Baked Chilaquiles with Black Beans and Kale

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Baked tortilla chips slathered in enchilada sauce, black beans, and sauteed kale and topped with eggs, avocado, salsa, and cheese makes a satisfying twist on traditional chilaquiles.

I was first introduced to chilaquiles, tortilla chips sauteed in red chile sauce, as a hangover cure when I worked as a server at a Santa Cruz restaurant during college. Though I never tested this theory (I rarely want to eat anything at all when I’m hungover, least of all spicy, greasy chips) I did develop a fondness for the chilaquiles served at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market in San Francisco. Market-goers line up around the block for an order of Primavera’s thick, handmade tortillas fried into chips and slathered with red sauce and fried eggs. 

Chilaquiles popped into my head when my friend Amelia dropped by for brunch the other day. I had a jar of enchilada sauce in the cupboard, a new bag of Rancho Gordo tortillas, a bunch of kale, and a can of black beans.

The most tedious aspect of making chilaquiles is standing over the stove, frying tortillas in batches. They always seem to soak up too much oil, which splatters all over the place, and they never get quite crisp enough. So I threw them in the oven instead, and since it was already hot, I baked everything in there as well, even the eggs. Chilaquiles success!

Erika a.k.a. The Pancake Princess came over the other day and we styled and shot this recipe together. A native Californian, Erika has lives in Houston, Texas where she’s pursuing an MBA. Since chilaquiles are a Tex Mex dish, and we’re both good kale-loving Californians, we felt that this dish was a perfect combination of our places of residence.

Erika makes amazing things like this, and this, and these. I’m absolutely in love with her recipes and photos, and she’s one of the kindest people on the planet to boot.She’s an incredibly talented food photographer and stylist.

Also, kale model.

We had so much fun! Check out her beautiful behind-the-scenes photos from our afternoon togetherhere.

This dish reminds me of a cross between nachos and enchiladas, but
brunchier. Our eggs seemed to cook at different rates, which worked out
well for us. Jay likes his firm, Erika likes hers runny, and I like mine right in the middle.

I could hardly wait for the shoot to be over so I could devour this plate of chilaquiles. They make a pretty simple brunch dish that can please a crowd (if you double it and bake it in a lasagna pan). One day I’ll go all out and make my own enchilada sauce, but Sweet Creek’s is a huge time-saver, and it comes in mild, medium and spicy (we used medium). Black beans and kale appeal to my Californian sensibility, but I’m not afraid to get a little Texas by piling on the cheese.

Sadly I’m down with a cold and won’t be drinking enough champers tomorrow night to test out the hangover theory…

but that doesn’t mean you can’t.

Wishing everyone a happy and delicious new year!

Thanks for reading! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bloglovin’, or Twitter, subscribe to receive new posts via email, or become a sponsor.

Best of the brunch:
Baked Rolled Barley with Berries, Figs, and Cardamom
Potato and Green Garlic Crustless Quiche with Goat Cheese and Chives {Gluten-Free}
Saffron, Ricotta and Pea Pancakes {Gluten-Free}

One year ago:
Chocolate Coconut Milk Pots de Crème with Tahitian Vanilla and Rum

Two years ago:
Cointreau-Glazed Cranberry Clementine Tea Cake

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Baked Chilaquiles with Black Beans and Kale

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Feel free to double this recipe and bake it in a lasagna pan to serve a crowd. Makes 4-6 servings
Servings: 4

Ingredients

For the chilaquiles:

  • 10 (6") corn tortillas, cut into sixths
  • a few tablespoons light cooking oil (such as sunflower)
  • sea or kosher salt, as needed
  • 1 (16-ounce) jar red enchilada sauce (I use Sweet Creek's medium sauce)
  • 1/2 a small yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 bunch of kale, stems removed and torn into large pieces
  • 1 (14-ounce) can black beans, drained, rinsed, and drained again
  • 4-6 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup packed, grated mild melting cheese such as jack or goat gouda

For serving:

  • chevre, feta, or cotija cheese, crumbled
  • cilantro leaves
  • lime wedges
  • salsa
  • 1 or 2 ripe avocados, sliced
  • sour cream or thick, whole milk yogurt

Instructions

Make the chips:

  • Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 400ºF.
  • Cut the tortillas into sixths and place on a baking sheet. Toss with enough oil to coat lightly and a few pinches of salt, and spread on two baking sheets. Bake until golden and crisp, 10-15 minutes.

