The Best Migas Recipe, Easy and Healthy!

Deliciously cheesy and filled with the crispy crunch of fried tortillas, Migas are one of my favorite quick meals! Give this versatile Tex-Mex egg dish and all its yummy toppings a try – you’re sure to love it!

Migas in a skillet topped with sliced avocados, diced tomatoes, and cotija cheese

An Easy Tex-Mex Breakfast (or Dinner!)

What do you do with your leftovers? Reheat them? Repurpose them? Forget about them until you have an accidental science experiment in your fridge?

No judgment here, guys. No judgment.

In my book, one of the best ways to use leftovers is to omelette-ify them! That’s basically the idea behind frittatas, quiches, and migas. You take what you have (in this case, a few tortillas and some chopped veggies) and add eggs to make a fabulous skillet meal!

These healthy, hearty recipes work equally well for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. So let’s make some migas!

What Are Migas?

“Migas” is the Spanish word for “crumbs,” or “scraps.” There are many variations of migas across the world in different Spanish-speaking regions, with all kinds of different ingredients. In this recipe, I’ll show you how I make Tex-Mex migas.

That means we’re making a skillet meal of eggs, crispy tortillas, chopped veggies, salsa, and a few other ingredients (including plenty of cheese!). A perfect brinner recipe!

Recipe Ingredients

Keep in mind, this is more of a suggestion, or outline, than a strict must-have list. Migas is a flexible dish, and you can tweak it to fit the ingredients you have on hand.

Oil: For crisping the tortillas and frying the ingredients. You’ll need about 3 tablespoons. Regular vegetable oil is fine, or you could use avocado oil, peanut oil, olive oil, etc.
Tortillas: I used about four corn tortillas, cut into two-inch strips.
Onion: Dice up an onion.
Bell Pepper: A diced bell pepper adds color and so much flavor! Feel free to use any colored bell pepper, or use a mix of red, green, and orange.
Jalapeno: You may want to wear gloves for this part. Finely chop one jalapeno, and remove the ribs and seeds.
Garlic: If you use fresh garlic, mince about three cloves. Another option is to use jarred garlic, or substitute about a teaspoon of garlic powder.
Eggs: This recipe uses 8 large eggs; you can use up to 10.
Seasonings: To season my eggs, I add a teaspoon of chili powder, a teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of pepper. Easy!
Salsa: You can use half a cup of your favorite salsa here! Any kind is great.
Cheese: Again, use what you have and/or love! For my version, I used a cup of shredded monterey jack.
Cilantro: Omit this if you don’t like cilantro, but I find that ¼ cup cilantro leaves, chopped, add a wonderful flavor to my migas. I like to save some for garnish, too. So pretty!
Avocado: Everyone’s favorite! I love including some thinly sliced, creamy avocado.
Chopped Tomatoes: Another great idea for serving.
Cotija Cheese: This dry and tangy grating cheese is similar to Parmesan. If you can find some, it goes wonderfully on just about everything, and I think it really takes this humble dish up a notch.

frying flour tortilla strips in a skillet

How to Make Tex-Mex Migas

The secret to making migas is to crisp up the tortillas until they’re just golden-brown.

Fry the Tortillas. Heat a couple of tablespoons of the oil in a nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the tortilla strips to the hot oil and fry until crispy. Then remove the tortilla strips from the skillet and set aside.
Fry the Veggies. Pour the remaining vegetable oil into the skillet and heat it up. Add the onions, bell peppers, and jalapeno to the hot oil; cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 10 seconds or so.
Scramble Everything. While the veggies are cooking, whisk together the eggs, chili powder, salt, and pepper. When the veggies have all cooked, turn the heat down to medium, and pour the eggs into the pan. Stir until everything is scrambled together; about 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the Salsa, Cheese, and Tortillas. Add the salsa to the eggs and stir. Then add the cheese and about ⅔ of the chopped cilantro. Stir in the tortilla strips and cook for a minute, or until done.
Enjoy! Remove your skillet from the heat, and top with cilantro, avocado slices, chopped tomatoes, and cotija cheese. Serve immediately.

frying diced onions and diced peppers in a black skillet

Tips for Success

Although this dish might just be the ultimate in easy cooking, there are still a couple of things you should know. Here are my best tips for making delicious Migas.

Any Tortillas Will Work: While some cooks will insist that you have to use corn tortillas, the truth is, flour tortillas also work! Some people even prefer them. ?‍♀️ And, while the most traditional migas might be made with day-old tortillas that are beginning to go stale, feel free to make this dish with fresh tortillas. It’s all good. ✅
Don’t Overcook the Eggs: Overcooked scrambled eggs can sometimes crumble into unmanageable little bits, and take on a discolored look (and funky smell!). Keep your heat medium to low when scrambling, and stop when the eggs have a creamy, curd-like texture.
Make It Your Own: At its simplest, migas can just be tortillas and eggs! So don’t hesitate to go that route if you don’t have (or don’t like) any of the other ingredients. Other ways to customize this dish include omitting the cheese, omitting the garnishes, adding some sour cream to the final presentation, using no salsa or maybe just a bit of taco sauce instead, etc. YOU do YOU. Do what you love!

skillet with scrambled eggs, sliced avocados, diced tomatoes, and crumbled cotija cheese

Serving Suggestions

How do you serve Migas? Well, it is a complete meal on its own, so you can serve it as-is and feel great about that! But, if you’d like to round out the menu with a few sides, here are some ideas for inspo!

How To Store Leftover Migas

Migas are amazing for using up food scraps, but the leftovers tend to get soggy when refrigerated. You CAN store them in an airtight container and refrigerate for a couple of days, but I recommend consuming Migas immediately after making it.