Chicken Nachos recipe

Chicken Nachos is everything you know and love about nachos, made with juicy shredded Mexican CHICKEN! With mandatory melted cheese, quick guac and a dollop of sour cream, this nachos recipe is weekend worthy yet easy enough for dinner midweek.

You’ll love how juicy and flavour loaded the chicken is!

 Chicken Nachos

I have it in my head that when most people think of nachos, they automatically think of a ground beef/ mince topping, like this Beef Nachos.

I have absolutely nothing to back me up on that statement, it’s just my personal opinion. 😇

So the entire premise on which I’m sharing this CHICKEN nachos recipe is that it’s something a little bit different to the usual. A nachos so outrageously delicious, a certain food blogger was inhaling pictured nachos like she was never going to eat again.

Lift / munch / eat / repeat. Now that’s an arm workout I’m happy to do many reps of!

Chicken Nachos ingredients

So here’s what goes in my Chicken Nachos. I make it with just essential toppings because the chicken itself is loaded with great flavour.

1. Juicy shredded Mexican Chicken – the exact same recipe I use for Chicken Tacos, except I reduce the sauce down a bit more (thicker sauce = crisper chips)

2. Quick Guac – it’s a dump and mash job. Potato masher, to be exact. Avocado, coriander/cilantro, lime, salt and pepper, mash as you would potato. Very effective!

3. Cheese – a nachos without cheese doesn’t exist in my world 😇

4. Jalapeno, coriander/cilantro and sour cream – basic toppings. A touch of freshness goes a long way with nachos!

Best cheese for nachos?

My favourite cheese for Nachos is Monterey Jack because it has flavour with a bit of stretch like Mozzarella, and it melts well without going greasy but doesn’t get that crusty brown top like Mozz (which is not a good thing for nachos, can end up pulling entire layer of cheese off).

Cheddar, tasty cheese, Colby and shredded Mexican Cheese blends are also firm faves, but any melting cheese will do here.

🇦🇺Australia – I get Monterey Jack and shredded Mexican Cheese blends at Costco. Excellent value – and the shredded cheese freezes 100%.

Chicken for Nachos

And here are the ingredients that go in the chicken for Nachos which, as mentioned above, is the exact same recipe I use for Chicken Tacos. (PS For the chicken, thigh, breast or tenderloin all work great here)

How I make nachos in the oven

This recipe is a nachos that’s baked in the oven, but I’m also going to tell you how to make it in the microwave. Because while one might turn their nose up at the thought of microwave nachos, it’s a damn convenient option to have for various circumstances one might encounter in life (including emergency munchies, and also the millions / billions of people in the world who don’t have ovens eg. much of Asia).

To bake it in the oven, it’s as simple as a double layer situation: chips -> chicken -> cheese -> repeat -> bake 5 minutes.

Guess what? Nachos chips DO NOT GO SOGGY if you microwave them! Cheese melts darn fast in the microwave. 🙂 Way faster than it takes for corn chips to become soggy!

How to make nachos in the microwave

To make nachos in the microwave:

• make dinner plate size single layer batches
• spread one layer of chips on a plate
• top with chicken then cheese
• microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the cheese to become bubbly

And here’s proof that the chips don’t go soggy – all the cheese pull shots were done with a quick microwave to remelt the cheese. And it took many MANY takes!!😂

A big, fat, juicy, cheesy nachos recipe

I am a firm believer that a Nachos should be able to stand on its own two feet even without extra toppings like guacamole and sour cream.

So I promise you this – the chicken topping for this nachos recipe has flavour aplenty, plus it’s nice and juicy so you’d happily devour this nachos even if you find yourself short on toppings.

As long as you have cheese.

I take no responsibility for devourability if you attempt this without cheese! ~ Nagi x

More weekend worthy munchies

• Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread – if you haven’t tried it, you haven’t lived…
• Homemade Movie Popcorn – ultra buttery, and stays crisp for DAYS!
• Spring Rolls! PS They can even be baked! 
• Truly Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings
• Crispy Roasted Parmesan Potatoes – seriously so good to munch on as a snack!
• Browse for more Weekend Munchies

For complete transparency – the nachos you see in the video is about 2/3 of the recipe below which serves 4. I wanted it to fit on a cake pan so it looked decent for photos, rather than having a pile in the middle of a baking tray.

But of course, as it always happens when I try to be efficient and do the photos and video using the same batch, the nachos was completely butchered after shooting the video so I had to make it again for photos!

