Our Favorite Nachos

Our family loves this nachos recipe. It’s simple, made on one big sheet pan, and loaded with taco meat, beans, and all our favorite toppings.

We usually turn this into beef nachos, but you can absolutely make it your own. I’ve shared plenty of tips below to help you customize. We start with our favorite taco meat, then pile on all the good stuff.

My best tip for making nachos at home is using a sheet pan (I do it when making shredded chicken nachos, too). It gives you plenty of room to spread out the tortilla chips so every chip gets its fair share of cheese and toppings. It makes serving easy, too. I set the whole pan down in the middle of the table, and we all dig in.

Key Ingredients

• Ground meat: Our photos show ground beef, but you can use ground turkey, ground chicken, ground pork, or really any ground meat you have on hand in our recipe below. We like a little fat, but not too much, or else the meat turns out greasy. Look for 7% to 10% fat.
• Beans: These are loaded nachos, so we add two kinds of beans. Rinsed, canned black beans and refried beans. I usually use canned refried beans (Siete is my favorite brand), but you can always make your own (here’s our refried beans recipe or refried black beans recipe).
• Taco Seasoning: I know you can buy packets at the store, but trust me, our taco spice blend is so much better. Also, I bet you already have all the spices you need to make it in your spice cabinet. You’ll combine chili powder, ground cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano, and salt together. It’s easy and makes the taco meat extra delicious. Another option is to use this taco seasoning recipe, which makes a larger batch and has a few optional ingredients for flavor.
• Tomato Paste and Stock: These bring everything together. A little tomato paste deepens the rich flavor of the meat and spices, and the stock keeps it from drying out.
• Tortilla Chips: A standard bag of chips should do the trick. Choose chips that are a little thicker so they hold up to all the toppings. If you are really pumped, you can always make your own. Here’s our tortilla chips recipe.
• Toppings: Our family adds cheese (use a melty one like cheddar or Monterey Jack), then we add guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, pickles of some kind (try pickled onions, pickled jalapeños, or candied jalapeños), and sliced olives.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Nachos

Tip 1: Make the taco meat. For the best flavor, let your ground meat get a little golden and crispy. I like to press it down in the skillet and let it sit for a minute or two so it really gets some color. Sprinkle in your spice mix and use a wooden spoon to break everything into crumbles. To keep things juicy and flavorful, stir in a couple of spoonfuls of tomato paste, then add your stock and beans.

Tip 2: Toast the chips first. Spread your chips out on a big baking sheet (a little overlap is totally fine). Pop them in the oven for a few minutes until they’re warm and just a bit toasty. Scatter half of the cheese on top and bake again until it’s nice and melty.

Tip 3: Top the nachos. Once your chips are cheesy, spoon that delicious meat-and-bean mixture all over. Sprinkle on the rest of the cheese and bake just until everything is gooey and perfect. This only takes a few minutes, so keep an eye on it.

Tip 4: Add lots of toppings. Now the fun part! Add a variety of toppings to the melty nachos. I love adding multiple spoonfuls of sour cream and guacamole all over, so everyone gets a chance to have that perfect bite.

More Crowd-Friendly Recipes

• 7 Layer Dip
• Black Bean Dip
• Queso
• Cheesy Bean Dip
• Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
• Spicy Glazed Chicken Wings