Any excuse to eat Nachos works just fine, but today the excuse is legit: it’s National Nachos Day! As history recalls, Nachos are not traditionally Mexican, but they are made with Mexican ingredients. The dish was born when Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya found himself without a chef at the Victorious Club restaurant so he decided to rustle up something tasty for his guests. The only foods available in the kitchen were tortillas and cheese. He began making the dish by cutting the tortilla into triangles. The cheese was then melted and he topped the dish with jalapeno peppers to complete the first-ever recipe of ‘Nachos Especiales’ otherwise known as "Nacho's Special Dish".
There are many awesome things about this dish, but a particularly good one is the amount of ways you can prepare it. You can have spicy, beef, chicken, veggie, layered, pulled pork, etc… The possibilities are infinite and Nachos can become much more than a snack if your heart desires it so.
By Food Network’s standards, your Nachos dish starts off like this: Spread 8 cups of chips on a rimmed baking sheet or in a shallow dish. Add cheese and other toppings, then bake at 475 degrees F in the oven until melted, about 7 minutes. Like we said, the toppings are your choice, which is why we picked out our favorite ideas from all over. Food Network’s BBQ Chicken Nachos are super simple! Bring 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce and 1/2 cup water to a simmer. Add 4 cups shredded cooked chicken; heat through. Top tortilla chips with the chicken and 3 cups shredded cheddar. Bake, then top with chopped scallions. And once you’ve mastered this technique, you can make Buffalo Chicken Nachos by making the BBQ Chicken Nachos with wing sauce instead of barbecue sauce. Strain the chicken (reserving the sauce), and spread over ranch-flavored tortilla chips with the cheddar. Omit the scallions. Top with blue cheese, chopped celery and the reserved wing sauce.
Start your day off right with Stephanie of I am a Food Blog’s recipe of Breakfast Nachos; she uses Tater Tots as a base for nachos instead of chips, then bakes them with plenty of cheese, fresh jalapenos and green onions, and tops them with fried eggs. The recipe would be great with straight-up chips instead of Tots, too. Also a great option for Meatless Mondays are ‘The Colorful Kitchen’s’ Vegan Cheesy Kale Nachos: Ilene loads crispy baked kale on corn chips and tops the dish with melted vegan cheese, sliced avocado and salsa. Take this recipe a step further by adding vegan refried black beans, tofu sour cream and fresh cilantro for the ultimate vegan comfort food.
To end on a sweet note, Restless Chipotle’s Marye Audet suggests her scrumptious Dessert Nachos: she takes nachos for a sweet spin with her grilled dessert nachos, topping fried wheat tortilla strips with caramel sauce, white and milk chocolate chips, chopped pecans and fresh cinnamon sugar.
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