Using Leftovers: Breakfast Tacos
I love leftovers. When I meal plan, I plan on leftovers to reduce how much I’m in the kitchen. However, not everyone in my household loves them quite as much as I do, so I sometimes need to find creative ways to use them. This is what I’d normally call a throw-away recipe and wouldn’t worry too much about sharing it, but I hope this at least gives you some ideas on using leftovers in a more creative way.
For this recipe, I was working one weekend while the wife and kids were away and needed to eat something for late breakfast/early lunch. So, rummaging around the refrigerator, I noticed a few things:
- Leftover taco meat and rice, yum! But not enough to just eat that.
- Eggs, butter, sour cream, cheese, and tortillas on hand, as usual. These are staples in my house.
- Some leftover onion and jalapeno from making something last week.
- Ooh… some extra hot sauce from a local Mexican restaurant (when I get takeout from there, I always ask for some hot sauce; a lot of places will have some in the back if you ask, and it’s often deliciously spicy).
It sounds like we’re making some breakfast tacos! This can serve 2 people, or maybe just 1 if you’re really hungry.
To start, warm the tortillas in a pan; for me, nothing kills a taco like cold, generic tortillas, so warming them up goes a long way. It’ll take about 30 seconds or so for each side. When they’re done, wrap in a tea towel; this will keep them warm as well as soften them up a bit via condensation.
Next, we’ll add some butter along with the onions and jalapenos and sweat with a pinch of salt until they’re nice and soft. After that, add in some leftover taco meat and Mexican rice and warm through. While that’s all cooking, beat some eggs with some salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and water until nice and frothy. The paprika doesn’t add a ton of flavor but does add some color to the mixture.
Add the egg mixture to the pan and scramble until done. What I like to do is lift the pan from the stove, place a silicon or rubber spatula right in the middle, and shake the pan around the spatula for about 5-10 seconds. This is a traditional technique for making omelettes that helps distribute both the ingredients and heat evenly for even cooking. Then set the pan on the stove and don’t touch it until you see the edges starting to dry a bit, about 20 seconds or so, depending on how hot your pan is. Then we’ll mix. Don’t mix by swirling the spatula all around; that actually doesn’t help all that much. Instead, slowly pull the eggs from the top of the pan to the center, then from the bottom to the center, then left to center, then right to center, etc. This will help maintain some of the larger curds and not break the entire mixture down into crumbles. Do this until the eggs are almost done; they’ll continue cooking just a bit when you take them from the heat.
When that’s done, I add some sour cream to the tortillas (I like scooping the sour cream with the back side of a spoon and spreading on the tortilla, or use one of those fancy squeeze bottles), then the egg mixture, and top with some shredded cheese (I love pepper jack here, but cheddar and pretty much anything else will work), the hot sauce, and some cilantro if you have some on hand, and you’re good to go!
Leftover Breakfast Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 whole tortillas soft taco size
- 1 tbsp butter unsalted
- ¼ whole white onion minced
- ½ whole jalapeno minced
- 2 oz taco meat left over
- 2 oz Mexican rice left over
- 2 whole eggs
- 1 tsp water
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- 1 oz pepper jack cheese shredded
- hot sauce optional
- cilantro optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat a nonstick pan on medium-low (3-4). Warm the tortillas for 30 seconds on each side, place under a tea towel to keep warm
- Add the butter, minced onions, minced jalapenos, and a small pinch of salt, and sweat until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the leftover taco meat and rice and warm in the pan, about 2 minutes more.
- Meanwhile, add the eggs, water, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until well combined and frothy. Add the mixture to the pan when the taco meat and rice are warmed through. Lift the pan above the stove, and holding a silicon spatula in the center, vigorously shake the pan around the spatula for about 5 seconds. Place the pan back on the stove and let the egg mixture set undisturbed for about 10 seconds. Slowly mix the mixture until almost cooked through (carry over will cook it the rest of the way).
- Add 1 tablespoon of sour cream to each tortilla. Divide the egg mixture evenly between the two tortillas. Top with the shredded pepper jack cheese, hot sauce, and cilantro. Serve immediately.