Try this Loaded Nachos Recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- optional toppings:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups milk
- salt
- sliced avocado
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- sour cream
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small white onion chopped
- salsa:
- 1 can black beans drained
- 1 jalapeno pepper seeded and chopped
- 2 bags corn chips
- 4 ripe vine tomatoes chopped and seeded
- 1 jalapeno pepper finely chopped and seeded (can substitute c
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves finely chopped (can substitute parsley)
- beef and bean topping:
- 1 pound sirloin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dark chili powder
- 1 1/2 ground cumin half a palmful
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper sauce
- cheese sauce:
- 3/4 pound pepper jack cheese (shredded)
- chopped scallions
- chopped black olives
- diced pimento
- hot pepper suaces
- Carbohydrate 133.145751138446 g
- Cholesterol 345.594663966739 mg
- Fat 138.827533201885 g
- Fiber 39.6943291066465 g
- Protein 141.464079363205 g
- Saturated Fat 56.3397539110949 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (2033g)
- Sodium 1373.9794013786 mg
- Sugar 93.4514220317991 g
- Trans Fat 14.5970966339902 g
- Calories 2320 calories
Step-by-step
- Arrange corn chips on a large platter, or use broiler pan as a platter
- Combine salsa ingredients in a bowl, set aside for flavors to marry
- Heat a medium nonstick skillet on heat about medium high. Add oil, onion, garlic, and peppers to pan and saute for 2 minutes. Add meat and crumble with a wooden spoon. Season meat with chili powder, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper sauce. Cook meat for 5 minutes and stir in beans. Reduce heat to low.
- Take a medium sauce pot and melt butter and add flour to it. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes over moderate heat then whisk in milk. When it starts to bubble, stir in cheese with a wooden spoon. Remove sauce from heat.
- Pour cheese evenly over the chips and top with beef and beans and the salsa. Serve immediately ir garnish with your choice of optional toppings.
Why does homemade cheese sauce sometimes separate into a grainy, greasy pool instead of coating chips smoothly? The culprit is usually proteins seizing under too much heat, which breaks the emulsion formed when butter and flour create a roux that binds the milk fat and grated cheese together. Whisking the shredded pepper jack into the warm milk mixture off direct heat prevents the dairy solids from tightening prematurely. Controlling this thermal threshold ensures a glossy, fluid cheese blanket that clings to the corn chips rather than sliding off into a puddle at the bottom of the platter. Building a proper roux requires cooking the flour for precisely two minutes to eliminate the raw starch taste while retaining its thickening capacity. Layering the components demands strategic sequencing because hot beef and wet salsa introduce moisture that softens corn chips within minutes. Constructing the dish on a broiler pan allows for quick heating if necessary, but pouring the warm cheese sauce over the base just before adding the savory beef and bean mixture preserves structural integrity. Freezing assembled nachos is discouraged since thawed corn chips absorb ambient moisture and lose their crisp snap entirely, yielding a soggy texture that even reheating cannot rescue. Storing the individual components separately in airtight containers extends their usability, keeping the cooked sirloin viable for up to three days in the refrigerator.
