Migas

When you have a stack of waning corn tortillas, your first thought should be this easy migas recipe. Like crusty baguettes and morning newspapers, fresh tortillas seemingly have a 24-hour lifespan, quickly turning brittle and leathery. No amount of careful reheating seems to revive them. But, cut up and crisped in a pan with a splash of oil? Transformative. Suddenly, a stack of stale, crumbly tortillas is full of promise.

Sometimes confused for chilaquiles (a dish of crispy tortilla strips coated with salsa and often topped with a fried egg), migas is a Mexican breakfast and brunch staple that translates to “crumbs” (its Spanish ancestor is made with breadcrumbs). Mexican and Tex-Mex migas comprise fried corn tortillas laced with fluffy scrambled eggs and topped with any number of flavorful garnishes: spicy chorizo, pico de gallo, guacamole, refried beans, Cotija cheese, the list goes on. 

This version requires just a few ingredients, all of them economical, and most of them likely in your kitchen already. Can you use store-bought tortilla chips? Because they’re often thin and brittle, we don’t recommend it. Milk and cornstarch stretch the eggs a bit further and render them impossibly silky. Bulked up with a scoop of refried beans and a simple tomato salad on the side, these migas are an affordable breakfast, lunch, or dinner—and salvation for those leftover tortillas.

Editor’s note: Click through for our guide to eating well in Mexico City, or head over here for more of our best breakfast recipes →