Growing up, my mom would make this egg skillet 🍳 dish that was a ton of tomatoes 🍅 and greens like parsley, cilantro, and green onions, sautéed down then finished off with some eggs cracked on top. It was on the regular rotation of quick and easy weeknight meals that could be wrangled up in a jiffy after work, feed the whole family, and be healthy and delicious. It’s so humble, but a real powerhouse of a meal. Plus, it looks really pretty and somehow fancy. We never had a name for it–just “that tomato egg thing.” So when the shakshuka craze swept across the interwebs a few years ago, I was like, “Hey, Mom, did you know you’ve been making shakshuka all these years?” I think she just shrugged and said “yeah, okay.”
This dish is a variation of my mom’s recipe for that tomato egg thing she makes. I often make a breakfast hash with really finely diced potatoes and decided to combine that as the base for this shakshuka. While not traditional, they add a heartiness and get nicely sauced and seasoned by the juicy tomatoes and warm flavors of onions, garlic, paprika, and cumin; they’re definitely a welcome addition. The fresh tomatoes break down and meld together with the savory spices and crisp cilantro to make an amazing sauce for the eggs to poach in. Feel free to cook the eggs to desired doneness, but leaving the yolks a little jammy makes the delicious tomato sauce rich and even tastier. Plus, soaking up all those juices with some crusty bread is a very satisfying end-of-meal ritual.
Shakshuka is a creative and simple way to enjoy eggs that’s light and healthy. It’s always an “aha” moment when I get a skillet of this stuff going, and we usually have this for lunch or dinner once a week when we’re short on time, ingredients, or other ideas. Whatever you call it, this shakshuka recipe is so easy, filling, and tasty that you can have it for any meal of the day.
