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Breakfast & brunch · North African

Shakshuka with Charred Peppers and Feta

Blistered peppers, a sauce reduced until a spoon leaves a trail, and eggs set under a lid so the yolks stay soft.

Prep
10 min
Cook
30 min
Total
40 min
Serves
4

Added · Revised : Revised to cook the eggs under a lid after a second round of side-by-side tests. Suitable for: Vegetarian, Gluten-free.

Illustration of shakshuka

Why this version

  • Charring the peppers before the onions go in gives the sauce a smoky backbone that simmering alone never builds.
  • Whole canned tomatoes crushed by hand keep some body; pre-chopped ones turned watery and sharp in every round.
  • A lid, not the oven: the eggs set in 6 minutes with soft yolks, while oven-finishing overcooked the eggs nearest the rim.

Ingredients

Servings
4 servings
Units
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 red bell peppers, cut into thin strips
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1½ tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp sweet paprika
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes, or to taste
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 800 g canned whole tomatoes, two 400 g cans, crushed by hand
  • 1 tsp fine salt, plus more for the eggs
  • 1 tsp sugar, only if the tomatoes taste sharp
  • 6 large eggs
  • 80 g feta, crumbled
  • 15 g flat-leaf parsley or coriander, chopped
  • crusty bread, to serve

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a 28 cm lidded frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the peppers and leave them alone for 3–4 minutes, until blistered and blackened in patches. Stir once and give them another 3 minutes.

  2. Turn the heat down to medium, add the onion and a pinch of salt, and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and turning golden.

  3. Add the garlic, cumin, paprika and chilli flakes and stir for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for another minute, until it darkens to brick red.

  4. Tip in the tomatoes with their juice, the salt and the sugar if using. Simmer for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick enough that a spoon dragged across the pan leaves a trail for a second or two. Taste and adjust the salt.

  5. Make six wells in the sauce with the back of a spoon and crack an egg into each. Season the eggs lightly. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 5–7 minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks still wobble. Spoon a little sauce over the edges of the whites, never the yolks, if they are slow to set.

  6. Take the pan off the heat, scatter over the feta and herbs, and serve straight from the pan with bread for the sauce.

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What we tested

  • Finished in a 180°C oven instead of under a lid: 12 minutes, and the outer eggs were chalky before the centre ones set.
  • Fresh August tomatoes in place of canned: lovely, but they needed 25 extra minutes of simmering and noticeably more salt.
  • Peppers added with the onions rather than charred first: sweeter, flatter sauce. Charring won in all three tastings.

Keeping

The sauce keeps for 3 days in the fridge and freezes well. Reheat it until bubbling and cook the eggs fresh.

Swaps and notes

For a harissa version, replace the paprika and chilli flakes with 1–2 tbsp harissa paste. Without feta, the dish is dairy-free.

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