Chicken Nachos [Video]
Chicken Nachos is everything you know and love about nachos, made with juicy shredded Mexican CHICKEN! With mandatory melted cheese, quick guacamole and a dollop of sour cream, this nachos recipe is weekend worthy yet easy enough for dinner midweek.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Nachos
- 250 g / 8 oz tortilla or plain corn chips (Note 1)
- Shredded chicken for nachos recipe follows
- 250 g / 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)
- 1½ 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 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 3 tsp cumin powder
- 3 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- ½ tsp salt and pepper – each
Quick Guacamole
- 2 medium avocados
- 3 Tbsp coriander/cilantro roughly chopped
- 2 Tbsp (1 large lime) lime juice
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.
How 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.
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.
2. Cheese – my favourite cheese for Nachos is Monterey Jack, 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.
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.
