24 Nacho Recipes For Football Season And Beyond

Nachos are loved for their straightforward prep and shareable nature, and there's no one size fits all when it comes to whipping up a batch. This crunchy, topping-loaded snack is endlessly adaptable, and over the years, we've tried our hand at a fair few variations. Many recipes keep things classic with Mexican-inspired toppings like cheese, avocado, and salsa, while others switch things up entirely, and experiment with flavors and textures that are a little more out there. And, the toppings aren't the only element you can customize. Tortilla chips might be the go-to base, but there's always the option to switch these out for a heartier alternative.

If nachos are a regular in your household, you might be loyal to a specific way of making them. However, sticking to one method means missing out on a whole host of delicious variations. There are so many tempting combinations to try when it comes to this beloved snack, and to save you the guesswork, we've compiled a selection of tried-and-tested nacho recipes to inspire your next batch during football season.

We're going straight in with an ultra-hearty, non-tortilla nacho recipe. These Irish nachos switch the usual chips for none other than golden potato rounds, that have been tossed with a medley of savory seasonings and oven-baked until crisp. Layered on top, there's spicy chili, melty cheddar, and a generous dollop each of guacamole and sour cream. Then, for a contrasting pop of freshness, we finish the stack with a sprinkling of jalapeños, green onions, and cilantro. Yum!

Recipe: The Best Irish Nachos

These easy sheet pan nachos take the classic approach, beginning with a layer of crunchy tortilla chips, and calling for crowd-pleasing Mexican-inspired toppings. Using rotisserie chicken keeps the prep super simple, and the succulent shredded meat tastes incredible alongside the melty cheddar, tangy tomato, and sharp red onion. The cilantro-lime sour cream adds creaminess to every bite, tying the rich flavors together beautifully. Finish them with a squeeze of lime and scattering of cilantro for the ultimate comforting game day snack.

Recipe: Easy Baked Nachos

Give nachos a dose of Mediterranean-inspired flavor with this fresh, wholesome twist on the traditional version. Baked pita bread triangles are the base of choice here, which still provide plenty of crunch, but offer a little more sturdiness and sustenance than tortillas. These are loaded up with a selection of creamy, herby, and tangy toppings, including hummus, roasted red peppers, parsley, and homemade tzatziki. The resulting dish is packed with color and savory depth, and feels a little more elevated than your everyday batch of nachos.

Recipe: Loaded Mediterranean Nachos

The bold, smoky flavors of carne asada make it an excellent choice for topping tortilla chips. Here, the skirt steak is marinated in a tangy orange, lime, and chili marinade before it's pan-seared to juicy, charred perfection. Then, the meat is ready for arranging over the chips with an array of complementary extras, including cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, and sour cream. These nachos are a satisfying, grown-up take on those made with the typical shredded chicken or ground beef, and they're perfect for special occasion snacking.

Recipe: Cheesy Carne Asada Nachos

Plant-based nachos can brings just as much excitement to the table as their meaty counterparts, and this recipe certainly doesn't skimp on flavor. There's a creamy sauce, crafted from cashews and carrots, plus smooth and spicy refried lentils, which offer a fun twist on the bean-based classic. Sweet caramelized onions bring even more aromatic depth, and pickled jalapeños add a dose of tangy heat. Of course, we have to finish with something fresh, and guacamole and pico de gallo are the perfect candidates for rounding out the stack.

Recipe: Vegan Refried Lentil Nachos

Chili and lime are an irresistible duo, and they shine in this meaty sheet pan delight. These ingredients are the stars of the chicken marinade, injecting heaps of spicy, zesty flavor into the meat before it's cooked, shredded, and scattered over the tortilla chips. To create a wonderfully silky cheese layer, we use melted Velveeta, and to balance out all of that richness, a selection of fresh, vibrant toppings and a drizzle of sour cream are a must. Once fully assembled, the nachos are bursting with bold flavor and visual appeal.

Recipe: Loaded Chili-Lime Chicken Nachos

If you're cutting back on carbs, or simply want to pack more nutrients into your nachos, switching the chips for cauliflower slices is a fantastic approach. The veggies are marinated in a chili, garlic, and lime mixture, then oven-baked to create an exceptionally flavorful and tender-yet-sturdy base for the medley of toppings. To keep things vegetarian-friendly, black beans are the protein of choice, and the Mexican theme continues with the colorful mixture of fresh veggies, chiles, cheese, and herbs.

