Swap In Store-Bought Tortilla Chips For Quick And Easy Migas

Along with gooey queso dip, hard-shelled tacos, and fajitas, Tex-Mex has also bestowed the famed migas breakfast scramble. Whether you make migas breakfast tacos by stuffing them inside a soft flour tortilla or eat them as a scramble with a side of refried beans, their defining characteristic is the addition of fried tortilla strips.

Typically, making migas begins by cutting corn tortillas into strips and frying them in a few tablespoons of oil before adding your vegetables and eggs. However, you can save yourself the mess and time of that first step by using store-bought tortilla chips instead. Store-bought chips are already fried, salted, and ready to add to your scramble. Gone are those extra minutes of chopping and cleaning up messy oil splatter.

Instead of adding the eggs to the tortilla strips and oil as you would in a classic recipe, sprinkle the store-bought tortilla chips over the scramble while the eggs are still creamy. Consequently, the chips absorb flavors from the veggies and aromatics as the scrambled eggs set while still retaining a bit of their crunchiness. 

Since there are so many tortilla chip brands to choose from, you can use your go-to favorites or experiment with seasoned or flavored chips for a creative take. Any leftover chips won't go to waste as you can always use them for nachos or chilaquiles, a distant Mexican cousin of migas.

Tortilla strips are an integral ingredient for migas, but unlike chilaquiles, they aren't the star of the show. Therefore, you don't want to add whole chips straight out of the bag to the pan of eggs, but instead, break them up into smaller, bite-sized pieces. It's best to look for thicker tortilla chips that won't crumble when you break them up or become soggy when you blend them into your eggs.

Other than thickness, there are no other restrictions on which type of tortilla chips to use in migas. You have creative culinary freedom to think outside the box, whether you want to change the aesthetics or amp up the flavor. Blue corn tortilla chips would make for a unique presentation while offering a slightly different taste.

If you enjoy spice, you could throw chili and lime-flavored tortilla chips onto your migas with additional ingredients like pickled jalapeños and jack cheese. Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch Doritos would provide migas with a powerful punch of zest, salt, and spices for the creamy eggs and sautéed vegetables to soak up. You could add grated sharp cheddar and chorizo for extra indulgence that would stand up to the intensity of the crushed Doritos.