Northern Mexican Dried Beef with Eggs (Machaca con Huevo)
Machaca con huevo Say it: mah-CHAH-kah kohn WEH-voh
Machaca con huevo is the northern Mexican breakfast that turns a pantry staple into something memorable: air-dried, pounded beef shredded fine and scrambled with eggs, onion, tomato and green chile. Sonora and Nuevo León both claim it, and it shows up on tables from Hermosillo to Monterrey, usually with a stack of warm flour tortillas. The beef brings a deep, savory, faintly smoky chew; the eggs keep it soft and rich; the chile and tomato keep it bright. Quick, filling and deeply regional.
Northern Mexican Dried Beef with Eggs (Machaca con Huevo)
Machaca con huevo
Pronounced mah-CHAH-kah kohn WEH-voh
- Serves
- 4
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 35 min
- Level
- Easy
Ingredients
Amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pan sizes stay the same.
For the scramble
To finish
Method
Put the machaca in a bowl, pour over the warm water or broth and let it soak for 10 minutes, until it softens enough to pull apart with your fingers. Drain well, squeeze out the excess liquid and shred any thick pieces finely.
Heat the oil or lard in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and serrano chiles and cook, stirring, for 4-5 minutes, until the onion turns translucent and smells sweet.
Stir in the tomatoes, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and the black pepper. Cook for 4-5 minutes more, until the tomatoes collapse into a thick, jammy sauce and the pan looks almost dry.
Add the shredded machaca and toss to coat. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is heated through and some strands turn crisp and browned at the edges.
Lower the heat to medium-low, pour in the beaten eggs and stir gently with a spatula, scraping the bottom, for 2-3 minutes, until the eggs are just set and still a little creamy. Pull the pan off the heat while the eggs are still glossy.
Taste and add more salt only if needed, scatter over the cilantro and serve at once with warm flour tortillas.
Regional variants
In Sonora the scramble is sometimes stretched with diced potato, added with the onion and browned before the tomato goes in. In Nuevo León the same dish, called machacado con huevo, is often cooked with a generous amount of onion and served alongside frijoles charros.
Cook's notes
- Store-bought machaca is often quite salty and sometimes packed with lard: taste a strand first, and if it is very salty, soak it in fresh water for 15 minutes and drain before cooking.
- No machaca? Use 12 oz (340 g) cooked shredded beef brisket firmed up in a low oven at 200°F (95°C) for 20-30 minutes, or finely shredded unsalted beef jerky.
- Keep the eggs moving over lower heat; a dry, rubbery scramble comes from high heat and long stirring after the curds have set.
Serve with
Warm flour tortillas, refried beans or frijoles charros, sliced avocado and a sharp salsa roja; coffee or agua fresca.
Make ahead and storage
The cooked beef and tomato base keeps, covered, for up to 2 days in the fridge; reheat it and scramble in the eggs fresh. Leftover scramble keeps 1 day and reheats gently.
