These easy Nachos are loaded with bold flavors and are perfect for sharing. They’re a great appetizer, game day snack, or fun family dinner.
Chips and melty cheese are the ultimate Appetizer for any party! Other variations to try include my Pulled Pork Nachos and Taco Bell Nachos BellGrande.
Why You’ll Love These Nachos?
- Swap toppings, pile them high, or use whatever you have on hand. This recipe is a great starting point for creating your perfect plate.
- Set them in the middle of the table and let everyone dig in. They make dinner feel like an event, not just another meal.
Sabrina’s Nachos Recipe
These nachos are the kind of recipe that makes any meal feel a little more fun. Crispy, cheesy, and perfect for sharing, they’re great for game days, parties, casual dinners, or anytime you’re craving a satisfying snack. You can also have fun experimenting with different nacho toppings to introduce new flavors to this classic dish. This recipe includes some classic favorites, but you can easily add more of your own depending on what you like. Pile them high, mix and match your toppings, and make a plate that’s completely your own.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Nacho Cheese Sauce:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 10 ounces evaporated milk
- 4 cups cheddar cheese
Ground Beef:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cup water
To Finish:
- 8 cups yellow tortilla chips
- 1 cup pico de gallo , drain liquid
- 1 cup guacamole
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup green onions , thinly sliced
Instructions
Nacho Cheese Sauce:
- Add butter to a large pot on medium heat.
- When butter melts add in the flour, chili powder, salt, onion powder and cayenne pepper; whisk well to combine.
- Slowly pour in the evaporated milk while whisking constantly.
- When the mixture starts to come to a simmer, add in the cheese and whisk well to combine.
- When smooth and melted, use to top the nachos immediately.
Ground Beef:
- Add all the dry seasoning ingredients to the water and stir well.
- Add ground beef to a large skillet on medium-high heat and break it apart as it cooks, 6-8 minutes until no longer pink.
- Pour the taco seasoning water mixture into the pan and stir well.
- Let cook until almost all the water has evaporated.
Nachos:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Add chips to your parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 7 minutes.
- Move chips to a serving platter.
- Pour the nacho cheese sauce over the chips
- Top with pico de gallo, guacamole and sour cream.
- Sprinkle with green onions.
Nutrition
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Note from Sabrina
Because this recipe makes a large batch, it’s great for serving at a party. Following the directions, you’ll have enough meat and cheese toppings for 8 cups of tortilla chips. You can always put different topping options on the side instead of adding them directly to the dish. That way, your guests can add what toppings they like and leave the rest off.
Table of contents
About this Recipe
Nachos are a fun dish that you can get at movie theaters, sports games, and Tex-Mex restaurants. It’s no wonder they’re so popular. The crisp and salty tortilla chips with a warm Queso Topping make the ultimate snack food. These loaded Nachos have even more amazing flavors with taco meat, Guacamole, sour cream, and Pico de Gallo all piled over the chips and cheese base.
Ingredients
- Cheddar Cheese: The shredded cheddar cheese makes up a bulk of the flavor for the homemade queso topping. Cheddar cheese is great because it has a familiar but delicious flavor and melts easily into the other sauce ingredients for a smooth cheesy topping.
- Evaporated Milk: The evaporated milk gives the recipe a rich, creamy dairy flavor and wonderfully silky texture. But results in a lighter consistency than heavy cream would, which makes it perfect for this pourable cheese sauce.
- Flour: The mix of melted butter and flour make up the base of the cheese sauce. The flour thickens the queso, while the butter makes it creamy, smooth, and rich.
- Ground Beef: You’ll need a pound of defrosted ground beef to make the taco meat. It’s up to you if you prefer using lean ground beef or one with a higher fat percentage. The dish turns out a little more flavorful with 80/20 fat content. But if you’re looking to make the recipe a little lighter, you can easily swap that for 90/10.
