Recipe: Scrambled Egg Tacos
I’m going to get really real with you today and talk about one of my go-to weeknight recipes. In my “what’s for dinner tonight?” flowchart, scrambled egg tacos are often the difference between a home-cooked meal and takeout. They are also the way we keep leftovers from languishing in the fridge — in my mind, there are few vegetables that won’t work in a tortilla. Apparently my kids agree with this sentiment, because on taco night, they seem to have no problem eating the very same vegetables they left on their plates earlier in the week.
While this meal looks different from week to week, the following elements are consistent: soft scrambled eggs, corn tortillas, and plenty of hot sauce. My three-year-old helps crack and whisk the eggs while the butter melts and I toast tortillas on our gas stove. They stay warm, wrapped in a dish towel, as the rest of the meal is pulled together in minutes. I pile all the taco fillings onto a serving platter — eggs, leftover vegetables, sometimes avocado, beans, or bits of chicken, too — for a build-your-own experience. I prefer my tacos piled high with cilantro and doused in hot sauce (totally a vegetable) and the kids (the one-year-old with some assistance) clearly enjoy assembling their own dinners.
Our most recent version of this quick dinner involved everything leftover from this week of 1 Chicken, 5 Meals — the very last morsels of chicken picked from the bones before making stock, leftover potatoes from the first night, and zucchini from the third night, as well as an ear’s worth of corn kernels I didn’t end up using in our risotto and charred briefly before adding to the platter of toppings. (If we’d had any actual risotto leftover, I would have cooked some of that right into the eggs, too!)
Although simple and inexpensive, these tacos never disappoint in our household.
Scrambled Egg Tacos
Serves 4
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 6
large eggs
- 2 tablespoons
unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon
salt
- 1/4 teaspoon
pepper
- 8
small corn tortillas
- 2 to 3 cups
cooked vegetables, such as potatoes, zucchini, corn, or any other leftover vegetables
- 1 cup
cooked meat, like chicken, pulled pork, or any other leftover meat, optional
Fresh cilantro and hot sauce, for serving
Instructions
Whisk the eggs until the whites and yolks are fully combined. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, reduce heat to medium-low and pour in the eggs. Stir often until the eggs reach your desired level of softness. Remove from heat and stir in salt and pepper, then move to a big serving platter. (Read more: How To Make Soft, Creamy Scrambled Eggs)
Meanwhile, warm the leftover vegetables in the microwave or in a skillet over low heat. Transfer the warmed vegetables to the serving platter with the eggs.
To warm the tortillas on a gas stove, heat the remaining burners to medium to warm and toast the tortillas briefly on both sides. If you have an electric stove, select another method to heat the tortillas. Wrap the warm tortillas in a clean dish towel to keep them warm.
Bring the platter of taco toppings to the table with the tortillas, cilantro, and hot sauce. Let everyone build their own tacos at the table.