Loaded Nachos an Easy Finger Food for Dinner

By Melissa Pasanen

How much better would suppertime be if you didn’t have to yell at your teens to set the table ― and if they were interested enough in what you were cooking to help make it?

I don’t know a teen that would turn down nachos for supper. They’re finger food, they’re fun, and – with a few tweaks – you can work together to make them into a well-rounded, crowd-pleasing family meal.

Loaded nachos are a fallback supper in our house. Tortilla chips and salsa are staple snack items for my two teenage sons and canned beans are always in the pantry. The recipe also happily accepts almost any left-over meat or vegetable hiding in your fridge. (You know there are some lurking in there.)

Your kids can pretend they’re on Top Chef and show off their knife skills on the onion. (A quick safety tutorial may be in order first.) Then all they have to do is brown the onion before adding fresh ground meat to the pan (or chopped left-over chicken, pork or beef), mixing in a couple more ingredients, opening a bag of chips, showering the whole thing with grated cheese, and throwing it in the oven to get melty.

This recipe is so easy teens can even do it themselves. At the very least, they can help grate the cheese and layer the nachos.

Dinner is served, silverware optional. Your family will love you. I promise.

Loaded Nachos is a popular family treat.

Loaded Nachos

Vegetable or olive oil
4 scallions, white and light green parts trimmed and thinly sliced, or a small onion, diced
½-pound ground meat (turkey, chicken, or lean ground beef) or leftovers, diced, per above
1 teaspoon ground cumin (if you have it around)
½ teaspoon salt
1 (15-ounce) kidney or black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15.5-ounce) jar salsa or can diced tomatoes with extra left-over veggies
About ½ of a (14-ounce) bag tortilla chips
2 tablespoons sour cream (light is fine, as is plain yogurt), plus more to serve
1 ½ cups (about 6 ounces) grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil a large but shallow round or 9 by 13-inch oblong baking dish
2.     In a large skillet, heat a couple teaspoons of oil over medium heat and add scallions or onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 to 5 minutes until softened and golden. Add meat, ground cumin, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, 7 to 9 minutes, until meat is browned and there are no traces of pink.
3.     Stir beans and salsa (or diced tomatoes and left-over veggies) into meat. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer.
4.     Meanwhile, spread tortilla chips in prepared baking dish. When meat and bean mixture has come to a simmer, take off heat and stir in 2 tablespoons sour cream. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed, being aware that tortilla chips are salty. Pour mixture evenly over tortilla chips. Top with grated cheese.
5.     Pop in oven for about 15 minutes until cheese is melted. Serve with additional sour cream dolloped on top if desired. Serves 4 to 6.

Go Veggie: Use two kinds of beans and add some thawed frozen corn to the skillet.

Picky Kid Tip: If you have a kid who can’t stand beans, try mashing them roughly with a potato masher before you add them to the skillet and they will be much less noticeable.

Melissa Pasanen lives in South Burlington with her husband and their two omnivorous teenage sons. She is co-author of the New York Times notable cookbook, Cooking with Shelburne Farms, and a freelance journalist with a specialty in food and farming. Her work appears regularly in regional and national publications. Comments, questions, ideas? Contact Melissa Pasanen at mpasanen@aol.com.