- Taco Spice Blend: Use an easy homemade taco spice blend to flavor the ground beef to perfection. The spice mixture includes ground cumin, kosher salt, chili powder, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. It’s a great seasoning blend for lightly spicy, classic taco meat. Making the taco seasoning yourself also makes it easy to swap out some of the spices or introduce new seasonings according to your taste.
- Chips: For traditional style, you’ll use regular yellow corn tortilla chips. The chips have a pretty neutral flavor that lets all the delicious toppings shine. They’re also pretty sturdy, so you don’t have to worry about them falling apart under the layers of beef, cheese, sour cream, and other delicious Nacho toppings.
Can this be made ahead of time?
While they are best served fresh, you can prepare some of the components ahead of time to make assembly quick and easy. Prepare your toppings and any meat or beans in advance, then store them separately in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to serve, layer everything over the chips and bake until hot and bubbly. Assemble them just before baking to keep the chips crisp and prevent them from becoming soggy.
How to Store
- Serve: After assembling them, serve the recipe while the chips, cheese, and meat topping are still hot. This dish is at its best enjoyed fresh and shouldn’t be left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: I wouldn’t recommend storing the Nacho ingredients together. If you don’t think you’ll finish the recipe all at once, store the meat and cheese topping separately. They can stay good in the fridge for up to 5 days. Then you can reheat the ground beef and nacho cheese on the stovetop and layer them over fresh chips to serve.
- Freeze: Likewise, you could seal the nacho cheese and ground beef in separate freezer-safe containers to keep frozen for up to 3 months. Then let the ingredients thaw and reheat them before assembling them into a delicious, homemade Nacho recipe.
Frequent Questions
Mexican. Although they are also a popular Tex-Mex dish, they originated in Mexico. More specifically, they hail from Piedras Negras. The city even has an International Nacho Festival to celebrate the creation. The delicous snack food is now popular throughout the US.
Cheddar cheese is one of the most popular toppings for Nachos, and it’s what’s used in the melty cheese topping for this dish. Some other varieties of cheese that melt well are Colby Jack, Monterey Jack, Swiss, and Muenster cheese.
The best way to ensure your nacho chips can hold up the toppings and not get soggy is to prebake them. By toasting tortilla chips in the 400-degree oven, they become toasted and firm, perfect for holding the delicious Nacho toppings. Even so, they won’t stay crisp forever, which is why I recommend waiting to add the toppings until you’re ready to dig into this delicious dish.
Variations
- More Cheese: Along with making the Nacho Cheese topping, you can sprinkle the top of them with pre-shredded cheese. It’s a great way to introduce new cheesy flavors with different varieties like Colby Jack, Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, Swiss, Mozzarella, and Cotija cheese.
- Spicy Nachos: If you like a little more spice, you can top the melted cheese off with sliced jalapeno peppers or drizzle a little hot sauce over the dish.
- Bean Topping: Beans make a tasty addition to the original recipe. You can mix beans with ground beef for a warm, seasoned beef-bean mixture to top off the dish. For this option, add drained black beans or pinto beans to the ground beef mixture. Another bean topping you could try is spooning Refried Beans over the cheese and meat.
- Additional Topping Ideas: There are plenty of other optional topping ideas to try. Sliced black olives, fresh cilantro, crisp lettuce, bell peppers, corn kernels, diced red onions, or caramelized onions all taste amazing. Essentially anything you like adding to tacos would also taste great with this recipe.
- Meat Options: If you prefer, you could swap out the ground beef for other meat options like ground chicken or turkey. Or, skip over the ground meat altogether and instead top them off with Shredded Chicken or leftover Ribeye Steak.
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The ultimate nacho recipe! Layering the cheese and toppings properly so you don’t end up with dry chips at the bottom is the key tip here. They came out perfectly hot, bubbly, and loaded with flavor.
The only good nacho is a layered one, with all the toppings on each chip. Thank you for the 5 stars Charlotte!