The Art of the Nacho: Taking Chips and Cheese to a New Level

I would love to use my publication to share simple, tasty recipes that anyone can follow. This week Andrew Smith has been kind enough to share with us his recipe for Easy Nachos.

It was 1943 and a group of U.S. military wives who were stationed at Fort Duncan in Piedras Negras, Mexico ventured out to a local restaurant but unfortunately arrived after it had closed for the day.

Unbeknownst to them this would become the birthplace of one of our all-time favorite snacks, the nacho!

These women were hungry and needed at least a quick snack. Ignacio Anaya, the restaurant's maitre d quickly came up with a simple and delicious dish by layering tortilla chips with melted cheese and sliced jalapeño peppers.

He named this impromptu creation "Nachos Especiales" after his nickname "Nacho." He had no idea that he was part of a great moment in culinary history.

Photo by Herson Rodriguez on Unsplash

Over the years Nachos have evolved from being a humble snack of chips, cheese, and jalapenos to an epic meal of different meats, beans, and salsas, all topped off with the ubiquitous guacamole and sour cream.

Today as we take a spicy look at the nacho, the one and only Andrew Smith of Goatfury Writeshas been gracious enough to share his Easy Nachos recipe with both you, and me. I will now let Andrew walk you down his melty, cheesy path, let’s go!

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Easy Nachos

The other night, I was making a staple in my household these days: nachos! I immediately thought to myself that this recipe would be a big hit with a lot of folks, but that thought was followed immediately with a question: what do I have to add to the culinary arts? Brian is a legit credentialed chef and has been in the practice of cooking for decades, and I've just been fiddling around at home for the last 20 years, give or take.

Then it hit me: you can either take your time and make something incredibly neat and precise and proper, or you can make something convenient that's not quite as precise and proper, but still delicious. In other words, instead of prioritizing the gourmet aspect, I prioritized the convenience aspect. 

You know what? Convenience is awesome. Brian's piece on an easy chicken soup recipe you can make when you're sick got me thinking: convenience is important, particularly if you can preserve most of the gourmet elements of a dish. 

Without further ado, here's my simple recipe for chicken nachos! 

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Easy Gourmet-ish Chicken Nachos

This recipe feeds two hungry people, or maybe four folks who are somewhat less hungry.

You'll need to cook the chicken first, and you can certainly do this ahead of time if necessary- just refrigerate the chicken until you need it later on (I would use it within a day or so). A really easy way to do this is by bringing some water to a boil, adding 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and reducing heat to simmer for 30 minutes or so. Turn the water off and let the chicken sit for a few minutes, then drain it in a colander. It's okay to run a little water over the chicken to cool it down here, especially since you'll be seasoning it soon.

Once the chicken has cooled down, I like to shred it with my hands. It should just kind of rip apart into little ropes, making each bite really easy to eat, and making the chicken spread more uniformly. Put the shredded chicken into a large bowl, and add a tablespoon or two of taco seasoning (or Tajín and a little steak seasoning if you have those for some reason). Mix it all up in the bowl with your hands, and set the seasoned chicken aside. 

Start with a layer of tortilla chips on the bottom of a baking pan--you can use a sheet tray for this, but if you have a deeper pan like the one I used, you can layer the nachos. For a lazier approach, though, don't worry about layering--just bake them in the oven to even out the cheese.

Put that chicken on top of the nachos, taking a minute to put a roughly equal amount of each chicken onto each chip. How precisely you do this is up to you, and there's really no wrong answer here. Then, layer with a third to half a bag of shredded cheddar cheese. 

Here's what it should look like, more or less, when you're in the middle of sprinkling the cheese on:

Next, pop the pan into the oven and turn the oven on to 350. For evenly melting cheese, you can just turn the oven off when it hits 350 and let the nachos sit while you're doing the prep; this works well for me because my oven takes a few minutes to heat up. 

Now's the time to cut your veggies up. I strongly prefer to shred the lettuce as much as possible, but even if you have something like spring mix, you can put that right on top of the nachos with no prep necessary. Dice 1/3 or 1/2 of an onion and one medium or large tomato, and cut 2 limes in half (if you like fresh lime juice on your nachos; and if not, what even is the purpose of life?). You can squeeze those limes directly onto the diced onions, creating a sort of marinating delight.

Once that oven beeps and you turn it off, it's just a matter of time and preference. Get them out of the oven when you're ready, and portion the chips/cheese/chicken into a large bowl for serving. 

Top them with hot salsa (unless you like the milder stuff), shredded lettuce (that's your bed), diced tomatoes, and that delicious diced onion/lime mixture. If you like spicy stuff, some pickled jalapenos on top will bring this delightful treat home. 

Here's a finished pic from the other night!

 Thank you so much to Andrew Smith of

Goatfury Writes

for sharing your simple and delicious recipe with us! If anyone would like to share an easy yet tasty recipe with me and my readers, please let me know in the comments. Thank you for reading!