Few dishes are as delicious and wholesome as a hearty bowl of fully-loaded nachos.
As far as budget-friendly dishes go, nachos will forever be a top contender. The best part? Even kids are known not to make a fuss over eating the delicious dish.
Nachos are a versatile meal that can be tailored to various tastes and dietary requirements, with options ranging from cheese, meat, vegetables and sauces. And creating this ultimate snack is a lot simpler than you might think, thanks to one unexpected ingredient swap.
Whether you’re hankering for a film marathon snack, a crowd-pleasing starter during a party, or just something to casually nibble on while knocking back a pint or two — nothing quite compares to cheese-loaded nachos.
Exploding with layers of flavour, this dish, that’s typically seen as a side, can effortlessly become a main with a few intentional swaps and a little bit of care when it comes to assembling.
If you’re in the mood for a treat, nachos are a crowd favourite – and it only takes a few minutes to throw all the ingredients together. While making this delicious dish may seem like a laborious task, with this one ingredient swap, it’s possible to whip up the treat without the mess.
While making nachos, there are a few core ingredients — chips, meat, extra toppings like jalapeños and pico de gallo, and the cheese.
Now, this last ingredient is where the most common cooking mistake takes place. The widespread error is something many cooks commit, and it’s what can turn your nachos into an “unwieldy mess”.
Everyone knows that nachos are worthless without cheese melted perfectly over the top. So how does one set about achieving that? The answer is simple.
According to Redditor Blazerboy65, achieving the perfect cheese-consistency in your bowl of nachos is a breeze — all by using one ingredient.
Nacho cheese sauce.
In a Reddit post asking the all-important question — “What’s your secret to making the best nachos?”, several nacho aficionados took to the social media platform to share their best kept secrets.
And that’s where nacho cheese sauce comes in. The Reddit user explains: “It’s called nacho cheese sauce for a reason. Straight cheese solidifies into an unwieldy mess very quickly unless you eat it fast. Remove all the stress by saucing your cheese.”
While it’s common to use straight cheese or grated cheese while preparing a bowl of nachos — it’s much better and exponentially more hassle-free to swap them out with nacho cheese sauce.
The already melted cheese sauce works as the perfect ingredient to bind all the layers of the dish together — without creating a gooey, sticky, unwieldy mess which solidifies within minutes of assembly.
Straight cheese or grated cheese would need to be warmed and melted when added to a bowl of nachos for that gooey deliciousness — however both have the ability to solidify quickly, making them tough to eat.
This problem doesn’t persist when they are swapped with nacho cheese sauce. The result? The same, delicious bowl of fully-loaded cheese nachos — without the mess and potentially solidified cheese ruining the dish.
Other users also shared their nacho-making secrets, with one Redditor commenting: “Taking the extra trouble to sprinkle your toppings on every. single. Chip.”
While another one shared: “Cotija cheese, and fresh cilantro will amp up any variation of nachos.”
A third Reddit comment revealed an easy assembly recipe: “Sheet pan. Thin layer of chips. Half of the ingredients except the garnishes. Another thin layer and the rest of the stuff. Low oven to come to temp broiler to finish. Top with sour cream and guacamole and whatever else you didn’t want warm.”
And another commenter shared: “Don’t nuke it. Bake it. I put mine in the air fryer.