Tex-Mex Steak & Eggs Recipe

If you're a breakfast-for-dinner kind of person or are looking for a hearty brunch meal to set your weekend off to a good start, this Tex-Mex steak & eggs recipe is a solid bet. Mashed recipe developer Patterson Watkins notes that while she isn't a huge fan of eating breakfast all day (actually, she's more of a leftover dinner for breakfast kind of person), this recipe is a game changer. As she says, "Steak and eggs, that's a big enticement." This is not just any ordinary steak, eggs, and potato dish either.

Watkins' recipe gets a burst of flavor from a homemade Tajin seasoning. "It's the seasoning that sells me on this being a for-breakfast or for-dinner option," she explains and describes it as, "Timeless, versatile. Fiery and tangy enough to wake up those taste buds in the a.m. Savory and mildly smoky enough to satiate p.m. cravings." This hearty complete meal comes together in one skillet, and it really does tick all the boxes, whether you wake up in the mood for steak or want a comforting dinner that's easy to prepare.

To start, for the homemade Tajin seasoning, you'll need red chile powder, guajillo chile powder, sweet paprika, salt, and minced lime zest. Next, get ribeye steak. Watkins tells us, "There's a lot of flavor locked into beef bones. So, if economical, I gravitate to bone-in steaks for recipes like this." She points out that this cut is very marbled. "When seared, that fat renders, infuses the steak with flavor (and helps to keep it moist) and ... best of all ... increases our pan dripping yield. Those beefy pan drippings make for extra flavorful potatoes and veggies."

Next, you'll need olive oil, diced yellow potatoes, sliced red and green bell peppers, sliced yellow onion, and fried eggs. If you're not a fan of fried eggs, Watkins notes that you can switch it up. "Being that the egg portion of this recipe is done outside of our skillet, you can really go to town with whatever style of egg you like," she says. She's a big fan of cheesy scrambled eggs ("cheddar makes it better"), but eggs cooked in just about any style would work here, including over medium, over hard, and poached. Finally, garnish the dish with chopped fresh scallions and chopped fresh cilantro.

To make the Tajin seasoning, place the red chile powder, guajillo chile powder, paprika, salt, and lime zest in a small bowl, stir to combine.

Pat the steak dry with paper towels and season with 1 ½ teaspoons of the homemade Tajin.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Once hot, add the steak, and sear on both sides until the internal temperature reaches 130 F (for medium-rare), about 3 minutes per side.

Remove the steak from the skillet and set it aside to rest.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the skillet. Once hot, add the diced potatoes, spread out in an even layer, and cook, undisturbed, for 8 to 10 minutes or until crispy on one side.

Flip the potatoes over and gently push them to one side of the skillet.

Add the bell peppers and onion to the vacant side of the skillet and saute for 5 minutes or until the veggies (including the potatoes) are tender.

Season the veggies and the potatoes to taste with the remaining Tajin seasoning.

Slice the steak and return it to the skillet.

Arrange the fried eggs around the steak.

Sprinkle with scallions and cilantro before serving.

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Tajin seasoning is a hot and tangy powder that's often used to enhance the flavor of fresh fruit. You can pick up a bottle at the supermarket, but homemade is always better, and this recipe is easy, fun to throw together, and has a million uses. Watkins notes that though Tajin offers a range of seasoning blends, "this recipe focuses on the OG Clásico: a combo of dried chile peppers, salt, and lime," and adds, "The store-bought Tajin uses a blend of arbol, guajillo, and pasilla chile powders." Each variety of chile pepper infuses its unique flavor into the seasoning: "The arbol brings the heat. The guajillo brings the fruity-smoky. And the pasilla imparts rich and earthy." That said, not all of these peppers are easy to find in powder form, so Watkins makes do with chile powder and sweet paprika to balance out the flavor elements. 

"If you'd like your seasoning blend to be a little more fiery, feel free to add a dash of cayenne to the mix," Watkins suggests. Additionally, she uses fresh lime zest to infuse a lively kick to the seasoning. "Now, this works well because we're using a majority of this blend immediately," she says, but warns, "Fresh lime zest is not the best for bulking/long-term storing. There's surprisingly a lot of liquid locked into fresh zest that will cause your DIY seasoning to get clumpy over time or, at worst, lead to bacterial growth." For this reason, she recommends, "If you do not plan on using your homemade blend ASAP, use dehydrated lime juice powder instead." To substitute it, you'll only need about ¼-½ teaspoon for this recipe.

Depending on your preferences, there's a fine line to achieving your perfect home fries, and you can go about prepping them in a number of different ways in order to achieve your ideal fry. Watkins describes her favorite home fries as having a crispy exterior and soft interior. To suit Watkins' tastes, this recipe will yield potatoes that are a little on the soft side. But she explains, "If you like super crisp and fluffy home fries, par-boil your potatoes in a water and vinegar solution (like, 5 minutes tops) and set them aside to air dry before adding them to the skillet." There's a reason for this process: "That acidic solution helps slow the breakdown of the pectin in the potatoes, resulting in potatoes with extra crispy outsides and nicely fluffy insides." 

On the other hand, if perfection for you is a texture partway between soft and very crispy, Watkins says you can "soak the raw diced potatoes in cold water for 15 minutes and then drain and dry them, which will remove the excess starch and give you a semi-soft and moderately crisp home fry." Finally, make sure to dice the potatoes evenly so that they cook and crisp evenly in the frying pan.

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