Shakshuka in a Skillet
How long does shakshuka take to cook?
For shakshuka, the sauce of peppers, onion and 0.7 kg of tomatoes simmers under a lid for 15 minutes, then the eggs are cracked in and cooked uncovered over low heat for up to 10 minutes, until the whites set and the yolks start to firm. Before that, the peppers fry for 10 minutes and another 4–5 with garlic and chili. 2–3 eggs per person is enough.
Ingredients
2 servings
For the sauce
- Large red bell peppers 2
- Onion 1
- Ripe tomatoes 0.7 kg (canned in winter)
- Garlic 2-3 cloves
- Chili pepper optional
- Olive oil 3 tbsp
- Tomato paste 1-2 tbsp (if the tomatoes are fresh) (17–33 g)
- Water 0.5 cup (100 ml)
- Sugar 1 tsp (5 g)
- Sweet paprika 0.5 tsp
- Ground cumin to taste
- Salt, ground black pepper to taste
- Basil 3-4 leaves
For the eggs and serving
- Eggs 4
- Parsley 5-6 sprigs
- Pita or lavash for serving
Step-by-step recipe
Preparing the vegetables
Homemade shakshuka is all about vegetables. Before you start cooking, chop all the ingredients and put them in separate bowls.
Get the ingredients ready. The vegetables should be fresh and fully ripe. That goes double for the tomatoes: ideally they should be fleshy, without white parts inside.
Choose thick-walled bell peppers. They are a key part of the sauce and give the dish the delicate flavor I love so much. I also recommend adding some chili to the sauce, it is delicious.
Peel the onion and dice it finer than you would for Olivier salad. Seed the bell peppers and cut the flesh into cubes. Dice the tomatoes. If they have a lot of seeds, remove at least some of them. Slice the chili into rings, seeding it if you like. Roughly chop the garlic or cut it into thin slices. Roughly chop the basil leaves as well.
The sauce
Shakshuka is often made for a crowd, and a large cast-iron skillet or roasting pan is handy for that. The usual rule is 2-3 eggs per person. For a family at home, an ordinary frying pan with a lid will do.
Pour the olive oil into the pan and heat it over medium heat. Fry the chopped onion in the oil for 2-3 mins. Add all the diced red bell peppers and fry for 10 mins, stirring.
The peppers and onion will soften nicely. They will start to brown a little, and the onion will take on some of the color of the peppers.
Add the chili and garlic to the pan and fry for another 4-5 mins, stirring.
Many people like this dish quite spicy, so feel free to add more chili if you want.
If you are using fresh tomatoes, add 1-2 tbsp of tomato paste (17–33 g) to the onion and peppers, stir it into the vegetables and fry for 2-3 mins.
Fresh tomatoes do not always give that wonderful tomato flavor, and it is important for the tomato flavor to come through fully.
Add all the prepared tomatoes to the pan and stir.
In winter we usually use canned tomatoes, roughly chopped.
Season the vegetables with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add 1 tsp of sugar (5 g): tomatoes love a touch of sweetness, and the shakshuka will taste much better. Add 0.5 tsp of sweet paprika for an intense aroma, and some ground cumin, which is very tasty and pleasant. Toss in the chopped fresh basil, an important part of the sauce.
Mix the vegetables with the spices and pour 0.5 cup of water (100 ml) into the pan. Bring the sauce to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cover the pan with a lid. Simmer the vegetables for 15 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid, raise the heat slightly and cook off the moisture until the sauce is thick enough and there is almost no free liquid left.
If the tomatoes were not very juicy, you may not need this. The sauce, often called a sauce-salad and served as an appetizer, is now ready.
Eggs
All that is left is to cook delicious eggs in the sauce.
Use a spatula or spoon to make four wells in the sauce and crack the eggs into them, trying not to break the yolks. Gently stir the whites around the yolks so they blend a little with the sauce. You can do this with a teaspoon, moving it in a circle around each yolk.
Season the yolks with just a little salt and pepper. Cook the eggs in the sauce over low heat, uncovered, until the whites set and the yolks begin to firm up, up to 10 mins.
Keep an eye on them until they reach the doneness you like. For runny yolks, take the pan off the heat as soon as the whites are fully set. Do not cover the pan, or the yolks will turn white.
Serving
Sprinkle the shakshuka with finely chopped parsley and, if you like, a few fresh basil leaves.
Shakshuka is usually brought to the table in the pan it was cooked in. You can eat it straight from the pan, or serve it onto plates with a spatula, since the sauce is thick enough not to run.
Serve with pita or unleavened lavash. The dish tastes best with this kind of bread.
If you are cooking for a crowd, scale up all the ingredients proportionally. If you add extras such as potatoes, sausages or beans, take their cooking time into account so they do not end up raw.
Calories and macros
340 kcal
Serving ≈ 570 g
- Protein6 g8% of kcal
- Fat22 g60% of kcal
- Carbs26 g32% of kcal
100 g60 kcalProtein 1.1 gFat 3.9 gCarbs 4.6 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.