My name is Hannes. I made this blog because I want to share my food experiences with you guys because food is very important: it rules or lives. When you have no food, you will be hungry and sad. You can even die by not eating. Food is one of the most important things that exist. So that did me thinking, why not share what I know about it to the rest of the world. And you found me!
Hopefully you agree with most of the things you read on my blog. If you have got something to add, make sure you place it in the comments!
If you live in Hasselt and you want to eat a good Italian dish in à cozy restaurant, you have to go to La Sardegna. Because it is à restaurant in the center of Hasselt, you don’t see how nice and cozy the restaurant on the inside. You just see a terraced house. But when you go inside, you first pass the kitchen, where you can see that the food is freshly made when you order it, the Cook makes a very vegetable in à different pan with very much care. Then you go to à table and sit down. If you look around, you see à lot of typical Italian stuff on shelves and painted on the walls, they painted it so well that it looks as if you are eating in Italy. The food there is amazing, you have to try their pizza polo, never ever had such a good meal.
My favorite dish is definitely a nacho plate, because it contains the most delicious ingredient such as cheese sauce, the beef you wish and of course Nachos. I ate it the first time on vacation. It was in a restaurant in which there was a chef that was specialized in making nacho plates. I didn’t even know you could specialize in that. It was delicious! These days, my mom makes it sometimes at home. I and my brothers are always delighted when she cooks it. And It is very difficult to find a plate that everyone loves when you are with 7!
If you want to make the dish yourself, just scroll a little down: there I’ve put the recipe already.
NACHOS
When entertaining friends and family, especially when entertaining or watching a big game, if you are like me you want to keep it simple. Nachos can really be a “throw it all together and enjoy” type of thing.
When I’m entertaining, I love those type of recipes.
I get easily distracted and side tracked, so complicated recipes are a no-go if I’m trying to make something while interacting. This is such a great option to throw together quickly and easily while hanging out with your guests. They can even help out.
Sometimes we get so focused on creating the perfect meal when entertaining, that we get more wrapped up in that than spending quality time with our guests.
INGREDIENTS
WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE IN NACHOS?
Tortilla Chips
Cheese
Toppings
Tortilla Chips
Start with your tortilla chips. Any brand you like will do.
That said, I do recommend that you avoid using the thinner style tortilla chips. While I love the thin chips for eating with salsa, something with a bit more heft to it works well for nachos.
A standard size bag fits on a standard sized cookie sheet nicely.
Cheese
Once you have your chips on your baking sheet, it’s time for the cheese. For the standard size bag of chips, a one pound block of cheese works nicely.
In my opinion, the best cheese for nachos includes:
Cheddar
Monterey Jack (my personal favorite)
Colby
Pepper Jack
American (not my top pick, but very melty!)
Mozzarella (not the best on it’s own, but great as a combo)
A combination of any of the above
Grate Your Own Cheese!
Buying your cheese pre-grated works, but I find it never melts as well as when I grate it myself. If you look on the ingredient list for pre-shredded cheeses, you’ll notice that anti-clumping agents like cellulose added. Cellulose isn’t high on my list of toppings.
Grating your own cheese really is key to getting that great, cheesy, melty thing we all love with nachos.
As an added bonus, it’s almost always more cost effective to grate your own cheese.
That said, sometimes convenience just wins. So if pre-grated cheese is what works for you, then go with it. It will be delicious, I promise!
Liquid Cheese Sauce
As you can tell, these are not made with the liquid style nacho cheese sauce.
We prefer both the taste, and ease, of making our nachos with shredded cheese, and baking them in the oven.
TOPPINGS
After you have your tortilla chips and cheese, it’s time to start adding on your toppings. You truly can do whatever you want.
I prefer to start with room temperature or warm ingredients when possible. This helps with even cooking.
WHAT TOPPINGS DO YOU PUT ON NACHOS?
When it comes to nachos, you really can use whatever ingredients you like or have on hand.
Feel free to use ground beef, shredded beef, pork, chicken, even no meat – that’s the beauty of nachos.
There is no right or wrong way to make these, and they are DELICIOUS.
Simply fill a baking sheet with tortilla chips, and top with ingredients of your choice.
The only real must haves are the chips and the cheese, and everything else is up to your creativity or what’s in your pantry.
All you have to do to make these nachos is pile everything onto a cookie sheet and place it into the oven.
On my nachos you see here, I used tomatoes, black olives, black beans, seasoned, cooked ground beef, avocados, corn and chives. You could use any of those or none!
Have some leftovers i the fridge? Use those up!
And you really don’t have to measure your amounts, for the most part a “handful” sized amount of anything works well.
Just sprinkle your toppings on, then give another sprinkle of cheese.
I am a very messy cook. It is what it is, I’ve accepted it. I try and not dirty any more dishes than I have to, especially when entertaining.
Once your ingredients are all piled on, into an oven it goes.
HOW DO YOU BAKE NACHOS IN THE OVEN?
I bake my nachos in the oven at 350 degrees for anywhere between 3-15 minutes.
A quarter sheet or half sheet baking pan works perfectly for this recipe.
The amount and kind of toppings you have can greatly impact the cooking time.
Start checking it at three minutes. Take them out when the cheese is getting nice and melty.
Then it’s out of the oven and I serve it right on the baking sheet.
If you have a large crowd you could easily make a few trays of these, and even customize the topping for each batch. A really fantastic party food option.
PICKY EATERS
If you have picky eaters, or just a crowd that can’t agree on what toppings they like, you can bake your nachos with just the cheese.
Then, set out the remaining ingredients and let your family or guests top their nachos individually after baking.
This can be a fun way to serve nachos at a party, allowing you to create a nacho bar, so to speak.
LEFTOVER NACHOS
While leftovers are a very good thing in most cases, the same cannot be said for nachos.
The unfortunate reality is that nachos are a best served immediately type of food.
Reheating leftover nachos almost always leads to soggy nachos.
Because these are so quick and easy to make, I would err on the side of not making enough, and adding more if needed, then making a giant batch that won’t get eaten in one sitting.
Without food, you would be 'dood' 