I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with cast iron. Â I love all of my enameled Le Creuset pieces but the regular cast iron drives me crazy.
It’s an amazing conductor of heat. Â It makes the best crust you’ll ever have on a steak and is also perfect for skillet cakes and baked egg dishes. Â But it can be SUCH a pain to clean.
 I know proper seasoning makes all the difference, but I bet everyone who uses cast iron has at least one story of endless scouring.
Mine happened just the other day when I pulled these mini-skillets out of storage. There was rust on the sides! NOOOOOOOOOO. What a pain it was to clean.
No matter how much coarse salt I used, the rust just wouldn’t go away completely. I tried salt, heating the pans until they were smoking and then scouring, more salt… finally it seemed as though I had a clean skillet, ready to be re-seasoned and used.
Until I go and mess everything up again.
But these baked eggs with chorizo kind of made the whole ordeal worth it. I bought some fantastic sausage from the local butcher.
I don’t eat a lot of meat, but when I do I try to get the good stuff. I have no time for cheap sausage in my life. I kept adding ingredients as I went along.
The few remaining grape tomatoes from my garden… some Sriracha to tickle my palate. Baby arugula for a splash of green and a bit more spice.
Tell me, readers, what are your tricks for dealing with pesky cast iron?
Baked Chorizo and Eggs
Ingredients
- 2 chorizo links, preferably fresh
- 1 15 ounce can plain tomato sauce
- Sriracha or your hot sauce of choice
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 6-8 grape tomatoes, halved
- baby arugula
- 2 large eggs
- kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- If using fresh chorizo, slowly render the fat in a skillet over low heat. Gradually begin turning up the heat, allowing all sides of the chorizo to cook and eventually brown. Periodically deglaze the pan with water and scrape up the brown bits. This will prevent the bottom of the pan from burning and it will incorporate the yummy caramelized bits back onto the sausage. This should take approximately 20 minutes, give or take.
- Allow the sausage to cool for a bit and then slice each link into 10-12 pieces.
- Briefly saute the chopped onions in the leftover chorizo fat (you can also use olive oil if pre-cooked chorizo was used).
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Ladle 1/4 cup of tomato sauce into the bottom of mini cast iron skillets or ramekins.
- Drizzle some Sriracha on top of the tomato sauce (the amount will depend on your preference for heat. I used about 2 tablespoons per pan.)
- Line the chorizo slices in the bottom of each skillet and top with another dollop of tomato sauce (approximately 2 tablespoons per pan, doesn't need to be exact.
- Divide the onions in half and evenly spread over the chorizo.
- Layer on the cherry tomatoes followed by the arugula.
- Break the eggs into separate ramekins, leaving the yolk intact, and then carefully pour the into each skillet.
- Bake until the egg whites are just set, 10-15 minutes (they will continue to cook outside of the oven).
- Sprinkle salt and fresh ground pepper on top before serving
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Nutrition
Recipe Troubleshooting
For immediate help troubleshooting a recipe, please email me using the form on my contact page. I’ll try to respond to urgent questions as quickly as possible! For all general questions, please leave a comment here :)
Robin Blue says
I LOVE my cast iron! It’s pretty much all I use anymore. If something gets really burnt on I just let my pans soak in hot water for a while and everything seems to come right off. Sometimes I need to scrape them with a plastic scraper. After I wash them I put the wet pan on the stove and turn the burner on really low. After they heat up and the water evaporates I pour a little oil in the pan and then wipe it out with a paper towel or newspaper. That’s it. Works for me!
Hayley @ The Domestic Rebel says
Oh holy heck. I want to wake up to this every day for the rest of my life!
Carolyn Chan says
I am only just beginning to cook with cast iron. I have some Le Creuset pots which I use for stews and I think I ruined one of them making jam because it calls for 5 minutes on high heat to boil and set the jam and I was left with a big black circle that all the online help couldn’t get rid of. Finally scrubbed it off but I think it’s chipped the enamel now.
I have had a cast iron griddle for ages as well but stopped using it because where I wanted a nice sear with those lovely markings, everything just stuck to it. But apparently the more you use it (seasoning it every time as Robin says above, is meant to help.
Having said the above, the food that comes out of anything cast iron just seems to taste better for me…
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
Gorgeous photos, I love the skillet! I don’t have one (I know, I know) but it’s on my list!
CCU says
A skillet breakfast is definitely the best :D
Cheers
CCU
sara says
this looks amazing! i re-subscribed myself cause i’m not sure what happened, but i wasn’t getting notifications anymore! excited to be back :))
Savory Simple says
When I switched to wordpress.org a lot of people were accidentally unsubscribed (even though I was told that wouldn’t happen). Glad you’re back!
Roger Stowell says
I think those pictures are very, very good. The recipe is amongst my favourites anyway. Cast iron pans can be hell to clean, but the results are worth it.
By the way, it seems that the box “Comment Luv” is ticked by default on your blog.
Mary Ellen @ Pâte à Chew says
This dish look incredible. I would love a skillet for breakfast, please :) I have been absolutely loving all your new posts – you are on fire!
Paula @ Vintage Kitchen says
This is perfect, the ingredients, the pics, the crust that I don´t see but imagine… Wonderful!
Mad Dog says
I have the exact same pan. I don’t normally do eggs in it (though I have used it for a few 18 egg tortillas) – I normally deglaze it with red wine and then season it after each use. Everything tastes good with chorizo ;-)
Lan | angry asian says
i have one cast iron pot that i made a rabbit stew in once, and recently i made a rustic bread. before, i had nuria do the cleaning (since i did the cooking) and she did a great job of seasoning it. should i require it, i’ll probably have her do it for me again. i have been thinking about getting a skillet, they make such great dishes, like this one.
your pix are beautiful!
Riley says
I’ve been craving something with chorizo and this looks perfect! Beautiful photos!
Valerie says
Oh, this looks so good on a Monday morning! I could live on chorizo, happily. :-)
kitchenlesschef says
Jen, this looks amazing! If you’ll send me your address, I’ll send you a scour pad that my dad is getting a patent for. Might help keep things a little cleaner. I also recommend using bacon grease instead of vegetable / nut oils in your cast iron pan. That will help keep it looking its best, although it’s not as healthy!!
Savory Simple says
Bacon really DOES make everything better! :)
David E. says
You hit a a culinary trifecta! Phenomenal post, excellent recipe, and some of the MOST delicious photo’s I have seen in a long time. If I could get up and prepare this right now, I would.
Savory Simple says
Thank you so much for the kind words!!! Made my day :)