How to Make Leftover Nachos into Fab Tex-Mex Scrambled Eggs

What to do with leftover nachos yumminess? How about some Tex-Mex scrambled eggs, AKA migas?

During a Labor Day trip to our cabin in Colorado that we call Little House in the Rockies, we had a wonderful nachos dinner. It was rather late in the evening, and the nachos were simple, but also delicious and filling, with cheddar cheese on blue corn tortilla chips, black beans, avocados, jalapenos and red onion, and we served them with a homemade salsa that featured the Palisade peaches we’d discovered at a roadside fruit and vegetable stand.

We made the meal quickly and I haven’t created a recipe for those wonderful nachos, but I explored the nacho process in detail yesterday in the post below, and you can make them quite easily.

Nacho Basics: Easy Steps for Creating Crunchy, Cheesy Goodness You Can Eat with Your Hands

Our nachos at the mountain cabin were everything we wanted that night, but we made a little too much. No worries, the leftovers are fabulous, too. The next morning, we made a Tex-Mex version of migas with them for brunch, and wow, that approach was a KEEPER! If you’re not familiar with migas, they’re wonderfully hearty scrambled eggs with strips of fried corn tortilla strips, along with tomatoes, onions, peppers, and more.

Nachos are a kick-starter kit for Tex-Mex migas.

The Tex-Mex scrambled eggs / migas were super-easy and super-satisfying.

Easy because everything was already made and all I had to do was assemble and mix it up in a three-egg scramble with some sauteed onions and tomatoes to divide between two people.

Satisfying because it tasted great and I was tapping into my Depression-era need to use up leftovers, which has been explored here in the blog many times. I inherited that tendency from both my mom and paternal grandmother, and I think utilizing leftovers is the impetus for many wonderful inventions in the kitchen: how can I repurpose these ingredients from last night’s dinner in a new and interesting way? Once again, I claim the title, The Duchess of Leftovers.

Leftover Nachos Migas for Two

While I’m loosely calling it a recipe, this post is more of an outline to help you make your own unique creation from your family’s nachos leftovers. You can use any leftover nachos in this scrambled egg dish, so be sure to bring home those restaurant leftover nachos if you don’t eat them all. 😎

First, gather your ingredients. For me, in this case, that was:

• 2 tbsp butter
• ¼ yellow onion, chopped
• a ripe tomato, chopped
• leftover nachos
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten with a fork
• ¼ to ½ cup grated cheese
• optional: a little salt and pepper, or Zippy Southwest or other southwest seasoning
• optional (for plating): additional tortilla chips and fruit

Melt the butter in a skillet and saute the onions.

Next, add the tomatoes and stir to cook slightly.

Add the nachos. It’s ok if they have some of the toppings on them, like the avocado slices in ours below. They become an integral part of the flavors and textures.

Break up the nachos with your spatula, and stir, cooking until the nachos mixture is hot. Have the eggs ready.

Add the eggs and mix in with your spatula. Let the eggs set for a minute, then stir to scramble. Repeat. You can add salt and pepper or southwest seasoning at this point, but it isn’t really necessary if your nachos had tons of flavorful add-ons.

The dish is done when the eggs are set to your liking. I prefer them slightly soft.

Have the plates ready to serve your marvelous migas. We had Marigold plums (delicioso!), and I made a nest of extra blue corn chips for the migas. I also like to serve this with a condiment or two, in this case, our trusty Salsa Macha from Lolita Specialty Foods here in Tomball, TX (we travel with it).

Add the grated cheese and serve immediately.

Voila! Here’s a close-up of my migas on the back deck where we had our brunch. The chips were a great add, and although we thought at first there were too many, we both ate every bite.

It was All Good

Making use of our leftover nachos provided a very, very satisfying brunch meal, and the cool air and distant mountains was a perfect backdrop.

How do you repurpose your leftover nachos? I’d love to know.

© Glover Gardens