This poached egg, tomato, and feta dish is quick and easy to make, tasty, and hearty enough to be breakfast, brunch, lunch, or even dinner. We usually only poach as many eggs as we eat on the day we make it and save the rest to reheat and serve with fried eggs. This shakshuka is slightly spicy. For a bit more spice, I would use either two jalapeños or increase the chili powder to 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL). Serve with good bread or warmed pita or tortilla.

Low-sodium Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas and Feta (Shakshuka)

Loosely adapted from Bon Appétit Test Kitchen

Serves 4

Ingredients

• • 1/8 cup (30 mL) olive oil
  • half of a medium onion, finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
  • 1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1 15-ounce (425 g) can chickpeas, drained
  • 2 teaspoons (10 mL) paprika
  • 1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 mL) chili powder
  • 1 28-ounce (794 g) can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand, juices reserved
  • 1/2 cup (118 mL) water
  • freshly ground pepper, to taste
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/8 cup (19 g) coarsely crumbled feta cheese
  • 2 teaspoons (10 mL) chopped flat-leaf parsley or cilantro

Directions

1. Heat up a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, heat up the olive oil for half of a minute. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño and cook, stirring often, until the onion softens and becomes translucent, about 6 minutes.
2. Add the chickpeas, paprika, cumin, and chili powder and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes and their juices and the water. Bring to boil, then simmer over medium-low heat until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Season with freshly ground pepper.
4. Make small dips in the sauce for the eggs. Crack the eggs and carefully pour an egg in each dip. Swirl or baste the egg whites with the tomato mixture, taking care not to break the yolks. Cover the skillet and simmer until the whites are set and yolks are still runny, about 5 minutes. (Uncovered, the whites should set in about 8 to 10 minutes.)
5. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with most of the feta and parsley or cilantro.
6. Serve onto individual plates and sprinkle with additional feta and greens, to taste.

Process photos

First set of ingredients

Drained chickpeas and spices

Before adding the tomatoes

Tomatoes, hand crushed, in their juices

Simmering the shakshuka

Shakshuka is ready to serve

Tips

Sources of sodium

• Feta
• Chickpeas
• Tomatoes
• Eggs

Approximate sodium intake per serving: 437 mg

• 208 mg from the feta, which has 316 mg per 1 oz (28.4 g) serving
• 106 mg from the chickpeas, which have 130 mg per 1/2 cup (130 g) serving
• 53 mg from the tomatoes, which have 35 mg per 1/2 cup (123 g) serving
• 70 mg from the egg

• These values are calculated from the nutritional labels of the ingredients I used

Modifications

• Increase the sodium

  If you aren’t worried about your sodium intake, season the shakshuka with salt to taste before cracking in the eggs. You may also want to use more feta cheese.

• Decrease the sodium

  If you’d like to further reduce the sodium intake, you can do the following:

  • Use canned chickpeas that have no added salt or soak your own chickpeas ahead of time.
  • Use fresh tomatoes. Chop 5 large, very ripe tomatoes to use instead of the canned tomatoes. You may also wish to peel the tomatoes before chopping them.
  • Use less feta cheese.

Did you make this?

• If you recreate this recipe, I’d love to know! Leave a comment here and tag @alickofsalt on social media.