All the flavour of Nachos….with far less guilt! This is how you can get your Nachos fix midweek. A big slice of this Nachos Pie has only has 420 calories!
Nachos is one of those universal foods that everyone loves, whether health conscious or not! But let’s face it – the calories in a pile of nachos goodness isn’t the best for our health. Does it stop us? Never! BUT it means we can’t eat nachos as often as we like.
So I present to you….midweek Nachos Pie! All the flavour, much of the crunch, with far less calories to satisfy your Nachos craving any day of the week!
This is like a mash up of lasagne and Nachos. Nachos flavoured ground/minced beef cooked with beans layered between tortillas, topped with corn chips, cheese and an avocado pico de gallo. I love that it can be sliced and served up like a pie!
You can be as generous as you want – or not – with the corn chips. With a dish like this, 6 or so corn chips per serving seems to go a long way and that is a LOT less than the 20 30 or so I’d ordinarily scoff down for Nachos!
It’s also surprising how far this recipe goes. I used to think it was just for 4 – but really, it serves 6 quite generously. Or even 8 for ordinary people.
I filled out the beef filling with red kidney beans but you can substitute with any type of beans you want. Or you could even cut down the amount of beef in this even further and add other vegetables – corn, diced zucchini and bell peppers (capsicum) would be fabulous in this!
You will find the filling very saucy. The reason is that the extra sauce is used to top the final layer. The alternative is to make the filling and a separate sauce, but to me that’s just too much effort for midweek! So I make it all in one pan then use a slotted spoon to scoop out meat for the layers without too much sauce, then pour the sauce over the final layer.
SO TASTY! I could eat this every night. I just adore Mexican food (real and Tex-Mex!).
– Nagi x
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Nachos Pie
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion , diced (brown, yellow, white)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 13 oz / 400 g ground/mince beef (use lean!)
- 1 oz / 28 g packet Taco Seasoning OR make your own - see Note 1
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 700 g / 24oz tomato passata or pureed canned tomatoes (Note 2)
- 1/2 cup water
- 14 oz / 400 g canned red kidney beans (or any other beans), drained
- 3 - 4 soft tortillas (flour or corn) - for layering
- 1 cup grated cheese (I used mozzarella, but any melting cheese is fine)
- 2 oz / 70 g corn chips
Pico de Gallo (optional)
- 1/2 avocado , diced
- 1 large tomato , deseeded and diced (Note 3)
- 1/4 spanish (red) onion, diced
- 2 tbsp lime juice (fresh or bottled)
- 3 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
To serve
- Sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat the over to 350F/180C.
Filling
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.
- Add the garlic and onion, and cook until translucent.
- Add the beef and cook, breaking up into pieces, until browned. Add the Taco Seasoning and pepper about halfway through browning the beef.
- Add the tomato passata, water and beans. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened but still very saucy. Remove from heat.
Assemble & Bake
- Lay a tortilla in a pie dish (24 cm / 9 inch diameter). Use a slotted spoon to top with just under 1/2 the meat. Try to avoid using too much sauce so sort of "shake" each spoonful to drain out sauce.
- Top with another tortilla + torn/cut pieces of another tortilla to cover completely.
- Top with the remaining meat, again avoiding the sauce.
- Top with remaining tortillas, then pour over all the sauce (and any residual meat).
- Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. If you're worried about overspill, place it on a baking tray.
- Remove from the oven, cover with corn chips then scatter with cheese. Bake until the chips are a bit golden and the cheese is melted - 10 to 15 minutes.
- Serve, topped with Pico De Gallo and Sour Cream on the side, if using.
Pico de Gallo
- Combine ingredients in a bowl. Toss and adjust salt/pepper to taste.
Recipe Notes:
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp sea salt + more to taste 2. Tomato passata is just pureed tinned tomatoes. Nowadays it is readily available in supermarkets, usually alongside pasta sauces. It costs just a tiny bit more, sometimes the same, as canned tomatoes. If you can't find it, puree canned tomatoes or use crushed canned tomatoes. 3. To desseed a tomato, cut it in half and use a teaspoon to scoop out the watery seeds inside. 4. Make it gluten free by using corn tortillas. 5. Nutrition assuming 6 servings, excluding sour cream.
