Fried Egg and Cheese Tostadas
on Dec 30, 2019, Updated Jul 20, 2023
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A crisp tostada with cheese, vegetables, and a golden fried egg on top is a perfect brunch, lunch or dinner.
What is a Tostada?
Tostadas are the most amazing food. A cross between an open faced sandwich, a quesadilla and a taco, kind of. If you will. The name means “toasted” in Spanish, and they are a popular food in Mexico and parts of Latin America.
They are usually made with corn tortillas, and a very good way to use up some that are not as fresh as you might want to enchiladas or tacos. Since they are fried in a bit of oil, they will crisp up nicely, if you cook them long enough and the frying also freshens the corn flavor. You can also use flour tortillas, if you prefer, or my new favorite, a mix of corn and flour which has the best of both worlds going on.
Sometimes you might see a tostada on a restaurant menu that comes in a fried bowl shaped tortilla. These are so much fun, and I can never resist them, especially when pilled with shredded lettuce, shredded chicken, beans (maybe refried beans) salsa, cheese, sour cream. Yum. But at home I am not frying tortillas into bowl shapes, I’m just frying them flat in the pan.
Tostadas are a very wonderful springboard for all kind of ingredient combinations, so you should absolutely feel free to use what you like, and what’s in your fridge. If you have leftover simply cooked chicken, you can definitely shred it and add some here, and skip the egg (after all, which came first?).
A crisp tostada with cheese, vegetables, and a golden fried egg on top is a perfect brunch, lunch or dinner.
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Tostada Toppings
I like to make kind of serious tostadas with lots of toppings. Here the toppings are a melted raft of shredded cheese with a pile of sautéed leeks and mushrooms (any kind of mushrooms) on top, and then to top it all off—a fried egg. And then—avocado, red onions, salsa…..This would be amazing for breakfast or brunch for sure.
Knife and fork? Hands? Well, I won’t tell you what to do. Fried Egg and Cheese Tostadas are messy things—and that’s just fine. I mean maybe don’t make them if you’re on a first date or something but otherwise just have plenty of napkins and lean into the experience. If you let your tortillas get very crisp, you won’t be able to pick them up taco-style, but you will be able to pick them up disk style. Lean in, and lean over the plate!
Other Brunch Recipes:
- Creamy Stuffed Breakfast Crepes
- Shakshuka with Swiss Chard
- Migas
- Swiss Chard Frittata
- Denver Omelet
- Challah French Toast
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Fried Egg and Cheese Tostadas
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 large leek trimmed and sliced, white and light green parts only
- 8 ounces sliced mushrooms any kind, or a mix
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 6 6- inch corn or corn and flour tortillas
- 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack or a combo of Monterey jack and mozzarella
- 6 large eggs
- Avocado sliced red onion and salsa for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks, season with salt and pepper and sauté for about 5 minutes until they start to soften. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute for another 8 minutes or so. The mushrooms will soften and probably release some liquid as they cook. Continue cooking until all of the liquid has been released, and evaporated, and the mushrooms and leeks start to brown a bit. Turn the vegetables onto a plate and set aside.
- Wipe out the skillet, then return it to medium heat and add the rest of the oil. Place a tortilla in the pan and cook for 1 minute, then flip the tortilla. Cook for another 60 seconds until the tortilla is fairly firm and crisp. Transfer the tortillas to a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer as you finish, then continue with the tortillas one at a time.
- Divide half of the the cheese evenly over the tortillas, and distribute the sautéed vegetable mixture evenly over the tops. Sprinkle over the rest of the cheese evenly. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, pour off all but a couple of teaspoons of the remaining oil in the skillet. Crack three of the eggs into the skillet and fry them until the whites are firm but the yolks are runny. transfer them to a plate, season with salt and pepper, and repeat with the last three eggs.
- When the tostadas some out of the oven, top each one with a fried egg, and let everyone top their tostadas as they wish.
