Easy Chicken Nachos

Name: Chicken Nachos
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1 large chicken breast; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 - 2 teaspoon fajita seasoning; 18 ounces bag of tortilla chips; 8 ounces queso blanco; 4 ounces Monterey Jack (shredded ); jalapeños; 1/2 cup chopped red onion; 1/8 cup green onion (chopped); 1/8 cup cilantro (chopped); 1/2 can black beans (drained); 1 tomato (chopped); 1/2 cup sour cream; sea salt

35 minutes

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By: Julie Blanner8 Comments
Posted: 6/3/18

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Easy Chicken Nachos are a great weeknight dinner recipe or crowd pleasing appetizer. Quick to make with minimal prep and easy to adapt with your favorite toppings. These baked sheet pan chicken nachos are seriously the best!

Easy baked chicken nachos on a sheet pan

Nachos are one of my absolute favorite guilty pleasures. I love the salty crunch mixed with lots of delicious toppings and can never get enough of them!

When Chris and I first started dating in college, we would “cook” together. 9 times out of 10 this included some variation of nachos, Cheese Quesadillas, Mini Tacos, regular tacos or taco salads. It’s an easy, inexpensive, and delicious dinner, perfect for that college lifestyle, but so good we still eat them 16 years later.

If you love nachos as much as we do, don’t skip these Doritos Nachos and these fabulous Italian nachos! I love having fun with Tex Mex inspired food… you’ve got to check out our Waffle Tacos, too.

Table of Contents

Ingredients for Easy Chicken Nachos

Chicken Breast – Bake the chicken breast in the oven before adding to the nachos. Use free run / organic chicken if you can
Olive Oil – Brushed on the chicken to seal in moisture.
Fajita Seasoning – Added to the chicken before it is baked for flavor. If you don’t have fajita seasoning, you can use a mix of cayenne and garlic powder. You can also use my taco seasoning or poultry seasoning.
Tortilla Chips – I like to use freshly baked chips from the deli, you can also use your favorite brand.
Queso Blanco – You can make your own Queso Blanco or use store bought.
Montery Jack – Shred your own cheese if you can. It is so much creamier when it melts!
Jalapenos, Red Onion, Green Onion, Tomato and Cilantro – For freshness, color, texture and flavor. Use whatever you have on hand!
Black Beans – Use canned black beans and be sure to drain and rinse them before adding.
Sour Cream – Sour cream balances out the nachos perfectly. If you want to take it a step further, mix ranch and sour cream together, make lime crema.
Salt – Finish the nachos with freshly cracked sea salt, it really makes all the difference!
Salsa Guacaomle – Not shown, but another delicious addition!

Easy chicken nachos in a sheet pan ready to serve

How To Make Easy Chicken Nachos

Prep – Pre heat the oven and brush the chicken with olive oil and add seasoning.
Bake – Bake the chicken until cooked through and allow to rest before slicing or dicing.
Make – Add the tortilla chips to a sheet pan and drizzle with the queso blanco. Add your other toppings, including the chicken.
Bake – Place the sheet pan in the oven and cook until the cheese has melted and everything is heated through.
Serve – Add the tomato, sour cream and salt and serve to the table.

Tips

Use the freshest ingredients you can. If you can get freshly baked tortillas, definitely do!
Layer all of the toppings evenly across the chips. No one likes getting a plain chip when they dig in!
These nachos are best served straight away, but you can prep and build the nachos slightly ahead of time and keep them covered in the fridge.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container and reheated in the oven.

Make It Your Own!

You can adapt Chicken Nachos to your preference – some of my favorite topping suggestions are:

queso
beans
cheese
jalapeños
corn
pico de gallo
black beans
chipotle corn salsa
ranch or sour cream – bonus points if you mix the two!
lime crema

What’s The Best Chicken To Use?

I tend to make baked chicken breast in large quantities to enjoy throughout the week in salads, nachos, wraps and more, but you can make it just for this Chicken Nachos recipe. Either way, you can make these nachos start to finish in less than 30 minutes.

If you are in a pinch you can use store bought pre-cooked chicken or even shredded rotisserie chicken.

Sheet Pan Nachos

Baking the chicken nachos on a sheet pan is the easiest and quickest way to prepare them. It ensures that each chip is covered with the toppings and they don’t take long to heat through. You can serve them straight from the sheet too! This is the perfect way to feed a crowd.

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