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Eggs in purgatory are eggs served in a delicious, rich and spicy tomato sauce. In this recipe, I use poached eggs and made a simple and super quick tomato sauce that you’re sure to love. Served with slices of crusty char-grilled bread, perfect for dipping.
Eggs in purgatory are one of my favourite breakfast or brunch recipes. It’s light, comforting, full of delicious flavours and really doesn’t take long at all. I dunno about you but that’s all I want on a lazy weekend morning.
Most recipes poach the eggs in the sauce and although that is delicious you can pretty much serve the eggs anyway. I like them best with a runny yolk and crusty char-grilled bread for dipping, so delicious.
The Best Ways To Cook Your Eggs
There are three main ways to can make the eggs for this recipe and it all depends on your preference.
- Poached in the sauce – To do this make little wells in the tomato sauce big enough to crack an egg into. When doing it this way I partially cover the eggs with a lid to cook the egg white while still having a runny yolk. Make sure to cover the eggs or the white will be undercooked and that’s never nice.
- Poached separately – Making poached eggs in water is actually much easier than you think. You don’t need any special equipment or fancy techniques, I mean ditch the vinegar and the plastic wrap. This is my favourite method for making eggs in purgatory because you have much more control over how the eggs are cooked without overcooking the sauce or egg yolk. I go into more detail about this below so check it out.
- Fried eggs – A really simple way to make eggs in purgatory is by frying the eggs because sometimes you just want a shiny, good ole fried egg. Again this is super easy and you still have a dippy yolk to dunk your bread into, yum!
How To Make Eggs In Purgatory – Step By Step
Heat a little olive oil in a large pan and add the garlic, chilli, fennel seeds, and paprika, fry for a few seconds until fragrant (photo 1).
Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste and a little water, stir to combine and let it simmer for 8-10 minutes until reduced and thickened slightly. Season well with salt and pepper (photos 2-5).
Once the sauce is ready you can start the eggs, make sure to keep the sauce on a low heat or warm up just before serving.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and crack the eggs into individual ramekins (or do one at a time).
Turn the heat off the water so it’s no longer boiling and carefully drop the eggs one by one into the water. The best way to do this is to lower the ramekin enough so the edge is touching the water then drop it in (photo 6).
Let the eggs poach in the water for 4-5 minutes then remove with a slotted spoon and pat with kitchen paper to remove excess water. Add the eggs to the warm sauce and serve with toasted ciabatta slices.
To Poach The Eggs In The Sauce
You can also poach the eggs in the sauce if you prefer. To do this cook the sauce as instructed above for 2-3 minutes until piping hot then make four wells in the sauce, crack the eggs into the wells and partially cover for 5 minutes or until the whites are cooked and yolks still runny.
Top Tips For Making Eggs In Purgatory
- If you choose to poach the eggs either in water or sauce make sure you use the freshest free range eggs you can get your hands on. The fresher the egg the better the results and flavour!
- Toast the ciabatta bread ahead of time. Cut the ciabatta into slices and drizzle each side with olive oil. Heat a large griddle pan and toast on each side until crispy and slightly charred, sprinkle with salt.
- Adjust the heat of the sauce by adding more or less chilli. You can also add red pepper flakes instead of fresh chilli.
- After cooking the eggs (whatever way) sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top of each yolk to season.
- Use high-quality tomatoes for best results. This really will make the biggest difference so don’t skip this tip!
More Italian Breakfast Recipes You Might Like:
- Sauteed Tomato Breakfast Crostini with Poached Eggs
- Apple Olive Oil Cake
- Italian Breakfast Cake – Ciambella Allo Yogurt
If you’ve tried this Eggs in Purgatory or any other recipe on the blog please let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.
Step By Step Photos Above
Most of our recipes come with step by step photos, helpful tips and tricks to make it perfectly first time and even video!
