Matzo Brei Recipe – Classic Jewish Comfort Food for Breakfast, Brunch or Brinner
A few years ago, my hubby and I drove over to one of our favorite Los Angeles breakfast spots, Factor’s Famous Deli on Pico Boulevard. Factor’s is a quintessential deli with a big menu full of American-style Jewish delicacies. Usually, when we go to a deli, I order the same delicious breakfast—toasted egg bagel, cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and tomatoes. It’s sinfully yummy. But for some reason, on this occasion, I felt like trying something different. One dish stuck out to me, one I’d never tried before but had always been curious about…
Matzo Brei.
Now, I’ve been cooking Jewish food for several years, but because of my husband’s ancestry and birthplace I’ve focused more on the Sephardic side of the cuisine. Certain Ashkenazi dishes are foreign to me. While this dish is made by both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, it’s more of an Ashkenazi favorite. The only thing I knew about matzo brei was that it contained eggs and matzo. I like both eggs and matzo—the idea of the two being scrambled together was intriguing.
Not knowing any better, I’d always thought the dish was pronounced matzo bree. My hubby corrected me.
“It’s pronounced matzo brigh,” he said. “And it’s delicious. You should try it. It’s Stephen Spielberg’s favorite breakfast.”
How my husband knew that, I don’t know. So brei rhymes with try, huh? Feeling adventurous, I decided to try it and see what I was missing. The waitress came to take our order.
“I’ll have the matzo brei,” I said proudly, my pronunciation pitch-perfect.
“Would you like it salty or sweet?” she asked.
Yikes! I was caught off guard. “People eat it sweet?”
“Sure,” she said. “Some people like it with sugar. And some like it salty. It’s up to you.”
I was totally confused, but the thought of sweet eggs made me a little queasy. “Uhh, I guess I’ll have it salty?”
“Great,” she replied. “I’ll bring you a side of sour cream and applesauce, too.”
Sour cream and applesauce? With eggs? Maybe this breakfast experiment wasn’t such a great idea. But I wasn’t about to chicken out. I was in it to win it.
After about ten minutes, the waitress brought me a plate of matzo brei. It looked harmless enough, and it smelled good. I decided to dig in.
With my first bite, I tried the eggs and matzo on their own. Yum, I thought. Second bite, I tasted the eggs and matzo with a dab of sour cream on top. Double yum. Finally, I tried a bite with everything… eggs, matzo, sour cream, and applesauce.
Have mercy. I’m in matzo brei heaven.
Now I understand why some people like this dish sweet. After that first taste, I ended up piling on the applesauce. There’s something about that added sweetness that really enhances the egg/matzo mixture. I cleaned my plate. It’s the perfect comfort food, and it stuck with me all day… I skipped lunch.
What does matzo brei mean?
Matzo brei aka matzah brei, pronounce matzo brigh, as my husband so lovingly told me, translates to fried matzo since it’s fried in butter.
What is a typical Jewish breakfast?
While there isn’t a “typical” Jewish breakfast, there are some things that come to mind when you think of Jewish breakfast.. bagels and lox, matzo brei, french toast, blintzes – all of the Jewish daily staples. In Israel it’s also common to eat shakshuka and salads made from fresh produce and a simple olive oil dressing.
Fast forward to now. Matzo brei has become a regular part of our kosher for Passover meal rotation. It’s a great way to use up the extra matzo from the Seder. We eat it for breakfast, brunch and brinner. It’s so adaptable and tasty, we actually look forward to it all year!
How do you like your matzo brei?
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Matzo Brei
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 sheet matzo or egg matzo
- 1 tablespoon milk or water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Salt and pepper
Optional Extras
- Applesauce, sour cream, sugar, cinnamon, apples, nuts… you can even get creative and add grated cheese or diced veggies.
NOTES
Instructions
- Add eggs to a bowl and scramble with a whisk along with 1 tbsp milk or water until the eggs are nice and fluffy.Run a sheet of matzo under running hot water for 20-60 seconds until it just begins to soften. The amount of time you'll need to keep it under the water depends on the type of matzo you're using. Let it get soft, but don’t let it turn mushy! Shake off the excess water and reserve the matzo.
- Melt a tablespoon of butter in a skillet or frying pan over medium heat.
- Break the matzo into small pieces and place them in the skillet. Sauté the matzo pieces over medium heat for about a minute, until they are evenly coated with butter.
