Tender chard and over-easy eggs folded into soft corn tortillas. With salsa-spiked pinto beans and avocado–a winning combination! These breakfast tacos with fried eggs and greens make an easy dinner too!
You’ve heard of breakfast for dinner, right? These tacos are perfect for a weekend breakfast, but truth is, we enjoy them most often for dinner. Anytime you make them, they’re an easy go-to meal!
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When it comes to greens, my favorite is chard, also known as Swiss chard. It’s the leafy green I reach for first, regardless of the season. Winter or summer, you’ll usually find chard in our fridge. If you search “chard” on this blog you’ll find more than a few recipes.
Why? Chard’s tender greens wilt quickly and take on a milder flavor when cooked. Maybe more importantly, chard is a two-for-one vegetable–you can eat the stems as well as the leafy greens. The stems add meaty texture and pleasing crunch.
Know that you can switch out the chard for another green, like kale or beet greens or spinach, but chard’s sautéed stems and leaves are most delicious in these fried egg and greens tacos.
Here’s how to make Breakfast Tacos with Fried Eggs and Greens.
Time needed: 25 minutes
- Sauté:
Sauté chard stems with garlic and jalapeño chile. When the stems are tender, add the greens and cook until they wilt.
- Mash:
Mash pinto beans or black beans with salsa.
- Soften:
Soften tortillas in the oven.
- Fry:
Pan-fry one egg per tortilla.
- Assemble:
When all is ready, spread tortillas with beans, top with chard, and fried egg. If desired, sprinkle with cheese.
- Enjoy:
Finish with avocado slices and your favorite salsa, then fold and tuck in.
Tip: To soften and warm corn tortillas, spray them with cooking spray and bake for 5 minutes. If you don’t want to turn on the oven, spray the tortillas and soften them on the grill. If it’s just 2 of us, I’ll use the toaster oven. (Mexican cooks fry their corn tortillas in hot oil to make them pliable–this spray and bake method is a whole lot easier and healthier.)
I used pinto beans here, but you can make these tacos with black beans instead. Either bean, they’re mashed with salsa and spread on the warm tortillas.
If you have the time, cook your beans from scratch. Truly, the flavor and quality of homemade beans are the superior to that of canned beans. Learn how to cook beans quickly in the pressure cooker or Instant Pot.
Chard–questions and answers:
They’re the same thing. Swiss chard is a general common name for chard. The Swiss part is a misnomer, because it implies that it’s a chard varietal from Switzerland. It’s not. The names chard and Swiss chard are used interchangeably.
Chard is the leafy green beetroot top that went wild in the garden, a botanical relative to beets and spinach. When eaten raw, the tender leafy green leaves have a slightly bitter taste. When cooked, chard’s bitterness dissipates, turning into a mild, sweet taste similar to spinach. Delicious!
Rainbow chard isn’t a specific variety, but a blend of the red, yellow and white varieties planted and harvested together.
Whenever you cook with chard, keep the stems! Simply strip them from the leaves and chop them about 1/2 inch thick. Sauté the chopped stems like you would cook chopped onions. When the stems are tender, add the leaves. The leaves cook and wilt quickly.
This recipe for is more of a guide than an exact recipe. You’re on your own to decide how much filling goes in each taco shell and how how hungry you are, and how many tacos each person will devour.
Usually I’ll have 2 tacos and Robbie will have 3. I’ll cook one bunch of rainbow chard, 1 avocado, 5 eggs, and 5 corn tortillas.
Disclosure: I tend to over-fill my tacos. If that’s you too, no worries, just use a fork to eat what falls onto the plate.
More chard recipes:
- These chard and pepper jack quesadillas make another quick Mexican dinner or fantastic appetizer.
- These amazing chard enchiladas with olives and cheese are like the enchiladas my Mom used to make, only healthier.
- Spicy creamy Instant Pot chard and pinto bean risotto–4 minutes, no stirring.
- Here’s a 30 minute vegan recipe–chard and chickpeas with avocado sauce.
More vegetarian taco ideas:
- Rainbow Potato and Bean Tacos.
- Sweet Potato Tacos with Mole and Avocado Crema.
- Spicy Greens and Lentil Tacos with Guacamole Sauce.
I’m delighted you found these tacos in my little corner of the web. To get my latest recipe posts and newsletters, subscribe here. (I hate Spam too and will never share your email with anyone.)
- Follow me on Instagram!
- Peruse my Pinterest boards for more vegetarian recipe ideas.
- Find daily vegetarian and healthy living ideas on my Facebook page.
Easy Breakfast Tacos with Fried Eggs and Greens
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 bunch chard
- 1 fresh jalapeño chile seeds and veins removed, chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 3/4 cups pinto or black beans or one (14-ounce) can beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/3 cup salsa plus more to serve
- 5 each corn tortillas
- cooking spray
- 5 eggs
- 1/4 cup grated cheese optional
- 1 avocado or as desired
Instructions
- Strip the chard leaves from the stems. Chop the stems into 1/2-inch pieces and roughly cut the leaves into 2-inch pieces.
- Heat a skillet on medium flame. Add the avocado oil to the pan. Add the chard stems, jalapeño chile and garlic and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes, until the stems are tender. Add the leaves and cook until they have wilted and shrunk—about 5 more minutes. Season to taste with salt. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat the beans, adding salsa to moisten while mashing the beans. If the beans seem dry, mash in several tablespoons of water. Keep warm.
- Heat the oven to 325° F. Spray each tortilla on both sides with cooking spray. Place on a baking sheet and warm in the oven just until the tortillas are pliable, about 5 minutes. You can also soften and warm them on the grill. (Don’t cook too long or you won’t be able to fold the tortilla to make a taco!)
- Heat a skillet on medium flame. Spray the pan with cooking spray or coat lightly with oil. Crack each egg in a bowl (to prevent broken shells from adding unwanted crunch.) Slide the eggs into the skillet and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Cook on one side until the yolk begins to set. Flip the egg over easy and cook until done just the way you like. If desired, sprinkle with grated cheese.
- Spread some beans down the center of each warm tortilla and top with a fried egg. Spoon some of the chard mixture on top. (See note)
- Top with avocado slices and serve immediately, with salsa.
Notes
- Figure about 2 tablespoons of spiced beans, 2 tablespoons of cooked chard, one egg, a tablespoon of cheese for each taco.
- Chard and other leafy greens shrink incredibly when cooked so keep that in mind.
- Mexican cooks fry their corn tortillas in hot oil to make them pliable–this spray and bake method is a whole lot easier and healthier.
- I used cotija cheese because I had some grated in the freezer, but sharp cheddar, jalapeño Jack or even feta cheese would be just as tasty.
Nutrition
This is an update of the recipe I posted in July 2013! It was on my first food blog and migrated over when I began publishing here on Letty’s Kitchen. Updated with new photos and directions.
I can’t wait to try this Now to find the Swiss Chard… · 27 July, 2022
Hope you don’t have to buy a case. 😄 · 27 July, 2022