Huevos Rancheros With Feta & Hot Honey

Huevos Rancheros With Feta & Hot Honey is the perfect quick brunch. Eggs baked with feta in a delicious tomato sauce with peppers and onions, garnished with fresh herbs and a fiery honey dressing. You can easily scale it up to serve more guests, adjust the spice levels, or throw in a bunch of extras to suit you.

Everyone will have their own way of making Spanish baked eggs, but the basic components are eggs baked in a tomato-based sauce, with some heat behind it. I serve baked eggs all the time, and I love adding tangy feta cheese so that it melts into the egg whites as they set in the oven. Hot honey is the ultimate condiment, and it sets this dish off perfectly. The sweet, savory, spicy, and tangy flavors all work perfectly, and overall, it just tastes as though it is harder to make than it actually is.

Ingredient notes

Here's how I make this recipe

It is essential to preheat your oven before you start so it is ready and waiting for you. You can either use the oven, or put the skillet under the grill/broiler. But it needs to be hot and ready to go so that you're not hanging around with the eggs cooling off and then heating them up again while still raw. Not ideal.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F and finely slice the onion and pepper. Crush the garlic.

Heat some oil in the skillet and add the onion and pepper. Season with a pinch of salt and sweat them until translucent. Then add the garlic.

Stir through the canned tomatoes. Bring them to a simmer, and then make small wells and crack the eggs into them. Crumble the feta into the egg whites and surrounding area, and place the skillet into the preheated oven.

Bake the Huevos Rancheros for around 5-10 minutes, meanwhile, make your hot honey dressing.

Dice the fresh chilli and fry it in a small amount of oil for 30 seconds before pouring in the honey. Swill it around the pan, then turn the heat off and just let it infuse.

Take the skillet out when the eggs look cooked but not rock solid (touch the top and they should feel bouncy, not firm). They will continue to cook in the hot skillet even once out of the oven, so bear this in mind.

Serve garnished with fresh coriander leaves, torn basil, avocado, and drizzle over the hot honey and chili sauce.

Variations

Many people will fry chorizo with the onion and pepper, and this is certainly a tasty way to add a bit of oomph to the Huevos Rancheros recipe. You could also fry it separately and put it in a bowl for guests to scatter over themselves.

For another way to bulk this recipe out, try stirring through a can of drained black beans, kidney beans, or cannellini beans when you add the tomatoes.

Instead of feta, you could use mozzarella for a milder flavor (but a better cheese pull).

For a punchier blue cheese taste, try some creamy gorgonzola.

You can use passata instead of canned tomatoes.

Wine Pairing

The strong flavors and spices in this dish are crying out for a Rioja!

What if I have leftovers?

This recipe is best enjoyed fresh. If you do have leftovers, I'd try to keep them in the skillet, covered and in the fridge for 1-2 days, and reheat in the oven, or enjoy cold. You can also transfer them to an airtight container.

Sometimes, just the sauce will be left, and this can also be stored for 1-2 days and served with a fried egg on top or just stirred through some pasta!

Can I freeze it?

You can't freeze this recipe, sadly, or really make it in advance.

Best Equipment

The best way to cook Huevos Rancheros is in a cast iron skillet. You need a pan that can go straight from the stovetop into the oven, with good heat distribution. I make the hot honey dressing in a saucepan; it only takes a couple of minutes!