Breakfast tacos are the ultimate convenience food. There’s nothing better than a fresh-made taco on the go, and if you aren’t near a taco truck or favorite restaurant, there’s always the prewrapped option from a gas station or coffee shop.

But maybe you don’t want to leave the house. Or maybe, like me, you just don’t live in Texas anymore. (Sad but true: there are entire American cities and states in which the breakfast taco simply can’t be found—and even when you find one, well . . . ).

There’s nothing I like more than making migas entirely from scratch, or roasting up a sheet pan of perfectly crisp and pillowy potatoes. Sometimes, though, I want a breakfast taco in five minutes.

The solution is this make-ahead, ready-to-reheat-and-eat “tortilla breakfast taco.” It’s a tortilla (in the Spanish sense) inside a tortilla (in the Tex-Mex sense). Truthfully, this bacon, egg, and leftover french fry filling is not much like the Spanish egg, potato, and olive oil concoction. It’s really a frittata, and not far from a crustless quiche. But it’s more fun to call something a “tortilla taco” than a “frittata taco” (and “quiche taco” would be even worse). It reminds me of the bacon, egg, and potato taco at Guero’s in South Austin, where the three ingredients were always cooked together like an omelet—the diced bacon crisp, the potatoes always tender, and, yes, the eggs a little overcooked.

You start this dish on the stovetop, finish it in the oven, and end up with little triangles of premade breakfast taco filling, ready to reheat and stuff in a tortilla at any time, with whatever garnishes and salsas you desire. Of course, you’ll want to eat it all immediately, but I recommend saving the rest for tomorrow’s breakfast.

“Tortilla” Breakfast Tacos

Makes 4–6 tacos, depending on tortilla size.

2–4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
6 eggs
3 tablespoons whole milk, cream, or half-and-half
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
⅛ teaspoon fresh-ground pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 cup chopped leftover french fries (or precooked diced potatoes)
Canola oil
Shredded Colby Jack or other cheese (optional)
Flour tortillas

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. On the stovetop, place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or similar pan over medium-low heat. Sauté diced bacon until just shy of fully cooked, then remove from the pan and strain, reserving a bit of the fat to cook with later.
  3. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, milk or cream, salt, and both types of pepper.
  4. Return 1 ½ teaspoons of reserved bacon fat to the pan, then add potatoes and cook for long enough to crisp them up. Once the potatoes reach your desired texture, return cooked bacon to the pan. Add 1 ½ teaspoons of canola oil to the pan and let it heat up for one minute. (This additional oil ensures the pan is coated and helps the eggs release.)
  5. Pour beaten egg mixture into pan. Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the edges begin to set slightly. Give the eggs a stir or two and cook for another 30 seconds.
  6. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for approximately 8 minutes, until the egg mixture has lost all jiggle and the center is fully set. If using cheese, sprinkle it on top and put the pan back in the oven until the cheese melts (though if you’d rather have it half-melted inside the tortilla, we won’t stop you).
  7. Cut the frittata into slices and stuff into flour tortillas. Top with avocado, pickled peppers, salsa, hot sauce, and whatever else you like inside a breakfast taco. Serve with refried beans.

Note: You can adapt this to just about any favorite breakfast taco filling, or to make use of whatever ingredients or leftovers you have on hand. Substitute chorizo, ham, or breakfast sausage for the bacon, add refried beans directly to the filling, or go fully vegetarian with rajas, cooked greens, or meat alternatives.