Eggs in Purgatory
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, , finely chopped
- 1/2 fresh red chilli, , finely chopped
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 15 oz (400g) chopped tomatoes, canned
- 1 tbsp Tomato paste
- 4 eggs, free range
- salt and pepper
- fresh parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a little olive oil in a large pan and add the garlic, chilli, fennel seeds, and paprika, fry for a few seconds until fragrant.
- Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste and a little water, stir to combine and let it simmer for 8-10 minutes until reduced and thickened slightly. Season well with salt and pepper.
- Once the sauce is ready you can start the eggs, make sure to keep the sauce on a low heat or warm up just before serving.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and crack the eggs into individual ramekins (or do one at a time).
- Turn the heat off the water so it's no longer boiling and carefully drop the eggs one by one into the water. The best way to do this is to lower the ramekin enough so the edge is touching the water then drop it in.
- Let the eggs poach in the water for 4-5 minutes then remove with a slotted spoon and pat with kitchen paper to remove excess water. Add the eggs to the warm sauce and serve with toasted ciabatta slices and scatter over fresh parsley.
To Poach The Eggs In The Sauce
- You can also poach the eggs in the sauce if you prefer. To do this cook the sauce as instructed above for 2-3 minutes until piping hot then make four wells in the sauce, crack the eggs into the wells and partially cover for 5 minutes or until the whites are cooked and yolks still runny.
Notes
- If you choose to poach the eggs either in water or sauce make sure you use the freshest free range eggs you can get your hands on. The fresher the egg the better the results and flavour!
- Toast the ciabatta bread ahead of time. Cut the ciabatta into slices and drizzle each side with olive oil. Heat a large griddle pan and toast on each side until crispy and slightly charred, sprinkle with salt.
- Adjust the heat of the sauce by adding more or less chilli. You can also add red pepper flakes instead of fresh chilli.
- After cooking the eggs (whatever way) spinkle a little salt and pepper on top of each yolk to season.
- Use high-quality tomatoes for best results. This really will make the biggest difference so don't skip this tip!
Helpful Info for All Recipes
- I always use extra virgin olive oil in all of my recipes unless stated otherwise
- When I use canned or jarred tomatoes of any kind I always use Cirio or Mutti brands for the best results and flavour.
- All vegetables are medium sized unless stated otherwise
- All recipes are tested and developed using a fan (convection) oven
- Find out more about how nutrition is calculated.
- Check out our must have Italian Pantry Staples.
- You can also find all our Essential Kitchen Tools for Italian Cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Oh my gosh, this looks so incredibly delicious — and pretty. I would have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Love it.
Thank you so much Valentina!
My Bil would love this. He cant cook eggs at his place as my sis has allergies so everytime we have him at home he always has a request to sneak in an egg in anything we make 🙂
I’ve never tried this dish, but it looks so tempting. I love eating my eggs with salsa piled on top, so I have to assume it would be pretty similar. Pinning for later!
Oh yes, you’d love it then, it’s so delicious!
This is a great special treat you can serve your family for breakfast! Yum!
Yum. This sounds amazing. Wish I had it right now. Never though about tomato sauce with eggs but I could definitely get into this. Will be trying soon 🙂
This looks amazing! I am one who loves all things runny eggs so I can’t wait to dig into this!
Thanks so much Mary, I love it too!
Ciao, i am Emily from Malta. I also like everything which is Italian. Lasy year I visited wonderful Tuscany. For breakfast our host used to serve us Tuscan chicken liver paste which I really liked. Maybe you can share this recipe with your followers. Im sure they’ll like it.
Tanks for your recipes
Hi Emily, two things we have in common already ha! I hope you had the best time in Tuscany it’s where I lived for 5 years. I have a recipe for traditional Tuscan crostini made with chicken liver pate and it’s so delicious. Here’s the link https://www.insidetherustickitchen.com/chicken-liver-pate-tuscan-crostini/. Thanks so much for stopping by!