familiar with tomatillos, they are green tomato-looking things and tend to come with paper husks. When buying them, open the paper husks to check and make sure the tomatillos are firm and green.
Salsa verde: When you’re boiling together the tomatillos and serranos, make sure to cover with enough water so that the chiles are well submerged because they float up.
Garnishes: Ingredients such as avocado, queso fresco, Mexican crema or sour cream, and cilantro are all optional.
Add them to taste or omit them if desired. However for me, they really take the flavor of the chilaquiles verdes to the next level and so I never omit them.
To make vegan: As written the chilaquiles verdes recipe is both gluten-free and vegetarian. To keep the chilaquiles on the vegan side of the equation, omit the queso and crema or use vegan-friendly cheese and sour cream.
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Chilaquiles Verdes
Ingredients
Salsa Verde
- 2 pounds tomatillos, husk removed and washed
- 1 to 3 serrano chile peppers, use less and/or use jalapenos to make less spicy
- ¼ of a medium white onion, peeled and left as one piece
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Chilaquiles
- 12 ounces hard Mexican corn tortilla chips*
- 1 avocado, sliced; optional for garnishing
- ½ cup queso fresco, optional for garnishing
- ½ cup Mexican crema, or 1/2 cup sour cream thinned with a bit of milk, optional for garnishing
- ¼ cup finely minced cilantro, optional for garnishing
- ⅓ cup thinly slice white onions, optional for garnishing
Instructions
Salsa Verde:
- To a large saucepan, add the tomatillos, serranos, onion, garlic, cover with enough water to make sure the serranos don't rise up, and boil on high for 10 minutes.
- Using a tongs, transfer the ingredients to the canister of a blender, discarding the cooking water.
- Add 1/2 cup fresh water and salt to the canister and blend on high speed for about 2 to 3 minutes, or as desired until the salsa is as smooth as desired.
Chilaquiles:
- Transfer the sauce to a high-sided wide skillet and heat over medium-high heat until simmer, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the tortilla chips, and pour the sauce over the chips, tossing and stirring to coat as necessary. Make sure all chips get coated. You may not need to use all the chips.
- Optionally garnish with avocado, queso fresco, crema, cilantro, and white onion as desired and to taste.
Notes
- Simply cut corn tortillas into wedges.
- Heat 2 inches of vegetable or another oil in a deep pan.
- When the oil is nice and hot fry a few chips at a time.
- Drain on a paper towel lined plate.
- You will need about 3 or 4 cut tortillas per person.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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