Watch how to make it

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Chicken Nachos

Author: Nagi

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 10 mins

Total: 25 mins

Mains

Mexican, Tex-Mex

5 from 7 votes

Servings4

Tap or hover to scale

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Recipe video above. Crispy chips loaded with juicy Mexican shredded chicken, plenty of melted cheese and toppings of choice. Your new favourite way with nachos! This chicken is a terrific all-purpose Mexican chicken, especially great in Tacos.

Ingredients

Nachos

• 250g / 8 oz tortilla or plain corn chips (Note 1)
• Shredded chicken for nachos , recipe follows
• 250g / 8 oz (2.5 cups) shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (Note 2)
• Quick guacamole , recipe follows
• Toppings: Sour cream, Coriander / cilantro leaves, Jalapeno , sliced or chopped

Chicken for Nachos

• 700 g / 1.2 lb chicken thighs or breast , skinless boneless (Note 3)
• 1.5 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 cup (250ml) chicken broth, separated (liquid stock)

Homemade Nachos Meat Seasoning

• 3 tbsp lime juice (Note 4)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 2 tsp EACH garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano
• 3 tsp EACH cumin powder, paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt and pepper , each

Quick Guacamole

• 2 avocados , medium
• 3 tbsp coriander/cilantro , roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp lime juice (1 large)

Instructions

Chicken for Nachos

• Place Nachos Seasoning ingredients in a bowl. Add 2 tbsp of the chicken broth and mix to form a loose paste.
• Add chicken, turn to coat in paste. 
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken for 3 minutes on each side (reserve paste left in bowl). Remove chicken into a shallow dish.
• Return skillet to stove. Add remaining chicken broth, tomato paste, sugar and scrape in any paste left in the bowl. Mix to dissolve, scraping base of pan, and bring to simmer.
• Meanwhile, shred chicken with forks, or chop (don't worry if raw inside).
• Return chicken into sauce, toss and simmer for 3 minutes until sauce reduces down to a thick sauce. Adjust salt to taste. Keep warm.

Quick Guacamole:

• Place ingredients in a bowl. Use potato masher to mash to desired consistency. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Nachos:

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
• Place half the corn chips slightly overlapping on a tray. Top with half the (warm) chicken and cheese.
• Top with remaining chips and cheese. Bake 7 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
• Garnish with coriander/cilantro and jalapeño. Serve immaterial with quick Guacamole and sour cream.

Recipe Notes:

1. Corn Chips - use sturdy chips that can hold up to the weight of all the toppings! I like lightly salted or even unsalted - I find full salt corn chips too salty with all the toppings and cheese. Favourites - Natures Earth from Harris Farms, Tostitos lightly salted Tortilla Chips and Macro Organic Corn Chips (latter 2 from Woolies, Coles). But Doritos and other mainstream brands will do in a pinch!

2. Cheese - my favourite cheese for Nachos is Monterey Jack* (see post for more info). Cheddar, tasty cheese, Colby and shredded Mexican Cheese* blends are also firm faves, but any melting cheese will do here. I skip mozzarella because it doesn't have as much flavour as other cheese.

* 🇦🇺Australia - Get these at Costco

3. Precooked meat - make this with any shredded or diced precooked chicken or other meat (eg Carnitas) that's not overly seasoned with other flavours as follows: Make seasoning paste per recipe, toss through cooked meat, then sear lightly in the pan to reheat and make a bit golden. Remove from pan, and proceed with recipe as written. If precooked meat is already well seasoned, scale back the salt & spices in this recipe slightly (use recipe scaler at top of recipe card)

4. Lime juice - loads of sub options here, just need something to help make a loose paste that adds either sour OR sweet. Lemon juice, cider vinegar, rice vinegar, or even orange or apple juice, or other plain fruit juice (can't taste it at the end). If using a fruit juice can probably skip sugar in sauce. Last resort - just add tiny splash of water.

5. Nutrition per serving, includes chicken, corn chips, cheese and guacamole. Excludes sour cream.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 754kcal (38%)Carbohydrates: 56g (19%)Protein: 37g (74%)Fat: 44g (68%)Saturated Fat: 6g (38%)Cholesterol: 142mg (47%)Sodium: 1066mg (46%)Potassium: 1134mg (32%)Fiber: 10g (42%)Sugar: 4g (4%)Vitamin A: 400IU (8%)Vitamin C: 17.9mg (22%)Calcium: 140mg (14%)Iron: 3.6mg (20%)

Keywords: chicken nachos, nachos recipe

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Life of Dozer

I went to the bathroom and came back to find him in THIS position….

Note the fluffy white blanket at the bottom. That covers HIS designated section of the sofa. So not only has he left drool on my MacBook, he’s breached his sofa boundary.

Naughty Dozer!