Let me introduce you to your new favourite chicken nachos recipe.
Chicken nachos are easily one of our family’s top-10 favourite weeknight meals. The crunch of the corn chips, the gooeyness of the melted cheese, the freshness of the salad topping… it’s a beautiful thing. It’s a little bit cheeky, and a little bit healthy. And the fact that I can race in the door at 5:45pm and have it on the table, ready to eat, by 6:00pm doesn’t suck.
The secret to these fast, delicious chicken nachos is rotisserie chicken.
It’s a great way to serve chicken without having to cook it yourself first. While I love cooking from scratch a lot of the time, I am certainly not above grabbing a bag of hot chicken at the store once in a while! I will often use rotisserie chicken for wraps or sandwiches, and use the leftover chicken for nachos that night.
Not accustomed to piles of salad on top of your chicken nachos?
Don’t knock it before you try it! The salad makes you feel a bit better about the whole corn-chips-for-dinner thing, and it actually makes the nachos extra delicious. I mean, it’s a scientific fact that shredded lettuce is the perfect pairing for Mexican flavours.
There is nothing fancy about my chicken nachos recipe.
No secret tricks or expensive gourmet ingredients. No hidden surprises. Just tasty, easy, honest cooking (if you can call a 1.5-minute zap in the microwave “cooking”). My favourite kind of recipe (if you can call a list of ingredients that you dump together in a bowl “a recipe”).
These chicken nachos are easily customizable
Substitute anything you like for the chicken. Got leftover taco meat? Use that instead. Prefer a vegetarian version? Omit the chicken for canned black beans. Want to do something random? Try using ham or bacon instead – you know that would be delicious. Sub in shrimp or fish or tofu or whatever your dreamy little heart desires. It will all be good.
Note: The recipe specifies that you should use an avocado. An eagle-eyed reader might note that the pictured nachos are not, in fact, sprinkled with the tell-tale green flesh of nature’s greatest fruit (yes, it’s a fruit). Apparently when the husband is in charge of picking up the groceries, you’re supposed to specify “ripe avocado that can actually be consumed by humans”, or you risk ending up with one that is better suited to being smashed through a window with a poorly written anonymous threat taped to it, and may ripen by next Christmas if you’re lucky.
Aaaaaanyway.
Are you ready for some delicious nachos?
I’m ready for some delicious nachos.
My kids are ready for some delicious nachos.
Let’s dive in, face-first.
(By the way, if easy weeknight meals are your jam, let me encourage you to check out my master list of our family’s favourite weeknight meals – these are the actual meals that are on regular rotation in our home!)
And let me know in the comments what your family LOVES on their nachos! I’m always looking for nacho-spiration.
How to make chicken nachos
Easy Weeknight Chicken Nachos
Ingredients
- 380 g original flavour corn chips
- 390 g jar salsa
- 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
- 3 cups shredded cheese
- 1 avocado diced
- 2 tomatoes diced
- 2 cups shredded lettuce
- 2 spring onions thinly sliced
- 1 tub sour cream to serve
Instructions
- Place 4 microwave-safe bowls on the counter. Lay a single layer of corn chips over the bottom of each bowl.
- Top corn chips with half the salsa, half the shredded chicken and half the cheese. Microwave each bowl for 60 seconds or until the cheese has begun to melt.
- Create a second layer by topped the bowls with the remaining corn chips, salsa, shredded chicken and cheese. Microwave each bowl for 60-90 seconds, or until the cheese is melted and the chicken is heated through.
- Top each bowl with handfuls of shredded lettuce, avocado, tomato, a sprinkle of spring onions and a spoonful of sour cream. Serve immediately.
Notes
15-Minute Weeknight Chicken Nachos (quick & easy recipe!)
