Eggs in Purgatory

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Italian Eggs in Purgatory is an easy Italian dish that uses basic pantry ingredients and takes less than 30 minutes.

Served with lots of crusty bread for dipping and dunking, this is a meal the whole family will love.

four poached eggs in tomato sauce in black pan viewed from above.

Table of Contents

1 Why you'll love this recipe
2 Ingredients notes
3 Ingredient substitutions
4 Variations
5 Instructions
6 FAQ's
7 Serving suggestions
8 More midweek meal recipes
9 Recipe
10 Eggs in Purgatory Recipe
11 Ingredient substitutions
12 Variations
13 How to store and reheat
14 Can this recipe be made ahead?

Why you'll love this recipe

Tomatoes, in all forms, are a staple in my kitchen and quite likely, in yours. Italian recipes often use tomatoes.

Recipes like minestrone and ragu sauce for pasta use canned tomatoes, passata, paste or fresh tomatoes. What about the intense flavour of sun-dried tomatoes? Sun-dried tomatoes add a flavour hit to recipe like my zesty italian pasta salad and this tasty quick bread. Then there are some recipes where the main ingredient is tomatoes, like this one.

Eggs in purgatory is an excellent midweek meal when everyone is hungry and short of time. Serve it with crusty bread for dunking into all that delicious tomato sauce!

This recipe is a traditional southern Italian dish usually served as a meal. The eggs are said to be the "souls" in the spicy, red, bubbling sauce which represents purgatory.

You might also like to make my fantastic chicken sorrentino if you are looking for another dish to serve with this one.

For complete ingredient quantities and full instructions, please scroll to the printable recipe card bottom of the page.

Ingredients notes

chilli flakes; salt; eggs; tinned tomatoes; grated parmesan cheese; oil; fresh basil; garlic on wooden board viewed from above.

This recipe used some basic ingredients. You'll need:-

canned whole tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
eggs
onion
garlic
chilli
salt
Parmesan
fresh basil

Ingredient substitutions

You may not have these exact ingredients but you still want to make Eggs in Purgatory. While it won't be quite the same dish, the ingredients can be substituted for what you have in the kitchen and your tastes. Here's a few options:-

fresh (peeled) tomatoes, passata, or canned crushed tomatoes for canned whole tomatoes
regular or light olive oil for extra virgin
spring onion, leeks or shallots for the onion
powdered, granular or bottled garlic for fresh garlic
pecorino, romano or another hard cheese for Parmesan
fresh parsley for basil

Variations

This recipe can be varied in so many ways so each time you make Eggs in Purgatory it's a little different.

spicy or not so spicy - adjust the chilli flakes to your liking
add a can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or other canned beans to the tomato sauce
drop in chunks of feta cheese after you add the eggs for a double cheese hit
when the onion is half done add a cup or so of chopped vegetables like zucchini or capsicum (sweet peppers) and sauté until softened
don't like poached eggs? - prepare the sauce and serve with fried eggs or fried halloumi cheese
double the amount of sauce ingredients for lots of delicious tomato goodness

Instructions

Making this recipe is quite easy. Anyone can do it and have a nutritious, satisfying meal in less than 30 minutes.

Four images: image 1 - chopped onions in a black pan; image 2 - crushed tomatoes pouring into black pan; image 3 - crushed tomatoes in black pan; images 4 - four raw eggs in tomato sauce in black pan.

Gently fry chopped onion in olive oil.
Add crushed tomatoes, garlic and chilli flakes.
Simmer for 10 minutes until slightly reduced.
Crack eggs into the sauce, cover with a lid until eggs are set to your liking.

FAQ's

poached egg in tomato sauce and slice of toasted bread in grey bowl, black pan of eggs and tomato sauce partly out of the picture viewed from above.

How to store and reheat

Serve poached eggs immediately. However if you have leftovers, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a day or two. Reheat gently in a skillet on the stove with the lid on or in the microwave oven for a few minutes until heated through. The eggs won't be gooey anymore but it will still be yummy.

Can this recipe be made ahead?

Make the tomato sauce a day or even three days ahead. Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat then reheat in a skillet on the stove and continue the recipe from step 8.

How do I adjust the servings?

Just as in all my recipes you can adjust the quantities for serving more or less. All you have to do is click into the white box that has the serving size and increase or decrease to the quantities you want. As you adjust the number of servings, the ingredients will adjust automatically. This recipe is easy to make for one or many. I like to allow two eggs per person.

Serving suggestions

Poached eggs in tomato sauce in black pan, fingers holding toasted bread dipping into egg.

This rustic Italian recipe is best served with crusty Italian bread - toasted or untoasted. Variations of this dish are found in other cultures using different spices, vegetables and cured meat. Accompaniments for those variations are different breads like pita or tortilla. So I can't see why you couldn't serve your favourite bread to dip into the poached eggs and tomato sauce.

If you are looking for dessert and want to stick with the Italian theme you will absolutely love my delicious Cannoli Cake. Takes a bit of time but definitely worth it.

More midweek meal recipes

Frittata with ham and cheese
Egg White Frittata
Rice Stuffed Tomatoes
Spanish Asparagus with poached eggs from Spain on a Fork
Bacon and Egg Slice from Sweet Caramel Sunday
Bacon and Egg Galettes from It's Not Complicated

Made this recipe?
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Italian Eggs in Purgatory