It’s Monday and I’m throwing caution to the wind. Sometimes you have to start the week out with a bang to make the weight of the long week ahead a little more bearable, you know? 😅 I had a couple leftover jalapeños in my fridge as well as a small batch of pickled red onions, so I thought that was a great excuse to make some nachos (naturally). Anyway, ever since discovering how a few minutes in a hot oven can elevate crunchy tacos to a heavenly level, I’ve wanted to try the same with nachos. These Spicy Baked Black Bean Nachos proved my suspicions correct and today I’m in nacho heaven. Watch out Tuesday, I’m comin’ for ya!
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Nacho Topping Options
Obviously you can put whatever toppings on your nachos that you like, but if you haven’t tried pickled red onions yet, you’re missing out. Their sweet-tart-salty flavor really adds zing to the nachos.
A light drizzle or dollop of creamy sour cream balances the pickled red onions and the heat of the black bean mixture. If you’re feeling extra extravagant, I highly suggest turning your sour cream into lime crema for even more flavor (lime crema recipe here).
Oh, and if you do fresh jalapeños like I did below, the trick is to slice them super-SUPER thinly. That way you get flavor and heat without burning your mouth off. Fresh pico de gallo is also fabulous!
If you want to add meat to your nachos, I highly suggest our Carnitas recipe! Ground beef with taco seasoning would also be an easy win.
Tips for Success with Baked Black Bean Nachos
When it comes to baking nachos, there are three main tips to success:
- Use really thick, hearty chips. No “thin and crispy” for this dish. They need to stand up to layers of toppings and oven baking without burning.
- Line your baking sheet or suffer the consequences (difficult clean-up). I like parchment because it doesn’t reflect heat and reduces the chance of burning, but foil will also work.
- It’s all about the layers. Layer your chips, bean mixture, and cheese for the best chip-to-topping ratio. No one likes getting a chip with no toppings or so many toppings that you can’t lift your chip.
Let’s go start this week off right, shall we?
Spicy Baked Black Bean Nachos
Servings 4Ingredients
SPICY BLACK BEAN MIXTURE
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.13)
- 1 small onion ($0.32)
- 1 10oz. can diced tomatoes with green chiles ($0.99)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($1.00)
- 1/2 tsp chipotle powder ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
NACHOS
- 8 oz. sturdy corn tortilla chips ($1.50)
- 4 oz. cheddar, shredded* ($1.00)
- 1 Roma tomato ($0.32)
- 1 jalapeño ($0.12)
- 1/3 cup pickled red onions ($0.24)
- 1 handful fresh cilantro ($0.25)
- 1/4 cup sour cream ($0.37)
Instructions
- Finely dice the onion. Add the olive oil and onion to a large skillet and sauté over medium heat until the onion is soft and transparent (about 5 minutes). Drain, but do not rinse the black beans, allowing some of the starchy liquid to remain coating the beans. Add the beans and diced tomatoes with chiles (not drained) to the skillet, along with the chipotle powder, cumin, garlic powder, and salt. Stir and simmer the mixture until it thickens and liquid no longer pools on the bottom of the skillet (about 10 minutes).
- Begin preheating the oven to 350ºF. Shred the cheddar cheese, finely dice the Roma tomato, thinly slice the jalapeño, and chop the cilantro.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil. Spread a layer of tortilla chips over the baking sheet in a single layer, trying not to overlap the chips. Spoon about half of the black bean mixture over the chips, then sprinkle half of the shredded cheese over top. Repeat with one more layer of chips, black beans, and cheese.
- Bake the chips, beans, and cheese for 5-7 minutes, or until the cheese is fully melted and the chips are just beginning to turn golden brown on the edges. Remove the nachos from the oven and add a drizzles or dollops of sour cream over top. Sprinkle the diced tomato, sliced jalapeño, pickled red onions, and chopped cilantro over top.
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Baked Nachos – Step by Step Photos
Start by preparing the spicy black bean mixture. Finely dice one small onion and sauté it in a large skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil until the onions are soft and transparent (about 5 minutes).
Add one 15 oz. can black beans (mostly drained, not rinsed), one 10 oz. can petite diced tomatoes with green chiles (not drained), 1/2 tsp chipotle powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp salt.
Rotel is probably the most popular brand of diced tomatoes with chiles, but I found these Red Gold tomatoes that were less expensive. If you can’t find diced tomatoes with chiles, you can either do plain petite diced tomatoes, or get a can of petite diced tomatoes and a small 4 oz. can of diced green chiles separately. Just make sure they’re PETITE diced so that you don’t have large chunks of tomatoes.