Recipe: Cheesy Low(er) Carb Cauliflower Nachos

Pulled pork is always a comforting choice, with the slow-cooking method yielding a gloriously tender texture and rich flavor. And, it tastes even more delicious piled onto crispy tortilla chips. To save time, we use a premade version here, simply mixing the shredded meat with a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce. Then, to complement the melt-in-the-mouth pork, we add richness with grated cheddar, and crunch with a creamy homemade coleslaw, before boosting the freshness with pickles and jalapeños. 

Recipe: BBQ Pulled Pork Nachos

If you've never tried infusing queso with pumpkin, you're missing out. This vibrant add-in brings an irresistible earthy sweetness to the cheesy sauce, which tastes amazing alongside the other spicy and tangy components of these nachos. The chips are a blue corn variety, which give a base a striking look, and the black beans are seasoned with the perfect blend of warming spices and zesty lime. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Queso And Black Bean Nachos

These potato skin nachos really take the indulgence factor up a notch. The boat-shaped, crispy broiled skins are the perfect vehicles for loading up with a generous selection of toppings, and make the dish easier to portion up if you're serving it for a crowd. There's a mouth-watering blend of warm and fresh ingredients here, including an aromatic homemade queso, smoky crumbled bacon, and a creamy guac, with a final flurry of green garnishes adding a burst of brightness to each generously-filled skin.

Recipe: Potato-Skin Nachos With Queso

Who says nachos have to be a savory affair? In this somewhat polarizing recipe, the dish is transformed into a decadent dessert. You'll only need a handful of sweet staples and ten minutes of your time to whip this up, and the results might just surprise you. To balance the saltiness of the tortilla chips, they're tossed with sugar and cinnamon, and the layers of ice cream, chocolate sauce, and caramel ensure that the final dessert is delightfully sweet, creamy, and oh-so moreish.

Recipe: Ice Cream Nachos

Staying in the sweet realm, we have a lighter but still totally tempting option — apple nachos. The crisp texture of this fruit makes it an exceptional base for piling with toppings, and slathering them in gooey date caramel is an undeniably mouth-watering approach. Despite its creamy consistency, this sweet drizzle is actually vegan-friendly, and it pairs brilliantly with the crunchy granola and chewy dried cranberries. 

Recipe: Apple Nachos With Date Caramel

Featuring an impressive blend of rich, savory toppings, these simple sheet pan nachos hit all the right notes. A layer of spicy ground beef makes them super satisfying, and this is combined with all of the Mexican favorites, such as diced peppers, tomatoes, olives, and jalapeños. There's heaps of melty cheddar, too, and a trio of saucy toppings provide the perfect balance of fresh, creamy, and tangy flavors.

Recipe: Sheet Pan Nachos

We love the striking colors and contrasting textures in these BBQ pork nachos. The cheese sauce is a real standout, made with evaporated milk and three varieties of cheese for the ultimate rich flavor and silky consistency. Along with the smoky pulled pork, black beans, and sautéed peppers add plenty of heartiness, and amongst the traditional fresh toppings and sauces, pickled red onions are a notable addition, giving the nachos a welcomed hit of tangy sweetness.

Recipe: Tres Quesos BBQ Pork Loaded Nachos

Taco Bell's famous Triple Layer Nachos are a repeat order for many, but this delightfully cheesy dish is surprisingly easy to recreate at home. You'll need a bag of tortilla chips and just four other ingredients to make them — that's refried beans, nacho cheese sauce plus a splash of milk to thin it out to a pourable consistency, and some spicy taco sauce. The smooth, creamy texture of these additions creates a moreish contrast when they're slathered atop the crispy base.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Copycat Taco Bell Triple Layer Nachos

In just 15 minutes, you can have this vibrant nacho platter on the table, and it's sure to go down a treat. Atop the tortilla base, there's a classic trio of tender shredded chicken, melted cheddar, and black beans. Then, the fresh toppings come into play. Jalapeños liven things up with their spicy bite, and cilantro adds a zesty pop of color. Served with dollops of sour cream, this foolproof snack or appetizer is guaranteed to deliver on flavor and crunch.

