Loaded Nachos

How to Cook Loaded Nachos

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1. Heat the oven to 200°C / 390°F.

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2. If using beef, fry it in the oil over high heat for 8 minutes until well browned, add the spices and salt, and cook 2 minutes more. Drain off excess fat.

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3. Line a large baking tray with foil. Lay half the chips out in a single layer with minimal overlap — this is the part people skip and it is the whole technique.

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4. Scatter over half the beans in small spoonfuls, half the beef (if using), half the cheeses and half the jalapeños.

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5. Repeat with a second layer of chips, beans, beef (if using), cheese and jalapeños.

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6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes until the cheese is fully melted and just beginning to brown at the edges.

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7. Top the hot nachos with pico de gallo, guacamole, soured cream, spring onions and coriander — all of these go on after baking, never before.

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8. Serve straight from the tray with lime wedges.

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Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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Things to Watch For

1. Grate your own cheese. It is the single biggest difference between good nachos and greasy ones.
2. Drain the pico de gallo well. Watery salsa is what turns a tray of nachos to mush.
3. Cold toppings on hot nachos, always. Baking guacamole or soured cream is a crime against both.

Changing the Recipe

• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• Lemon is the everyday swap for lime in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.

A Little Background

Grated block cheese melts into a sheet where pre-shredded cheese, coated in anti-caking starch, breaks into greasy pools. Building in two thin layers rather than one thick pile means every chip gets cheese and nothing steams into softness under the weight above it.

What to Serve It With

Cold beer or a margarita · Extra salsa and hot sauce · A game on television

Keeping Loaded Nachos

Nachos do not keep. Prepare the components ahead — beans, beef and salsas all keep 3 days — and assemble at the last minute.

Nutrition per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

Vegetarian when made without the minced beef.

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