Chorizo nachos is a flavorful twist on the classic appetizer. These fully-loaded nachos are piled high with beans, verde salsa, sour cream, cheese, and fresh vegetables.
I think I found my new favorite way to make nachos. I love chorizo, so I was exploring new ways to incorporate it into my cooking and came up with the idea to make nachos. Let me tell you, it is a winner. These nachos are loaded with all of your favorite ingredients but different enough to be new and exciting.
Chorizo Nachos
Traditional nachos use ground beef flavored with taco seasoning, however, chorizo makes a phenomenal substitution since it is already aggressively seasoned with similar flavors. Like any nachos, these are highly customizable to fit your preferences, although I am happy to give you my recommendations.
Idea: Other creative ways to make nachos would be to use Mexican shredded beef or the shredded pork from any leftover posole. Or go a completely different route with my BBQ Irish Nachos.
Nacho Toppings
- Tortilla chips - I prefer to find hearty tortilla chips to use for nachos. Thin chips get soggy and limp quickly when sitting under juice from salsa, beans, and cheese sauce.
- Chorizo - You want to purchase pork chorizo in casings, since you are looking to cut it out of the casing to fry up like ground hamburger. If your store sells bulk chorizo without casings, that is even better! Buy extra and make my chorizo chili recipe too!
- Black refried beans - Refried beans go great on any nachos, but black refried beans pair particularly well with verde salsa and chorizo.
- Verde salsa - The tangy flavor of tomatillo salsa is best, but you can substitute traditional salsa instead in a pinch.
- Nacho cheese sauce - For me, nachos just aren't nachos without a cheese sauce. Adding shredded cheese is nice, but it doesn't give me that warm melty sauce I crave.
- Shredded cheese - I think a little shredded cheese compliments the nacho cheese sauce well. Use your favorite, whether that is taco cheese, cheddar, pepper jack, or a mix of each.
- Sour cream - All nachos need sour cream, right? Feel free to dress it up further with my cilantro lime sour cream.
- Fresh vegetables - Any combination of onions, jalapeno, avocado, and cilantro is perfect for finishing off chorizo nachos.
How to make nachos
The best nachos are briefly baked in the oven to warm the chips. 3 minutes on a sheet pan at 350 degrees is sufficient. I bake the chips alone because I am not looking to warm the other ingredients.
The most important trick when making nachos is to layer the chips. This prevents the chips on top from being covered in all the toppings and the chips underneath lie bare. To do this, I spread half of the chips on my serving tray and sprinkle with the chorizo and beans. I then pile on the remaining chips and add the rest of the toppings.
You can choose to layer more ingredients as well, it is just mainly important you put the chips down in two layers with something else in-between.
Chorizo Nachos
Ingredients
- 14 ounce bag tortilla chips
- 1 pound chorizo (casings removed)
- ½ cup chopped red onion
- 15 ounce can black refried beans
- 16 ounce jar verde salsa
- 15 ounce can nacho cheese sauce
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ½ cup shredded cheese
- 1 ripe avocado (chopped)
- 1 lime (juiced)
- 1 jalapeño pepper (thinly sliced)
- 1 green onion (thinnly sliced)
- ¼ cup loosely packed chopped cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add chorizo and red onion to a skillet set over medium heat. Cook until chorizo is cooked through and onion is tender.
- Pour bag of tortilla chips on a large sheet pan. Bake in the oven for 3 minutes, or until tortilla are warm to the touch.
- Heat refried beans and nacho cheese sauce in small saucepans on the stovetop, or in bowls in the microwave.
- Peel and chop the avocado and toss it in the juice of one lime. The lime juice will prevent browning and add additional flavor to your nachos.
- Assemble the nachos by placing half of the chips on your serving tray. Top evenly with chorizo and refried beans. Add remaining half of the chips and add salsa, cheese sauce, sour cream, shredded cheese, and fresh vegetables.
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