This New Mexico breakfast burritos recipe comes from Marisel Salazar’s cookbook, “Latin-ish” and features eggs, hash browns, bacon, and chiles.
Is there anything more satisfying than breakfast burritos? Especially if there are hash browns involved?! Honestly, there’s a lot I’d be willing to do for these New Mexico Breakfast Burritos right now. I’m already doing the math in my head for how long it would take me to run to the store, buy all these ingredients, and start cooking.
That’s how tempting this recipe (and photos) from Marisel Salazar’s new cookbook Latin-ish are.
In Latin-ish: More Than 100 Recipes Celebrating American Latino Cuisines, author, food writer, and media personality Marisel Salazar explores a wide range of American Latino foods, from her own guava thumbprint cookies recipe influenced by her Cuban heritage to a Mexican American hot chocolate recipe and mango chamoy salad (partially visible on the book’s cover).
One of the compelling things about the cookbook is the way Salazar expertly traces the origins of various dishes and ingredients, helping us understand the influences behind a recipe as well as the complex and ever-evolving nature of American Latino food and the wide array of cultures that have influenced — and continue to influence — it.
Tip: Explore all of our breakfast and brunch recipes!
In the intro to this New Mexico breakfast burritos recipe, she writes:
“Ancient Pueblo peoples lived extensively throughout what today is New Mexico, and Aztec knowledge of their societies created the myth of the Seven Cities of Gold that lured the Spanish through North America. As a province of New Spain, New Mexico joined the rest of Mexico after the Mexican War of Independence ended in 1821. When Texas seceded from Mexico in 1836, it claimed roughly half of modern New Mexico, and, after the Mexican-American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transferred the other half to the United States in 1848. It remained a federal territory until 1912, when it joined the Union.”
This isn’t the kind of context you get from an average cookbook. I’m admittedly a history buff (that’s what I ended up studying in college), but even if it’s not your thing and you forget the specifics she’s carefully laid out here, hopefully you’ll hold onto the complicated history of New Mexico, including indigenous and colonial influences.
But what about this dish, more specifically?
“The breakfast burrito entered New Mexican cuisine in the 1970s, when the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta served a handheld version and then Tia Sophia’s, a restaurant in Santa Fe, smothered it with cheese and sauce,” Salazar writes. “New Mexico breakfast burritos require flour tortillas, shredded hash browns, eggs, and of course New Mexico chiles.”
That’s where the signature color comes in, coating the burrito.
“Using both red and green chiles and sauce aptly creates ‘Christmas‘ burritos,” Salazar adds. “New Mexico chiles, or Hatch chiles if they grow in the Hatch Valley, have a reputation for their flavor and versatility. New Mexico State University cultivated the green chile pepper, but red and green varieties come from the same plant, just picked at different times. The green chiles taste buttery yet smoky, while the red ones taste sweeter.”
I had no idea they were just picked at different times — one of many things I learned while flipping through her important new cookbook.
This recipe also calls for bacon and onions, which add texture and depth to each bite. I really can’t think of a better way to start the day.
Our thanks to Marisel Salazar and Countryman Press for letting us share this New Mexico breakfast burritos recipe with our readers. Learn more about Salazar and the Latin-ish cookbook!
New Mexico Breakfast Burritos Recipe
Equipment
- Skillet
- Baking sheet
- Spatula
- Paper towels
Ingredients
- 4 10-inch flour tortillas
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 5 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil
- 1 lb frozen shredded hash browns
- 1 pinch salt and fresh black pepper
- 6 slices bacon
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese
- 6 large eggs
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 4-oz can or jar diced green chiles
- 2 oz canned or jarred diced red chiles
- Salsa Roja and Salsa Verde or red and green enchilada sauces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Arrange the tortillas on a baking sheet and set aside. Chop the onion.
- In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the onion, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the frozen hash browns, season with salt and black pepper to taste, and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook until the hash browns turn brown and crispy, 3 to 5 minutes on each side, adding more oil, 1 teaspoon at a time, if necessary. Transfer the hash brown mixture to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Wipe the skillet with a paper towel, add 1 teaspoon of the oil, and cook the bacon strips until crispy, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a second paper towel-lined plate. Leave the strips whole or crumble if desired.
- Divide the hash brown mixture and bacon equally among the tortillas. Top each with ¼ cup of the cheese. Place the baking sheet in the oven while you prepare the eggs.
- Place the eggs in a large bowl and whisk for 30 seconds. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
- With a paper towel, wipe the skillet again and place it over medium-low heat. Add the butter and, as it melts, swirl to coat.
- Cook the whisked eggs in the skillet for 30 seconds to 1 minute without disturbing.
- Between 1 and 2 minutes, when the eggs are about three-quarters of the way done, use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to fold the eggs and form big, fluffy curds. Turn off heat but keep the eggs in the skillet until just set and still moist.
- Quarter the eggs and place each serving next to the hash browns on the tortillas. To each tortilla, add 2 tablespoons of green chiles and 1 tablespoon of red chiles.
- Fold the left and right sides of each tortilla over the filling, then roll tightly, from the bottom up, over the filling. Repeat with the remaining burritos. Top with the two sauces to taste.