Make the chilaquiles:

  • Meanwhile, heat a tablespoon of oil in a wide skillet set over a medium flame. Add the onion and cook, stirring until tender, 5 minutes. Add the kale, a splash of water, and a big pinch of salt, and cook until wilted, 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Place the tortilla chips in a large bowl, pour in the enchilada sauce, and toss with your hands to coat. Fold in the cooked kale and the black beans. Oil a large baking dish (I use an 8x12-inch oval one) and spread in the tortilla mixture and any sauce hanging out on the bottom of the bowl. Bake until the chips are hot and starting to crisp a bit around the edges, 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the cheese.
  • Use the back of a soup spoon to make 4-6 divots in the chips (depending on how many eggs you want). Carefully crack the eggs into the divots and sprinkle with a few pinches of salt. Return to the oven and bake until the eggs are set to your liking, 10-15 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven, scatter the cotija and cilantro over the top, and serve immediately with the salsa, avocado, sour cream, and lime wedges for drizzling over the tops.
Making this? I'd love to see!Tag your snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet!

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64 thoughts on “Baked Chilaquiles with Black Beans and Kale”

  3. What!!! I miss this!!! It was my own fault to not be able to join :(
    Anyway, I love when I see talented bloggers created the post together. It always came out fun & wonderful, this one included :)

    Happy New Year to you & Erika. Hope you feel better soon & wishing you both (& Jay) the best 2015. xoxo

    Reply

  4. YAY two of my favorites together!!!!!!! This looked like so much fun and SO. DELICIOUS. Ohhhhh my goodness I cannot even handle how good these look. My stomach is growling just looking at them. So incredible, ladies!! Happy New Year to you both (though boo for the cold!! Feel better soon!)

    Reply

  6. Hi Alanna, this looks incredible, I can't wait to try this out! I was wondering if I could use tortilla chips from a bag? Would they be too crunchy? I'm in the UK and getting a hold of corn tortillas can be a bit of a mission!

    Reply

  7. Just finished this! Fabulous! Loved the baking the tortillas instead of frying. I used salsa verde that I canned in the summer, omitted the kale, as it was 20 degrees outside this am(!) and I didn't go into the garden. But still, love your recipes!

    Reply

  8. Dear Alanna, I wish you a Happy New Year, full of great recipes, bright pictures and a lot of new readers!
    You make a wonderful work!
    Happy New Year for you and your family!
    From Buenos Aires, Argentina…
    Marisa

    Reply

  9. Chilaquiles! YUM! These look especially delicious and I love the addition of kale. :)

    And happy, HAPPY New Year to you! I feel extra lucky to have met you this year.

    Reply

  16. I'm forever inspired by your work, Alanna! Thank you for this! I throughly enjoyed seeing your process through The Pancake Princess' lens and what a fun recipe to work through together… then devour! Funny though, I'm from Texas and just recently learned of Chilaquiles… How did I go so long in life without these!? Fabulous recipe!! Thank you, Alanna! Happy New Year to you too!!

    Reply

  19. Dear Alanna,

    my 13-year-old and I just finished this for lunch — YUM! Definitely four thumbs up!
    We noticed that the frozen corn kernels live just next to the frozen kale and added a handful or two. The whole thing was fairly fast and extremely tasty Thanks!

    Reply

  20. This is gorgeous and looks so delicious!!! and what a delightful surprise to see Erika from The Pancake Princess here.. I love her and her blog! Happy New Year. . can't wait to try this!

    Reply

  25. Hope you're feeling better!

    And, oh my. Love the dish, love the photos — HOW is that eggshell cracked so perfectly in half? Amazing.

    Reply

  27. My favorite line: "This dish reminds me of a cross between nachos and enchiladas, but brunchier. " And I love the fact that you actually hang out with food blogging friends IRL. I need to do that more often. It is so inspiring as clearly shown by these beautiful shots.

    Reply

  29. This is so beautiful!! I found your link over at Erika's blog and I'm already in love with these colourful, healthy chilaquiles! As an Australian I have to admit that I've never heard of this particular Tex Mex dish. We do tend to eat heaps of tacos, enchiladas and quesadillas but the closest I've come to this sort of deliciousness is eating nachos. Can't wait to try your recipe! xx

    Reply

  30. Wow this sounds AMAZING!!!!! Holy crap I need to try this. I don't know why I haven't really been to your site before, but I'm glad I found you via Erika (one of my favs). It was so cool to see what the two of you did together.

    Reply

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