Mexican molletes

Breakfast (or any meal, to be honest) can hardly get more comforting than this easy and delicious Mexican creation. Molletes loads cheese, beans and salsa fresca (pico de gallo) on bread and is as tasty as it sounds.

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When I first went to Mexico years ago, my parents came to visit at the end and we spend a few days based in Mexico City, seeing the sights there and going out of town on day trips. We packed a lot in to a few short days and there were so many great things we saw.

We also had some pretty great food, including chicken mole and ice creams/sorbets such as avocado paletas and watermelon sorbet.

I particularly remember some delicious breakfasts, which before then had never really been my thing. Since childhood, I was lucky if I had as much as a banana or slice of toast, apart from the occasional eggs and bacon if we had them on the weekends.

In Mexico, though, I discovered the delights of huevos rancheros and molletes.

What are molletes made of?

This is a pretty simple dish - it is simply an opened up bread roll topped with refried beans, cheese and pico de gallo (also known as salsa fresca). In some ways, it's like a Mexican grilled cheese.

It's a combination that both satisfies your hunger and feels heartily comforting, too. Plus, another part of its popularity is that it consists of things you would typically have in a Mexican kitchen anyway and it takes mere minutes to prepare.

The name actually comes from a type of bread in Southern Spain, though it's a little different than what you use here. An Andalucian mollete is a round bread roll that is also popular for breakfast, but there you typically just toast and drizzle the bread with oil.

What kind of bread should you use?

For the Mexican dish, you typically use bolillos, which are small French baguette-style rolls. They have a distinctive shape with pointed ends and a rounder middle. If you can't find them, you can use mini-baguettes, or country-style rolls. Really, almost any white rolls that aren't too dense or too full of holes.

In terms of the refried beans (frijoles refritos), you can use either the pinto bean or black bean version. Store-bought is fine for speed, but they are also really easy to make from scratch yourself.

Refried beans can also be very easily re-heated, so they are ideal to make to go with a meal, then use leftovers in this for breakfast a day or two later (or vice versa).

On cheese, you have a few choices - Mexican Oaxaca cheese is pretty traditional (it's a firm, meltable cheese similar to a dry mozzarella), but you could also use monterey jack or mozzarella. Cheddar could work, too.

Molletes might not be as well known as some other Mexican dishes, but I think it might just be because it's so simple, it's kind of a national secret comfort food. Who knows, but it's definitely one cheesy sandwich you want to try!

Looking for more international breakfast ideas? Try these:

• Menemen (Turkish scrambled eggs)
• Swiss Bircher muesli
• Huevos a la flamenca (Spanish flamenco eggs, with chorizo and ham)
• Plus get more breakfast recipes and Mexican recipes in the archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store. 

This post was first shared in April 2018 and has been updated, primarily with new photos.

Are you a grilled cheese fan? Try these other ideas on the theme:

• Bacon Brie Paninis by Bear & Bug Eats
• Butter Poached Lobster and Smoked Gouda Grilled Cheese by A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Cajun Tuna Grilled Cheese by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Grilled Cheese and Pepper Sandwiches by Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Grilled Guacamole and Cheese by Palatable Pastime
• Open-Faced Grilled Caprese by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Pear and Taleggio Grilled Cheese by The Redhead Baker
• Three Cheese Bacon and Jalapeno Grilled Cheese by Daily Dish Recipes

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