Baked Nachos 21-Jun-2011

This is surprisingly simple and so delicious! I first had baked nachos from a little hole-in-the-wall burrito place in Santa Clara, whose name escapes me now. They had great burritos though, and this was what they made of nachos!

Ingredients

• 8 oz restaurant-style tortilla chips (Mission, Tostitos, etc)
• 2 oz cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 oz pepper jack cheese, grated
• 4 oz ground beef
• taco or fajita seasoning
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup salsa (to your taste) (or use pico de gallo)
• guacamole
• sour cream

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350&degF;.
2. Brown the ground beef with the onions and the seasoning mix well. Drain.
3. Place a doule layer of foil on a cooking tray, curling up the edges of the foil to form a leak barrier
4. Spread the chips on the foil
5. Layer the ground beef mixture onto the chips, spreading out so it covers well
6. Layer the cheese on the beef and chips
7. Place salsa around at various spots (you don’t want to use too much or cover too heavily)
8. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes – be careful not to let the chips burn!
9. Serve with sour cream and guacamole for garnish’

Variations

• See SimpleNachos for a quickie version – not as good, but ok for quick nacho emergencies!
• If you like jalapeños, feel free. Even better would be to go all the way to roasted jalapeños, aka chipolte.
• You can put in practically any sort of meat, seasoned properly: chicken (pollo), steak (carne asada), pork (carnitas). Or even leave out the meat entirely, cheese nachos bake up really well!