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
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Anna says
This looks absolutely delicious! Nothing like fresh food cooked perfectly into an exquisite combination.
Liz says
This dish is a work of art…and I bet it’s darn tasty, too!!!
Anna @ hiddenponies says
Oooh, I struggle with the same thing with my cast iron! I LOVE the results in it, but it is SUCH a pain to clean and I never seem to butter it enough to prevent things from sticking! This recipe does look worth it though, way to break out the elbow grease :)
RebeccaSubbiah RD ( says
wow I want this for my breakfast
foodwanderings says
Love this post Jen. The photos are gorgeous even if I don’t eat chorizo and I can totally relate about the cast iron. Love Washgal’s I wish it was in my neighborhood. :(
Libby says
I clean my pans thoroughly as soon as I’m done with cooking and have never had a problem with rust. I think using them consistently rather than leaving them in the cupboard for months also keeps too.
I love baked eggs. I’m inspired to give this one a go, yum!
Jennifer @ Mother Thyme says
Beautiful! I would love to have this for breakfast this morning!
El says
Cast iron is wonderful. what a beautiful dish!
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
I just got a new cast iron skillet – my hubs would LOVE this meal!
Ashley - baker by nature says
Holy eggs and chorizo… my face needs this ASAP. This is breakfast beauty!
Terra says
I love cast iron, but I for sure don’t use the wonderful pans enough! In Tucson, I loved ordering a chorizo and egg burritos. Your recipe looks seriously delicious! What a perfect dish for breakfast, lunch, OR dinner:-) Take care, Terra
Terence says
Hi There,
Nice Recipe. One trick to get rid of rust is to use Aluminium Foil to give the rusty parts a rub down. What happens is a chemical reaction between iron oxide (which is rust) and aluminium, where the aluminium rips off the oxygen atom from iron, and turns the rust back into iron and aliminium oxide. You’ll want to wash your pan thoroughly after that to remove the residual aluminium oxide before cooking, but your rust will be gone!
Savory Simple says
Thanks, what a great tip!
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says
Oh my, I need a few cast iron skillets in my life!
Marta says
I love your skillet. I wanted to buy one like this one for a long time now, but I can’t find it in any store.
kristy @ the wicked noodle says
I have two cast iron skillets sitting in my kitchen sink right now waiting to be cleaned. I can totally relate to hating to clean them!! But I do love them and cook with them all the time – it’s worth it!
And hellloooo gorgeous photos! Girl, you’re becoming a really amazing photographer!!