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This Shakshuka is based on the popular Middle Eastern and North African brunch recipe. With a rich, tomatoey sauce with spices and runny eggs for dipping, I am ALL IN for this warming but super easy 30-minute meal. Only store cupboard ingredients needed!
I am not exaggerating when I say this is one of my all time favourite meals to cook (egg-xaggerating?! Sorry… 😀)
This Shakshuka is perfect for serving up brunch to guests or just as a delicious, healthy weekend family breakfast.
It’s a real winner for kids too (mine love it with my fresh bread to dip in) and I have been known to throw this together for dinner when I’m out of meal inspiration, because it only takes 30 minutes and it’s largely made up of store cupboard ingredients – great for cooking up at the last minute.
My version is slightly simplified in that we cook the sauce, then pop the pan under the grill to cook the eggs until the whites are solid but the yolks are still runny. I find this is quicker than poaching the eggs on the hob and they cook through more thoroughly.
This does mean you’ll need to make sure you have a grill-safe pan such as a cast-iron skillet or griddle pan – see my pan review here to get a better idea of the type that work.
Because I’ve been making this for my children since they were little, I have always deliberately made this dish mild, but if you’d like a little spice to your Shakshuka, simply add a sprinkle of chilli flakes, chilli powder or fresh chillies (I would recommend doing this a very little at a time so you don’t overdo the heat levels.)
Why you’ll love this Easy Shakshuka recipe
⭐️ Quick and easy family favourite
⭐️ Budget-friendly store cupboard ingredients
⭐️ Easily adaptable with leftover vegetables or meat
What is Shakshuka?
Shakshuka is a hearty North Africa stew-like dish made with tomatoes, spices and gently poached eggs in the rich sauce, with those mighty but delicate Arabic flavours that are simply divine.
A traditional Shakshuka recipe has similarities to a number of other dishes from around the world, including Huevos Rancheros from Mexico or Eggs in Purgatory, which is Italian American.
Shakshuka Ingredients
- Garlic cloves – You can also use garlic from a jar or frozen.
- Onion – Fresh or pre-prepared frozen is OK too. They will need frying a little longer..
- Pepper – Red peppers really work in this but you could add other colours in too. (Bell peppers if you’re outside the UK.)
- Tinned tomatoes – Good quality makes all the difference to the flavour.
- Spices – Ground cumin and sweet smoked paprika.
- Eggs – I use medium free-range.
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper – Season to taste.
- To garnish – Crumble over some feta cheese and fresh parsley.
How to make Shakshuka
1. Fry the garlic, onions and peppers, followed by the spices.
2. Add in the tomatoes and season, then put the lid on and cook (as per the full recipe below).
3. Make wells for your eggs, then pop them inside. Cook a little, then finish off under the grill.
4. When the eggs are cooked through with runny yolks, serve with crumbled feta and parsley.
Serving suggestions
➡️ I love to serve it with some crusty bread to dip into the egg yolk and soak up all that delicious tomato sauce.
➡️ Sprinkles and dips – Avocado or guacamole, chopped chilli, mint, coriander or diced red onion would work.
Substitutions
- Pepper (Bell pepper) – You can swap this for any veggies you fancy. Aubergines (eggplant), courgettes (zucchini) or sweet potatoes would work well. You will just need to allow for extra cooking time.
- Shakshuka with meat – Add fried chorizo, bacon lardons or pancetta for a more meaty dish.
Leftovers
In the fridge You can keep the base tomato sauce of this recipe in the fridge for 3 days. Cook to heat through and add eggs as before.
In the freezer If you’d like to store this in the freezer, it’s best to only freeze the tomato-based sauce, without the eggs or toppings.
Recipe Tips
Cooking time
Fifteen minutes is the MINIMUM cooking time for the sauce. The longer you cook it over medium heat, the better it will taste! Make sure you keep an eye on it.
Add spice
This recipe doesn’t include any chillies to keep it mild, but a little spice does work really well in it, so if you’d like some, simply add a sprinkle of chilli flakes, chilli powder or fresh chillies, although add a very little a time to avoid making it too hot!
