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It's hard to imagine just how great a breakfast taco can be.
Well, it is and it isn't. After all, it's just a mishmash of scrambled eggs, meat, and cheese, all wrapped up in a flour tortilla. But the breakfast taco is a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts situation. Pretty great on paper, but downright transcendent when done well. Ubiquitous throughout Central Texas, breakfast tacos are one of those institutional subjects that locals are required to have an opinion about. "Can't skip the bacon, egg, and cheese at Veracruz," they might say. Or: "You'd be crazy if you didn't think the potato and chorizo at Torchy's was tops."
So, after a few of us spent a few days in Texas, we called a little staff meeting in the Epicurious Test Kitchen. We asked ourselves: Is it possible to recreate the magic of breakfast tacos at home, outside the hallowed state lines of Texas?
And then we came up with an answer. Not only is it possible to pull them off—it's possible to make them even better.
STEP 1: MAKE YOUR OWN CHORIZO
We decided to tackle our favorite permutation of the breakfast taco, the one stuffed with scrambled eggs, potatoes, and chorizo. But that left us with the problem of sourcing the chorizo. In some places, it's hard to find. And even when you do find it, it can be pretty poor quality.
So we made our own.
The key is combining ground pork with canned chipotle peppers, the type that are packed in an acidic, spice-fueled adobo sauce and available just about anywhere. Toss in some smashed garlic paste and a bit of white vinegar and you've got a spicy chorizo that rivals anything you can mail order online. Is it textbook chorizo? No. Is it delicious? Absolutely. Make it up to three days in advance and store it in the fridge to ensure you can make breakfast tacos at any moment.
STEP 2: UP YOUR POTATO GAME
The chunky, broken cubes of boiled potatoes typically found in breakfast tacos are fine and all, but we wanted to add another layer of texture. So, taking a cue from the folks over at Serious Eats, we par-cooked russet potatoes in vinegar first, let them cool, and then crisped them up in oil on the stovetop. The result is the plutonic ideal of a breakfast hash potato—uniformly crisp on the outside and nothing but creamy smoothness within.
STEP 3: ADD SOME COLOR TO THOSE TORTILLAS
Everyone knows to heat up corn tortillas, ensuring that they get a bit of color and a hint of char in the process. But few people apply this same logic to flour tortillas. Before you get ready to add your potatoes, egg, and homemade chorizo, make sure you heat your tortillas in a dry medium skillet until they show signs of being lightly toasted and begin to firm up slightly. You'll be adding yet another layer of texture and saving yourself from a having to deal with a clammy taco vessel.
STEP 4: GO NUTS WITH THE GARNISHES
Scrambled eggs showered in bits of spicy, homemade chorizo, and studded with crispy breakfast potatoes? You've got the makings of magic here—so don't sell your taco short by skipping the toppings. After assembling (and while everything's still piping hot), pile the thing high with cheese, sliced avocado, and a mess of cilantro leaves.
And then there's the matter of hot sauce. Your favorite will absolutely do—we'll put Cholula on just about anything. But to make this a true Texas breakfast burrito, you need Green Sauce, that highly-addictive staple of Texas taquerias. The recipe for Green Sauce is top secret, but hey, look, it's your lucky day—we cracked the code.