- Pour the scrambled egg mixture over the matzo pieces. Stir the eggs with a spatula until they are well combined with the matzo. Cook the eggs for about 2 minutes over medium, flipping and stirring continuously—don’t let the eggs sit, or they will overcook. You want the eggs to be cooked soft- not runny, but just barely cooked. Overcooked or browned eggs ruin the flavor entirely. As you are cooking, sprinkle in salt and pepper to taste. This would also be the time to add sugar, if you want a sweeter matzo brei.
- Serve the matzo brei immediately with a small side of applesauce and sour cream, or maple syrup if you like.
Nutrition
This appears to be an older article but I just happened to come across this and I just finished eating matzoh brei! My mom and now I, make it like French toast. Crumble the matzoh and soak in milk and whisked egg. While it’s soaking, heat up skillet with butter. After just a few minutes, transfer the matzoh into the skillet. Fry for maybe two minutes tops. Plate, top with more butter and maple syrup. Yum!! I am 75% Ashkenazi…
It was my first time making this and it was nice and simple. It came out great! I added some sautéed onions too. Thank you!
Quick and easy to follow. Yields a traditional tasting product.
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So much tastier than my mom’s recipe! Thank you :).
We are making this now, but we sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon sugar on our Matzah Brei. If you don’t try it with cinnamon sugar, you are missing out!
Chag Sameach!
Very delicious. It reminds me of my childhood breakfast. My mother always made fried eggs with a leftover starch. Sometimes noodles or chopped potatoes. Some veggies (often onion), maybe sausage, and of course egg.
I am enjoying this recipe for Pesach with whole wheat matzah, spinach, onion, KFP sausage, and cucumber salad on the side. I think it would also be delicious with cubed roasted sweet potato, fried in the pan.
Thank you for the recipe. Chag Pesach Sameach!
I love your cooking method!
I found that frying the matzo in butter until browned and crispy while adding ground cinnamon and a teaspoon or 2 of granulated sugar to help with the crispiness, them add the eggs and cook til dry- adding a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup at the end makes this even tastier!
I just made Matzah Brei the other day. I beat 2 eggs and break up 1 sheet of matzah into the eggs before scrambling. I also serve it with strawberry jam. It’s how my dad taught me to eat it. I’ll have to try your way next time!
Yours is by far the best matzoh brei recipe I have found! Absolutely delicious and like you said the key is not overcooking. I do add a little minced onion as it cooks and then I dip it in raspberry jam when it is finished!! I like it both sweet and savory!
04/10/2023; Nissan 19
Hi Tori…Chag Semeach Pesach
This.was.awesome! 🙂
I had never had matzo brei, until today. Wow, have I lead a deprived life. Even better, I made it.
Ok, I did do one thing different. I did not pre-wet the matzah under hot water. I whisked 4 eggs, added 20mL half and half (1 TBSP + 1 TSP); whisked until a little frothy. I broke up 2 sheets matzos into small pieces. When the butter started to melt in my skillet, I did a final whisk of the egg mix, dropped the matzos pieces into the egg mix, and stirred once. Set the timer for 2 minutes. After 45 seconds, I stirred the egg mixture a second time, and then again at 1:45 (a total of three stirs). When the timer went off, I dumped the matzo brei into my skillet and followed the rest of your directions. I had leftover charoset and sour cream for sides. Yowza!
Question: I am sure it is amazing with sauteed onions, but what about sauteed garlic?
Question: What other ‘sweet’ options are common for matzo brei, aside from applesauce?
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Made this matzo brei using vegan butter and vegan “eggs”. Superb!
Being a convert and my husbabd born jewush – i kearnedthusdish from my mother-in-law. She used onion flavored nyafat(chicken fat). Now we just use olive oil. Another difference is that we drop in dollops (large) of our favorite jam. People scoff but do you eat toast with jam when you have an egg breakfast? Try it – we’ve tried savory additions like z’atar and Mediterranean spiced sea salt but always go back to jams.
Nu? Whoever heard of sweet matzo and eggs? I never even heard of matzo brie until I was in my 40s. My Jewish mom from St. Louis made this dish by putting the soaked sheets of matzo into the egg mixture and proceeding just as you would for scrambled eggs. Nothing but salt added at the table. However, I married a Mexican man whose favorite snack in his youth was Fritos or potato chips sprinkled aplenty with Louisiana Hot Sauce. When I introduced him to this breakfast, he added that hot sauce. All four of our kids and I still eat it like that! (I now like Cholula hot sauce better than the Louisiana hot sauce.)
After reading all these comments, I’m going to try screwing up my courage and making some sweet versions!