Chilaquiles are one of Mexico’s oldest dishes, and also one of the dishes that I forget how much I love until I’ve had it again, which isn’t often — once every few years, at best.
Making them at home, though, is so simple that I asked myself why I don’t make them more often. And if you make them in a two-step process, they’re even easier. I’m talking about making the sauce the day before you want to serve them, which makes completing the dish simple and also allows the flavors of the sauce to marry and taste even better after 24 hours.
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What I find intriguing about chilaquiles (pronounced chee-luh-KEE-layz) is it’s a dish with the yin-yang of textures that further develop as you eat.
When first served, the chips are crispy, but as you munch away, and the sauce pools down in the middle of the plate, the layers of chips on the bottom and in the center of the plate become soft, almost like a bowl of mushy, delicious mashed potatoes.