Nutrition Information:
 LIFE OF DOZER
And…the usual Dozer shot. No Dozer! No Nachos for you!
How hot is the taco seasoning? I have made a supposedly ‘mild’ one for my kids and it was still too much for them, and I agree it wasn’t as mild as store bought mild seasoning.
That is a really cool idea that you have combined the pie and nachos together. Looks delicious, I;m going to try this one out.
I am a little obsessed with this…..it is so YUM!!! I just generally love taco flavours! 🙂
Mike and I went to the coast for my birthday! I LOVE the Oregon Coast, it is probably similar to your Southern Coast ( SO weird to say South is colder weather for you- did you KNOW you were backwards 😉 !!?? lol ), colder than other ‘beaches’, but this past weekend it was 85 degrees! at the coast!! And In Portland it was 98 degrees! Nagi we have had almost 20 days of over 90 degree weather this summer and still almost 2 months to go! MOST Oregonians are wanting it to RAIN! I will be jealous of you come November 😉 when you have fresh strawberries, blueberries etc. YOU ARE THE BEST NAGI! Seriously 😉 Lisa x
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!! I hope Mike spoilt you ROTTEN! I’m so glad to hear you are having such gorgeous weather 🙂 We are a bit spoilt here in Sydney! If it gets too cold for you at the end of the year, come on over to Sydney!! N x 😉
Oh dear God, Nagi! You had me at it’s, ‘like a mash up of lasagne and Nachos’. I lie, you actually had me at just nachos. I’m totally sold! I seriously have nothing but ice cream and lettuce in the house. It’s 10pm, I haven’t had dinner, and now I’m starving after seeing this! I knew if I looked at your blog this would happen! Why do I tourture myself?!
Seriously, you’re making me really hungry 😉
Ice cream lettuce cups? I see that happening soon on your blog!!! Tee tee!
Nachos are my guilty pleasure for SURE. This pie is genius, Nagi! Mmmm.
I know, right? Evil, yummy food…. He he! 🙂
Only 420 calories for this yum of a pie?! Wow!! We say YES!!
Julie & Alesah
Gourmet Getaways xx
Thanks Julie! N x
I LOVE nachos but yours beat anything I’ve ever eaten. OMG these are to die for!
Thanks so much Marueen! 🙂 N x
Love, love, LOVE this idea!! I’m a Mexican food freak and nachos are allllways yummy 😀 I’m pretty sure I could eat this at least once a week 🙂
Thanks Amanda! I’m a total Mexican food freak too, just can’t get enough of it. I don’t think I’ve ever had a Mexican dish that I haven’t LOVED!
I had a version of this at a local Marina and was wondering how I could duplicate it. This is exactly what I was served and it was delicious. Thank you for this. I cannot wait to make it tomorrow.
Oh wow, no way! A restaurant was serving something like this? Cool! I feel like that validates it!! He he! 🙂
These nachos totally have my name written ALL over it! And yes, I am definitely guilty of eating 50 nachos when I order it from a mexican restaurant. This nachos pie is made for me!
You? No! You are so tiny, not possible!!;)
I think my family would go nuts if I made this for dinner! And the hubby would be shocked to learn how low in calories it actually is. So much fun Nagi!
FAB food for the family Allie!! Not as schmancy as the incredible, seriously incredible sweet treats you bake, but still delish!
I love this! I will make it this weekend. My family will love it.
Gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing!!
Hope you do Stephanie! GREAT weekend food! 😉
The word ‘genius’ is thrown around often but in this case it is true! What a wonderful dinner idea – Misses 7 and 9 would explode with happiness if I served this. And poor Dozer – just a nibble for the doggie?!
Oh yes, Misses 7 and 9 will LOVE this!! You might have to sneak in a few extra corn chips for them though! 😉
I love this recipe Nagi! I could certainly for for this for lunch! Very creative and great photos!
Thanks Joanne! 🙂