It’s true, these are delicioso. But that’s only a small part of their allure.
The real benefit of these taquitos is remembering you’ve got a few of them tucked away in the fridge after waking up raging grumpy. Toss ’em in the oven and 15 minutes later you have a no hassle, hands-off breakfast that suddenly makes the day look a little brighter.
That also means that there’s plenty of leeway on the ingredient list. You can substitute sausage for the ham, tomatoes instead of onion, veggies instead of meat, etc. and you will still be left with the main attraction — taquitos waiting patiently in the fridge to save your morning.
Baked Mexican Breakfast Taquitos
I find it easiest to start with the potatoes and let them cook while chopping up everything else.
Finely dice a potato and add to a bowl along with a dollop of oil, generous dashes of salt and pepper, and a 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder (I used chipotle powder).
Cover with plastic or a lid and shake vigorously to coat.
These will go in the oven at 400F. Note: if you are low on parchment paper use the smallest piece possible 🙂
They’ll be done in about 20 minutes.
Now for the veggies. We’ll try to get as close as possible to a half cup each for the onion, jalapeno, ham, and cheese — all finely chopped to make rolling the taquitos easier.
A half cup of onion is around 1/4 of a large onion.
And I used two jalapenos here. If you dislike spicy foods you can cut back on the jalapeno or even substitute bell peppers.
Saute the onion and jalapeno in 2-3 tablespoons of oil for a few minutes.
Add the ham along with generous dashes of salt and pepper.
Add six eggs to the mixture and cook until slightly underdone (because they will bake a little longer in the oven).
Warm up the tortillas briefly using the oven or microwave — this will make them more flexible and easier to roll up.
Each tortilla gets generous helpings of the egg mixture, potatoes, and cheese.
Note: taquitos can sometimes taste like all tortilla. I like them better when you can taste the inside fillings so I tend to load them up pretty heavy here.
Roll tight and place seam side down on a lined baking sheet (I used parchment paper.)
When combined with all the veggies and potatoes, this 6 egg batch made 8 loaded taquitos.
Brushing them with oil will help them crisp up in the oven. (I used lard.)
Into the oven they go at 400F.
Cook for 12-15 minutes. You can turn them over halfway through if the pan you’re using crisps up the bottoms.
When the edges start to darken and crisp up they are done.
Normally I’m a big fan of making a fresh salsa with each meal, but these taquitos shine best when you can eat them on the go. A bit of Valentina can be just the right amount of heat for a rushed morning.
Day looking a little brighter now?
If you want to freeze some of them, build them right up until the baking point and freeze from there, i.e. everything inside is already cooked but the taquito itself hasn’t been baked yet. Then you can plop them in the oven directly from the freezer.
Buen Provecho.
Mexican Breakfast Taquitos
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 1 potato
- 1/4 white onion
- 2 jalapenos
- 1/2 cup ham (or sausage)
- 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese (or cheddar)
- 8 tortillas
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or chipotle powder)
- Vegetable oil for cooking and brushing (or lard)
Instructions
- Finely chop a potato and add to a bowl along with salt, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or chipotle powder)
- Cover bowl and shake vigorously until coated
- Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes
- Finely chop 1/4 white onion, 2 jalapenos, ham and Monterey Jack cheese until you have approximately 1/2 cup of each
- Saute the onion and jalapeno in 2-3 tablespoons of oil for a few minutes
- Add the ham along with generous dashes of salt and freshly ground pepper
- Add the eggs and cook until just slightly underdone
- Warm up the tortillas briefly, this will help make them more flexible
- Each tortilla gets generous helpings of potatoes, cheese, and the egg mixture
- Roll tight and place seam side down on a lined baking sheet
- Brush with oil or lard and bake for 12-15 minutes
- Turn the taquitos over halfway through if you want to
- When the edges are darkening and crisping up they are done
- Serve immediately with hot sauce of your choice
Notes
Ever wonder how much it costs to start a food blog?
Caroline @ Pinch Me, I'm Eating!
Mmmmm, these look delicious! I am so bad about getting up early enough to do anything at all for breakfast (plus, my oven takes 20 minutes to preheat), so I usually end up grabbing something to bring to work with me, if I do breakfast at all. But I’m so tired of yogurt and other sugary things and am looking for other savory breakfast items I can make ahead of time. Are these any good cold or reheated post-baking, or would they get soggy? I could see myself making a batch of these and grabbing them for work during the week.
Patrick
Hi Caroline! I’ve been pulling these out of the fridge for the past couple weeks and they do quite well with a reheat. That’s with cooking the insides first, i.e. the eggs, then storing in the fridge, then putting them in the oven for 20 mins before eating.
I think it’s probably better to crisp them up right before eating as opposed to crisping them and then storing. But that can be hard during the work week. You can always put them in a microwave at work, and although they won’t be crispy they’ll still be good, more like a breakfast soft taco. Hope they treat you well!
Recently College Grad, Trying to be Independent
Hmm.. how many of these fill you up? When I think taquito, I think small and normally a good 6-7 per meal. But these look substantial– so what are we looking at? 8= 1 meal, 2, 3, 4?
By the way, thank you. I feel like I’m learning more reading your website than I ever did in college.
Patrick
Hi Sarah! Yeah these tortillas are slightly bigger than the standard size corn tortillas, so 2-3 is a meal. If you have smaller tortillas then prob 3-5 would be a meal, assuming you are hungry 🙂
Thanks for the feedback!
Tamara
Made these this morning. The jalapeno gives this a bit of a kick which we very much enjoyed. Used veg. crisco wash before going in the oven. This gave the tortillas and almost pastry taste. This is a keeper/do-over. Thanks!
Patrick
Awesome, thanks for the feedback Tamara! Hopefully you’ve got a few taquitos leftover as I love having a no-work-involved meal on standby in the fridge. P.S. I’ve been getting a surge of interest in these taquitos over the past week, maybe Santa likes spicy food?!!
Ashley T
These turned out incredible. I used breakfast sausage instead of ham. I chopped it up small, and also replaced jalepinos for green bell pepper, chopped up fine as well! I found myself chopping smaller on the things I didn’t like as much. It blended beautifully and its seriously delicious. They looked nearly ready to eat prior to the over, although when they came out, the cheese is melted soo good, and mainly the tortilla was so golden and crispy with adding vegetable oil on them for the bake. Mmmm these were so good, and using medium/partial sized tortillas, one was perfectly filling for me! If you eat two, you must be very hungry haha. I have plenty of left overs to share with my boyfriend who loves mexican food. The con to this was the grocery trip for me. It was a little time consuming to pick up a few things, I went to Aldi as a new shopper there and I didn’t realize that they do not sell individual procure such as potatoes/onions needed for the recipe. I had to go to another grocery store to complete my shopping list. I will say, I was tempted to give up and grab a frozen dinner lol, but leaving both stores, it cost me a little over $10 for all of my items, as I had partial things on the recipe list. Super cheap! You get so much more making these delicious tortillas at home, rather than paying much more for way less amount (quality and quantity). Win win. Wish I could post pictures of them!
Patrick
Hey Ashley thanks much for your note, so helpful for other peeps to read your adjustments! Cheers.