Huevos motuleños are eggs-motul style. Huevos motuleños is a dish from Mexico consisting of fried eggs in a tomato sauce made with peppers, onions, and spices. This egg brunch dish is served on top of corn tortillas and with an accompaniment of fried plantains, and pieces of bread such as bolillo or pan de dulce.
In This Post
History Behind Huevos Motuleños
This recipe is based on the traditional eggs made in the picturesque small town of Motul in the State of Yucatán. The eggs at the local market in Motul are served on top of a corn tortilla spread with refried beans and then topped with another tortilla and tomato sauce.
It is commonly served in the State of Yucatán and the neighboring States like Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and Oaxaca with ham, cheese, peas, and fried plantains.
Let me tell you about the first time I saw Huevos Motuleños.
It was at a small restaurant in Villahermosa, Tabasco, on a warm Saturday morning around 10:00 AM. By that time, I was really hungry and ordered some scrambled eggs and my then-boyfriend ordered Eggs-Motul Style.
I had no idea what Motul meant. He just said, “Wait and you will see”. When the server arrived with the dish, the first thing that crossed my mind was: “What, no Molcajete?” There was so much tasty stuff on it, that I thought that it was only missing a Molcajete.
Little did I know that this dish would become my family’s favorite traditional birthday brunch. Yes, brunch!
Huevos Motul Style Perfect for Brunch!
See, a couple of years ago we started this tradition of bringing breakfast in bed to the member of the family celebrating their birthday. It used to be a light breakfast, something like coffee, orange juice, and toast with butter. But somehow throughout the years, things got escalated to the point that one year my son told me that he wanted to have Huevos Motuleños for his birthday breakfast in bed. This is when we decided to drop the breakfast line and change it to brunch.
Imagine having eggs in bed, with a side of plantains and all the garnishes that go on the dish. But, this is still the favorite of my two guys at home, a very manly dish!
Photo from Wikipedia
Frequently Asked Questions About Huevos Motuleños
Before I share this recipe, here are a few questions readers tend to ask me...
Is huevos motuleños spicy?
This recipe isn’t spicy because not everyone likes spicy food. If you want to make it spicy, you can always top it with red hot sauce or spicy salsa.
What can huevos motuleños be served with?
Huevos motuleño is typically served on top of corn tortillas or as an accompaniment to breads, such as bolillo and pan de dulce.
However, in my family’s version, we serve it on a bed alongside plantains and all the garnishes that go into the tomato sauce like onions, garlic, habanero peppers (optional), cilantro leaves, oregano leaves (opt.), ground black pepper (to taste) salt (to taste).
Sometimes I also grate some cheese over the eggs before serving them!
What is the difference between huevos rancheros and huevos motuleños?
Both Huevos Rancheros and Huevos Motuleños are Mexican dishes consisting of fried eggs served on the top of a corn tortilla, but they differ in their preparation.
- Huevo rancheros are made with salsa ranchera, served with a side of refried beans, some people like a side of bacon, even topping the eggs with chopped onion and cilantro leaves.
- Huevos Motuleños is typically prepared with mild tomato sauce made up of tomatoes, onions, and roasted habanero pepper. The pepper is not ground or blended into the sauce, it only gives flavor when added whole.
Eggs- Motul Style
This egg dish is perfectly filling and delicious for brunch (or any meal time really).
Here are the ingredients you will need to make it:
- Eggs
- Corn tortillas (a day old)
- Vegetable oil
- Habanero pepper
- Red onions (minced)
- Refried black beans
- Tomatoes (diced)
- Salt to taste
- Green peas (cooked)
- Queso añejo (or fresh crumbled cheese)
- Cooked ham (diced)
- Plantains
Please note: For exact measurements of the ingredients listed above, scroll down to the recipe card located at the bottom of this post!
Cooking Tips:
- Day-old tortillas absorb less oil and take less time to fry.
- If red onions are not available, use white onions instead.
- You can use any other dry crumbling cheese.
- If you are making more than 2 servings, turn your oven at 250 to keep the already cooked eggs warm while you finish cooking the rest of the eggs.
How To Make Huevos Motuleños Recipe: Step By Step Tutorial
To make it easier for you, I am going to break this down into steps:
Make Tomato Sauce
- In a skillet at medium-high heat, warm one teaspoon of oil and add the onion and habanero pepper (whole). Fry until the onions are transparent, making sure the habanero pepper doesn’t burst. The habanero pepper will render its flavor to the sauce this way without adding spiciness.
- Add the diced tomatoes and cook for about 7 minutes until the tomatoes have released all their juices and formed a thick sauce.
- Season with salt and set aside.
