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These Vegan Huevos Rancheros are bursting with flavor and are just as delicious as the classic Mexican dish. Pan fried tostadas layered with vegan refried beans, vegan cheese, tofu scramble, and a zesty, homemade rancheros sauce that’s out of this world. Have this brunch favorite ready to serve in 45 minutes or less!
As a child, huevos rancheros were always my go-to at Mexican restaurants. There was something about the dish that was so comforting. Even since going vegan, if vegan huevos rancheros are on the menu, you know I am going to order it.
If you’re a fellow huevos rancheros lover, you’re going to love this veganized version. It’s so easy to make, easy to prep in advance, and so delicious any day of the week.
Table of Contents
Ingredients You’ll Need + Substitutions
For the Ranchero Sauce
- Tomatoes: You’ll need 3 fresh, medium-sized tomatoes for the base of the ranchero sauce. We recommend roma tomatoes, plum tomatoes, or vine-ripened tomatoes for the best balance of sweet and acidic flavor.
- Onion + garlic: We used yellow onion and fresh garlic cloves. If preferred, opt for another type of onion such as red onion or sweet onion.
- Jalapeños: We opt to spice our homemade sauce with fresh jalapeños or serrano peppers, but feel free to use your favorite peppers and adjust to your heat preference.
- Cilantro: Adds freshness to the salsa and makes it taste restaurant quality. Use both the leaves and stems for the best flavor.
- Salt + pepper: Season to taste with simple salt and black pepper. Adjust the measurements to taste. We typically start with about 1/2 teaspoon each.
- Broth: Blend the ranchero sauce with vegetable broth to achieve the right consistency. For less sodium, opt for water.
For assembling
- Oil: For frying the tortillas. If you prefer to make your vegan huevos rancheros oil-free, toast the corn tortillas in a dry skillet until crispy.
- Corn tortillas: Small taco-sized tortillas are best for homemade tostadas. Corn tortillas are the traditional choice, but flour tortillas will work if corn-free, or preferred.
- Refried beans: We opt for our homemade Vegan Refried Beans because store-bought refried beans aren’t typically vegan friendly. If you’re short on time, look for fat-free refried beans at your local grocery store as they are often made without lard. Or, if preferred, opt for black beans or refried black beans.
- “Egg” scramble: Traditional huevos rancheros are served with a fried egg or poached egg. Chicken eggs of course aren’t vegan but there are tons of alternatives to the real thing. Try our Basic Tofu Scramble or Chickpea Scramble as the vegan “egg” in this huevos rancheros recipe. If you prefer to use something store-bought, try Just Egg or Follow Your Heart Egg. Watch our Ultimate Vegan Egg Taste Test to find the best one for you.
- Vegan cheese: Any vegan cheese of choice will work. Use a store-bought cheese or a homemade cheese such as Vegan Feta Cheese, Stretchy Vegan Mozzarella or our extra popular Vegan Nacho Cheese sauce.
- Cilantro: For an optional garnish, top your huevos rancheros with fresh cilantro. If you don’t enjoy the flavor of cilantro, replace with another fresh herb of choice or omit entirely.
- Avocado: Fresh sliced avocado or Homemade Guacamole are both delicious!
Equipment Needed
- Cast iron skillet or comal
- Food processor or high-speed blender
- Paper towels
How to Make Vegan Huevos Rancheros
- Begin making the ranchero sauce. Heat a cast iron skillet or comal over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, onion, peppers and garlic. Cook the veggies until charred, rotating often. Once cooked, remove the stem from the pepper and deseed, if desired.
- Process the charred veggies. Transfer the charred ranchero sauce veggies to a food processor or blender along with the cilantro, salt, pepper, and water or broth. Blend until smooth and set aside.
- Simmer the ranchero salsa. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the salsa and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and cook the ranchero sauce until slightly reduced, about 3-5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
- Fry the tortillas. Heat 1/4 cup of cooking oil over medium-low heat. Once warm, add in a single tortilla and fry on each side for 30-45 seconds, or until lightly crispy. Transfer each fried tostada to a paper towel-lined plate, then continue until all of the tortillas are cooked.