Servings
This recipe is for 2 people, so use the adjustable tool in the recipe below to change according to your dining party size.
More delicious breakfast recipes…
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Kedgeree
FAQs
This might be because you’ve taken them straight out of the fridge, so they have cooled the sauce and are now struggling to get up to temperature to cook.
It can be tricky to poach eggs this way, so just carefully turn the heat up and wait until the egg whites start to change colour.
Try and bring your eggs to room temperature before adding them into the sauce, but if not, just keep an eye on them and it will happen!
My method of using the grill also helps to finish the eggs off and get them to cook through.
The sauce will thicken over time, but don’t worry. Keep checking and if it seems as though it’s drying out, just add a little more water until you have the desired consistency and stir well.
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Easy Shakshuka Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 Large onion, Chopped
- 1 Large pepper, Diced
- 1.5 tsp Ground cumin
- 2 tsp Sweet smoked paprika
- 800 g (14.5 oz) Tinned tomatoes
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 Eggs
To garnish:
- Small bunch of parsley, Chopped
- 100 g Feta
Instructions
- Fry veggies and spices first: Heat your olive oil in a grill-safe pan and add your garlic and onion. Fry for a couple of minutes and allow them to soften.
- Add diced pepper, cumin, smoked paprika and give it all a good stir. Cook for a couple more minutes until you can smell the spices.
- Tomatoes in to simmer: Add the tinned tomatoes, half a can of water and salt and pepper. Stir well and put a lid on and cook for about 15 minutes. (Check it during this time as it may need a little more water if it's drying out.)
- Preheat the grill: Turn it to HOT.
- Add in the eggs: When the sauce is thick and delicious, remove the pan lid, make a well in the sauce and break an egg into the hole. Repeat for all of the eggs.
- Allow them to cook on the hob for a couple of minutes until you can see the bottom of the eggs starting to set and turn white.
- Grill to finish: Put the pan under a hot grill (broiler) for about 5 minutes until the egg whites are fully white and cooked through and the yolks are nice and runny.
- To serve: Scatter over the chopped parsley and crumble over the feta before serving.
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Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation. Nutritional values are per portion unless otherwise stated.
This post was originally published on September 2, 2025 and updated later to make improvements.
I know it says in the notes that 15 mins is the minimum for cooking the veg, but I spent at least 25 mins doing this. It was way too runny otherwise. I almost wished I hadn’t added the half tin of water. Next time I will cook the sauce for 30 mins and allow for that. Other than that it turned out great. Ate it with a salad and some buttered bread to ‘mop up’.
Hi CJ, thanks for the helpful feedback! Hobs and pans do vary, so cooking the sauce down for longer next time sounds like a sensible plan. So pleased it turned out great in the end, and salad with buttered bread for mopping up sounds like the perfect way to serve it.
Fantastic Sunday breakfast, goes well with chops for lunch as well
Hi Ian, thank you so much for the lovely review! A fantastic Sunday breakfast that doubles up alongside chops for lunch, now that’s getting your money’s worth! So pleased you’re enjoying it. Hope it stays on the weekend rotation.
Absolutely delicious
Definitely will be making this again
A great simple Shakshuka recipe. I added some sweetener to the tomatoes and adjusted the seasoning and cumin to get that “just right” flavour.
Thanks for the lovely review Simon!
Absolutely gorgeous I put chorizo and kidney beans and green chillies for a bit of spice we had it with Crusty doughy bread just amazingly tasty dish
I can’t believe with these simple ingredients can make such a nice dish. Eggs can cook many different dishes but this is really delicious. Every dish from eggs we all sprinkle green onion. This Shakshula is suitable for a warm dinner in a short time.
We really enjoyed trying this recipe at our home. Thank you so much for publishing this
I wasn’t sure I’d be a big fan of this. I made it as we were running low on food but I had everything in to make this.
It was sooo good!! My partner has now requested we have this weekly 😁
Another great recipe – thank you !
Great recipe to try in this quarantine! ….. thank you so much for this update.
Nice blog to follow while preparing recipes.Thank you so much for sharing with us.