Ground beef nachos are a tasty appetizer, snack, or meal. Loaded with your favorite cheese and toppings, this dish is simple and tasty. Perfect for a fiesta-inspired plateful of awesome.
Beef Nachos Recipe
You’re going to love this ground beef nacho recipe because it’s such an easy loaded nachos recipe. Packed with diced tomatoes, onions, cilantro leaves, and all the fixin’s, this crunchy savory, spicy dish is perfect for sharing. Of course, you can also keep it t yourself too, and once you take a taste, you’ll see why it’s easy to hog it to yourself.
I love making nachos. It’s such a fabulous recipe that can please the young ones and us older ones too. I mean, you really can’t go wrong when you’ve got tortilla chips and cheese. The combination was practically made for one another.
Homemade Beef Nachos Ingredients
- Ground beef
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Taco seasoning
- Salt and pepper
- Tortilla chips
- Cheese
Optional Toppings for Beef Nachos
- Tomatoes
- Black olives
- Cilantro
- Sour cream
- Avocado
- Guacamole
- Pico de gallo
- Pickled jalapenos
- Lime wedges
How to Make Nachos with Ground Beef
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. If desired line a pan with foil to help with clean-up later.
- Brown your ground beef in a skillet over medium heat. Once almost completely browned, drain grease from the pan.
- Add in the olive oil and the diced onions.
- Cook until the ground beef and onions are cooked. The onions should look almost translucent in color.
- Add in the taco seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Set the ground beef mixture aside (off of the heat).
- On your sheet pan, spread out half of the tortilla chips.
- Sprinkle with half of the ground beef mixture and then top with half of the cheese.
- Repeat the layers (chips, ground beef, and then cheese) using the remaining beef, cheese, and chips.
- Bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted.
- Top as desired with tomatoes, black olives, cilantro leaves, sour cream, or any toppings you desire.
What is the best way to layer nachos?
- Spread a single layer of chips on the pan you’re going to use.
- Spread a single layer of cheese and beef on top of the chips.
- Repeat until the chips, cheese, and ground beef filling are used up.
- Once the nachos are cooked, top with additional desired toppings.
Beef Nacho Recipe FAQ
The answer depends! I love sharp cheddar, but Monterey jack is also fantastic because it melts beautifully. If you like more spice in your life, give pepper jack a try. If it’s in the cheddar or jack family, it’s probably a safe bet for ground beef nachos or any tex-mex dish.
I like to layer the cheese on the nachos first because it acts like a glue to hold the ground beef mixture to the chips.
Yes (and no). You can prepare the ground beef mixture, allowing it to cool completely and have it set aside in a covered bowl or airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can even have the cheese shredded in advance in a similar style in the fridge for up to a week or two, but I do not recommend assembling the nachos until you’re almost ready to serve.
If you prepare the nachos on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge, it can be okay for up to 3 or 4 hours before heating, but anything longer than that can possibly result in soggy or stale chips, which we’d like to avoid when possible.
The key to making nachos without getting soggy is to make sure the ground beef mixture doesn’t have excess liquid. As the recipe is written here, it doesn’t so your nachos should turn out nice and crispy.
Yes, to reheat your nachos simply place them back into the 400 degrees F oven for a minute or so until the cheese is warmed. You can even take a serving’s worth and place it in the microwave for 30-45 seconds. I recommend being careful when reheating as too much cooking can cause the cheese to become hard and chewy.
How to Store Homemade Nachos
Storing homemade nachos isn’t recommended. Chips that aren’t eaten right away will soften and turn stale. It is also hard to reheat nachos without burning the already melted cheese. Instead of storing homemade nachos, make a smaller batch of finished nachos. Then, store the leftover individual ingredients separately until you’re ready to eat nachos again.
Looking for more dinner ideas with ground beef?
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Ground Beef Homemade Nachos
Ingredients
For the Ground Beef Nachos
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup onion chopped fine
- 3 tablespoons taco seasoning see note
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 bags tortilla chips
- 2 cups cheese sharp cheddar, montery jack, or pepper jack
Optional Toppings
- 3/4 cup tomatoes diced
- 1/2 cup black olives sliced thin
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a skillet over medium heat, begin to brown ground beef.
- When ground beef is almost browned, remove any excess oil from the pan.
- Add the olive oil and onions to the pan with the ground beef.
- Cook until the onions are almost translucent.
- Add the taco seasoning (see note), salt and pepper.
- Set the ground beef mixture aside.
- On a sheet pan, spread half of the tortilla chips.
- Sprinkle half of the beef mixture over top.
- Sprinkle half of the cheese over top.
- Repeat layer with second half of the chips, ground beef mixture, and cheese.
- Bake for 5-7 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
- Top as desired with tomatoes, olives, cilantro, sour cream or any other toppings you like.
Sandy says
This sounds delicious!!! Cannot wait to try it out on my family for Super Bowl Sunday!
Alli says
I hope you love it!
Alli says
We love this quick dinner!