Simmer the mixture until the liquid thickens and no longer pools on the bottom of the skillet. You want it to be thick and goopy and not too wet because that can soften your chips.
Begin preheating your oven to 350ºF and prepare your cold toppings so that they’re ready to go on top immediately when the nachos come out of the oven. Thinly slice one jalapeño, finely dice one Roma tomato, and chop a handful of cilantro. Also shred 4 oz. of cheddar cheese. (The pickled red onions and sour cream don’t need any prep).
Begin to layer the nachos. Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil (preferably parchment) and then spread out one layer of chips over the sheet so that they are touching but not overlapping too much.
Spoon half of the bean mixture over the first layer of chips, then sprinkle half of the shredded cheese over top. Follow that up with one more single layer of chips, the second half of the bean mixture, and the second half of the cheese. Perfect chip-to-topping ratio! :)
Bake the nachos in the preheated oven for 5-7 minutes, or until the cheese is fully melted and the tips of the chips are just barely starting to turn golden.
Immediately top the baked chips with a little sour cream, the sliced jalapeños, diced tomatoes, chipped cilantro, and pickled red onions. Perfect!
And that’s it!! Super fast and easy, and guaranteed to make your Monday a little better. ;)
Love baked nachos? Check out our Breakfast Nachos!
I LOVE this recipe so much!! Family favorite! Random question – where do you find your pickled onions? I love them and asked everyone at my local HEB with no luck. Also, I subbed in refried black beans and they were fantastic in case you want a way to change them up!!
I saw that you make your own, I’m sorry! Just didn’t know if you could buy them done ;)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen them pre-made in a store, but they’re super easy to make, so you should definitely give it a try. They’re life changing! :)
Will do!! Thanks so much! Do you know how long they keep in the fridge?
Woah these were amazing! I’m so mad I didn’t have any red onions or tomatoes but I subbed it for green onion and some pickled jalapenos. I also added corn, lime juice and chipotle hot sauce to the top of it. Thanks for the recipe!
This recipe is very versatile and took very little time to put together after a long day of work. We were out of black beans (I swore I had some!) so I used pintos, my Rotel had expired, so I used a can of petite diced tomatoes, and we used our leftover sour cream and salsa to top it from last week’s taco night. The tip about the cheese was great. This was a recipe we’ve added to the rotation! Thank you!
These were the bomb! Loved them and easy. My hubbie and me devoured them!
These were so good. I made them as-is first, and then did some mods the second time. The black beans mixture is perfect. I’m going to use it for tacos in the future too. Also used the crunchy version of the pickled onions linked to in this post and they were great. Can’t wait to try it with jalapenos. The second time, the changes I made were omitting sour cream and using a cashew-based vegan queso posted on Cookie & Kate recently instead of cheese since I don’t feel too good with a lot of dairy, and I was trying to eat nachos two nights in a row, haha. The queso was rich and delicious, but I think I like the classic cheddar for nachos better. Also added a bunch of roasted broccoli as a topping that second time because it turns out that roasted broccoli is very tasty if not too traditional with nacho toppings. Lastly, added a bunch of roasted chopped Hatch green chile. You can take the girl out of New Mexico…
This was amazing. My spouse, who is often skeptical of meals without meat, told me I had hit it out of the park. Thanks so much for the recipe.
What a great recipe. I’m vegan though, so wouldn’t use the cheese but with a nice vegan cheese this will be delicious. Thanks! Lovely photos too.
I was wondering is there anyway could do a calorie count ?
Beth, Is it possible to use fresh onions instead of pickled? I couldn’t find it
There is a recipe for pickled onion on this site. Beth has a link for it in the opening paragraphs but yes, I’m sure you can use just fresh onions. You just won’t have the extra ‘pickled’ flavor.
Thanks Marion
Yep, you could do any type of onion you like. Sliced green onions would be nice!
We didn’t use the pickled onions and it was still great.
I can not believe how often I read one of your posts and go, “Yep, that’s what I want for dinner”!!
Agreed! This looks so good. The pics though look like my daughters felt play food, so nice looking that it doesn’t even look real. This is going to make the whole family happy.
Oh Beth. How do you know just what I need, just when I need it.
What kind of chips did you use here? Sometimes when I make nachos they end up getting soggy.
They were some cheap brand that only costs $2 per bag. Hahaha
If you’ve got time to make them, I recommend Beth’s recipe, on this site, for baking tortilla chips from bought corn tortillas. The ones I have made taste great and are very sturdy. I may freshly made store brand corn tortillas.
Looks like a fun and satisfying dinner idea :)
I’ll serve it next match day.
Yum!! These look awesome
Yummy!!!! :-)