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Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros is a Mexican dish of eggs served on tortillas topped with a tomato and chile sauce.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Huevos Rancheros

Serves 2
Timeabout 10 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

  2. Add the onion and optional garlic, and sauté until softened but not brown (4–5 minutes).

  3. Add tomatoes, peppers, chili powder, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper, reduce to a simmer.

  4. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the sauce thickens.

  5. Add cilantro or parsley, turn off the heat, and cover the pan to keep the sauce warm.

Fry and assemble

  1. Lightly fry the tortillas in 1 tablespoon oil in another skillet. Remove and drain.

  2. If necessary, add additional oil to the second skillet, fry the eggs until sunny-side up. Transfer the eggs to the tortillas and cover with the ranchero sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

508Calories
14 gProtein
23 gFat
65 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Corn Tortilla1 medium flour (45g)140
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Plum + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,480 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set when fried, forming the rich topping that sits over the tortillas and sauce.
Plum tomatoes
Provide the main body and acidity of the ranchero sauce as they simmer and thicken.
Onion
Softens into the sauce, adding sweetness and savory depth when cooked gently.
Corn tortillas
Form the base layer, lightly fried so they hold up under the eggs and sauce.

The step that matters

Sautéing the onion without browning it. Gentle cooking softens the onion and draws out sweetness, while browning adds bitter, toasted notes that clash with the bright tomato sauce.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, pepper, plum, tomato, corn, egg):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Basilfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, pepper, plum, tomato, corn, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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