Basque-Style Piperade with Baked Eggs
Sweet peppers, onion, and tomato stewed down Basque-style, with eggs baked right into the sauce and served with grain bread.
Piperade is a Basque pepper stew that shows up on breakfast, lunch, and dinner tables alike — it's really just a matter of how many eggs you crack into it. We simmer bell peppers, onion, and tomato slowly until they collapse into a jammy, slightly smoky sauce, then nestle eggs on top and finish everything in the oven.
Smoked paprika does a lot of the flavor lifting here, standing in for the piment d'Espelette traditionally used along the Spanish-French border.
This is a vegetarian breakfast built around vegetables rather than processed meats, and the peppers and tomatoes bring a good amount of fiber and color to the plate. It's a satisfying way to start the day when you want something warm and savory instead of another bowl of cereal, and it comes together in one skillet from start to finish. Leftover piperade sauce also keeps well on its own for a day or two, so it's worth making a bit extra to bake more eggs into later in the week.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 red bell peppers — sliced
- 1 green bell pepper — sliced
- 1 yellow onion — sliced
- 2 cloves garlic — minced
- 14 oz diced tomatoes — 1 can
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper — optional
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 4 slices whole grain bread — toasted, to serve
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley — chopped
These ingredients are standard at most major European supermarkets.
Instructions
- 1Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- 2Heat olive oil in an oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add peppers and onion, cooking 10-12 minutes until soft.
- 3Stir in garlic, smoked paprika, and cayenne, and cook 1 minute.
- 4Add diced tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and simmer 10 minutes until thickened.
- 5Make 4 small wells in the sauce and crack an egg into each.
- 6Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake 8-10 minutes until egg whites are set but yolks are still soft.
- 7Scatter with parsley and serve with toasted whole grain bread.