Recipe: Sheet Pan Chicken Nachos

Steak is the perfect tool for levelling up your nacho platter, and we've cracked the ultimate seasoning blend for injecting the meat with punchy, Mexican-inspired flavors. Once coated and grilled, the juicy steak is diced up and scattered over the chips on a sheet pan with all of the usual suspects, from hearty refried beans to crunchy diced bell pepper. Finished with a refreshing trio of red onion, cilantro, and lettuce, this meaty sheet pan snack would pair well with an array of sauces, such as a herby chimichurri or cooling cilantro-lime crema.

Recipe: Easy Steak Nachos

Nachos for breakfast? Yes please! By swapping chips for waffle fries, and adding a handful of delicious, brunch-worthy toppings, we transform this snack into an indulgent morning meal. Layer one is fluffy scrambled eggs, which of course have to be paired with crispy bacon slices. But, we preserve some of that Mexican charm, too, adding black beans and cheese into the mix, and finishing everything with dollops of guac and salsa. You could absolutely serve this as part of a wider brunch spread, perhaps with fresh fruit, pastries, and steaming mug of coffee.

Recipe: Easy Breakfast Nachos

Give nachos a refreshing twist with this poke-style alternative. Crispy fried wonton wrappers form the base, and on top, there are chunks of umami-packed sesame-soy ahi tuna, and a crunchy seaweed salad. We have those all-important spicy elements, too, in the form of sliced serrano peppers and a creamy gochujang mayo, plus fresh cilantro and nutty furikake. It's a fantastically unique recipe that'll steal the show at any gathering, and a great way to turn the beloved poke bowl into something more shareable.

Recipe: Poke Nachos

This eye-catching creation proves that plant-based nachos are far from boring. Jackfruit is known for its meaty texture and ability to soak up flavors, and here it serves as an excellent alternative to pulled pork or chicken. The drained and shredded jackfruit is incorporated into a rich, saucy topping for the nachos, cooked up with aromatics, spices, canned tomatoes, and a punchy chipotle purée. Combined with a tempting array of Mexican-inspired toppings, vegan cheese keeps things melty and rich, and you could easily forget that there's no meat in sight here.

Recipe: Plant-Based Chipotle Jackfruit Nachos

Totchos are the heartier cousin of nachos, made with fluffy-crisp tater tots instead of tortilla chips. This small-batch recipe is ideal for whipping up at any time of the day, requiring just 15 minutes and your trusty air fryer. The tater tots are crisped up separately first, then adorned with the satisfying toppings, which include favorites like black beans, shredded lettuce, and salsa. The finished dish offers all of the Mexican-inspired flair you'd expect from nachos, in an even more comforting form.

Recipe: 15-Minute Air Fryer Totchos

Reaching for the slow cooker is a fail-safe way to give chicken breasts a fall-apart tender texture, and in this recipe, we take things one step further, blending the meat with a game-changing add-in — cream cheese. This makes this shredded chicken nacho topping ultra-rich and luscious. And, to balance this cooling element with some spicy tang, we incorporate Rotel chilies and tomatoes. The resulting warm, cheesy chicken nachos offer a versatile base for customizing with your favorite fresh toppings, like sliced black olives or cilantro.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Nachos

These shredded chicken nachos are truly the definition of fully-loaded. No element is forgotten here, with the toppings comprising the ultimate medley of creamy, spicy, and tangy elements. There's no less than four types of shredded cheese sprinkled over, and the tortilla chip base even gets an aromatic upgrade with a drizzle of garlic-infused oil before baking. We can only describe it as an expertly curated selection of ingredients, where freshness meets melty warmth, and the vibrant presentation is sure to impress.

Recipe: Truly Ultimate Chicken Nachos

In this meaty comfort-food mashup, saucy ground beef is piled onto the crunchy chips, bringing the beloved flavors of a traditional sloppy Joe sandwich to your platter. The beef mixture is packed with spicy, savory depth, thanks to Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and chili powder, and to make everything a little more nacho-esque, there's a creamy cheese sauce, too. Garnished with jalapeños and yellow onion, this fun fusion recipe is oozing with nostalgic, diner-style vibes.

Recipe: Sweet And Savory Sloppy Joe Nachos

Static Media owns and operates Tasting Table, Mashed, Chowhound, and The Takeout.