Fry Up The Tortillas
- Start gathering all your ingredients to assemble the dish and have them ready for serving once the eggs and tortillas are fried.
- Heat the rest of the oil in the frying pan and start frying the tortillas one by one. Fry the tortillas until they are a little crispy, this way they will hold the egg and sauce without breaking into pieces.
- Place each tortilla over a paper towel to drain any excess oil.
Put The Plate Together
- Once all your tortillas had been fried, arrange 2 on each plate and spread the refried beans over the tortillas.
- In the same skillet where you fried the tortillas, start frying the eggs, you can cook them over easy or sunny-side up (that will be your personal choice).
- Place an egg over each tortilla.
- When all the eggs are cooked, cover them with the tomato sauce, leaving the egg yolk uncovered if you wish.
- Garnish with ham, peas, cheese, and fried plantains.
Serve warm and enjoy!
More Authentic Mexican Recipes To Enjoy
If you enjoyed this recipe for eggs- Motul style, take a look at some of these other authentic Mexican recipes:
I hope you make these Mexican Huevo Motuleños! If this recipe was of any help to you, come back to let me know your experience. Please leave us a comment done below and tell us all about it!
¡Buen provecho!
Mely
📖 Recipe
Huevos Motuleños (Eggs- Motul Style)
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 4 corn tortillas a day old*
- ⅓ Cup vegetable oil
- 1 Habanero pepper
- ½ medium red onion minced**
- ½ cup refried black beans
- 2 Medium size tomatoes diced (about 3 cups)
- salt to taste
- ½ cup cooked green peas
- ⅓ cup of queso añejo or fresh crumbled cheese***
- 4 slices of cooked ham diced
- 1 plantain cut in diagonal slices and fried.
Instructions
- In a skillet at medium-high heat, warm one teaspoon of oil and add the onion and habanero pepper (whole). Fry until onion is transparent, making sure the Habanero pepper doesn’t burst. The Habanero pepper will render its flavor to the sauce this way without adding spiciness.
- Add the diced tomatoes and cook for about 7 minutes until the tomatoes have released all their juices and formed a thick sauce. Season with salt and set aside.
- Start gathering all your ingredients to assemble the dish and have them ready for serving once the eggs and tortillas are fried.
- Heat the rest of the oil in the frying pan and start frying the tortillas one by one. Fry the tortillas until they are a little crispy, this way they will hold the egg and sauce without breaking into pieces. Place each tortilla over a paper towel to drain any excess oil.
- Once all your tortillas had been fried, arrange 2 on each plate and spread the refried beans over the tortillas.
- In the same skillet where you fried the tortillas start frying the eggs, you can cook them over easy or sunny side up, that will be your personal choice. Place an egg over each tortilla. When all the eggs are cooked, cover them with the tomato sauce, leaving the egg yolk uncover if you wish. Garnish with the ham, peas, cheese and fried plantains. Serve warm.
Notes
- * Day old tortillas absorb less oil and take less time to fry.
- ** If the red onion is not available, use white onion.
- *** You can use any other dry crumbling cheese.
- ****If you are making more than 2 servings, turn your oven at 250 to keep the already cooked eggs warm while you finish cooking the rest of the eggs.
Maricela Espinoza
I love the tradition of brunch in bed on their birthday I am going to start this tradition with my family but with your huevos rancheros recipe My family loved your recipe.
Mely Martínez
Hello Maricela,
It is such a nice tradition. Have fun.
Cindy K.
We tried this dish during our vacations to Playa del Carmen. My husband somehow loved the combination of flavors. I surprised him this morning making the eggs motul. Thank you for the recipe, we felt like we were back in Playa!
Alice Whitworth
Love this recipe!
Soo Yummy!
Alisha Christian
Oh my goodness! These look delicious. I cannot wait to try them! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Ziho
Hooola Mely
Después de una larga ausencia, pasando a saludar amiga, ya regresé!
Salu2
Mely
Hola Ziho,
Que gusto saber que estar de regreso, pasare a visitarte.
Saludos.
Mely
Karen
What a nice tradition to start for the birthdays! These are full of yumminess!!
Mely
Hello Karen,
It is a yumminess heaven!
Happy weekend.
Mely
Prieta
Mely, theses eggs look very yummy! I'm in Puerto Rico right now and I've been eating a lot of palatines. I never liked them in Mexican food but now, I will go home and transform the mangu and tostones into a mexicanized dish - just because I miss my salsa. The first thing I'll make when I get back will be your recipe! Take care.
Mely
Enjoy your vacation Prita.
Saludos!
Nammi
THats one jazzed up eggy breakfast!!, yumm, cant wait to try
Rebecca Subbiah
wow this is a perfect brunch recipe 😉