- Assemble. Once the tostadas are fried, begin to assemble your vegan huevos rancheros. Slather each fried tortilla with refried beans, tofu scramble, homemade ranchero salsa, avocado, cilantro and vegan cheese of choice. Enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
This classic Mexican breakfast or brunch recipe is commonly served with toppings such as vegan cheese, avocado, fresh cilantro, and additional fresh salsa. We also love pairing huevos rancheros with simple side dishes to make it a complete vegan meal.
Check out a few of our favorite sides from the blog that pair perfectly with vegan huevos rancheros:
Side dishes that pair well
Appetizers and Sides
Easy Restaurant-Style Spanish Rice
Appetizers and Sides
Vegan Street Corn Dip (Easy + ready in 15-minutes)
Appetizers and Sides
Watermelon Mojito Salad (5-Ingredients)
Recipe FAQs
Huevos rancheros and chilaquiles are not the same dish. Huevos rancheros are traditionally made with fried or poached eggs and served on a crispy tortilla with ranchero sauce, beans, cheese, and fresh cilantro. Chilaquiles on the other hand are made with tortilla chips that are baked in a flavorful red or green salsa, then topped with cheese, sour cream, guacamole and more. If you’re interested in a vegan chilaquiles recipe, try our Vegan Chilaquiles Rojos!
Yes. The huevos rancheros sauce, vegan refried beans recipe, tofu scramble, and corn tortillas are all naturally gluten-free without any substitutions. If you’re serving gluten-free guests, make sure to serve corn tortillas – flour tortillas are not gluten-free.
If you love the sulfur-like taste of chicken eggs, sprinkle your tofu scramble with black salt, aka kala namak for that classic “eggy” flavor. We typically recommend 1/4 teaspoon – a little goes a long way!
Storage Instructions
If you have leftover huevos rancheros sauce and ingredients, we recommend storing them in separate containers. Each component will keep for up to 5 days. For example, store the rancheros sauce, beans, tofu scramble, and tortillas separately then reheat and assemble right before enjoying.
To reheat, warm each component separately and fry fresh tortillas right before serving.
More Mexican-Inspired Vegan Breakfast Recipes:
As always, make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
Print
Vegan Huevos Rancheros Recipe
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6
Description
These Vegan Huevos Rancheros are bursting with flavor and are just as delicious as the classic Mexican dish. Pan fried tostadas layered with vegan refried beans, vegan cheese, tofu scramble, and a zesty, homemade rancheros sauce that’s out of this world. Have this brunch favorite ready to serve in 45 minutes or less!
Ingredients
Ranchero Salsa
- 3 medium tomatoes
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1–2 Jalapeños or serrano peppers
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- Handful cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- Black pepper, as desired
- ½ to 1 cup water or broth as needed to blend
Additional Ingredients
- High-heat cooking oil
- 6–8 corn tortillas
- Refried beans
- 1 1/2 cups tofu scramble (1 recipe)
- Vegan cheese (you can use shredded or opt for vegan feta so it will look like cotija cheese)
- Cilantro, roughly chopped (for garnish)
- Avocado, sliced
Instructions
- Heat a cast iron skillet or comal over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, onion, peppers and garlic. Cook until charred, rotating often. Once cooked, remove the stem from the pepper and deseed as desired.
- Transfer the charred veggies to a food processor or blender along with cilantro, salt, pepper, and water or broth. Blend and set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the salsa and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook until slightly reduced, about 3-5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- In a medium skillet, add about ¼ cup of cooking oil and bring to low to medium-low heat.
- Add a single tortilla at a time and fry on each side for 30-45 seconds, until lightly crispy but not too crunchy.
- Transfer the tortilla to a paper towel-lined plate to cool and continue until you have cooked all of the tortillas.
- Slather a fried tortilla with refried beans, then add tofu scramble, salsa, and a garnish of avocado, cilantro, and vegan cheese of choice. Enjoy!
Notes
- If you’d like to avoid frying the tortillas, you can heat in microwave, oven, or on an open flame.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Vegan Mexican
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional’s advice. This page may contain affiliate links, which simply means that we earn a commission if you purchase through those links, but your price remains the same. Thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
