Build Your Own Nachos for National Nacho Day!

How to build your own nachos for National Nacho Day!

It’s nacho typical Sunday.

Oh, I just couldn’t help myself with that one. Yup folks, that’s right. It’s National Nacho Day!

So what do you think of when you hear nachos? Probably a heaping pile of chips loaded with melted cheese, and probably some sort of meat topped off with sour cream, right? Well guess what? Today I’m making over your nachos.

Believe it or not, we have nachos for dinner quite often. But it’s definitely not the nachos I described above. And it’s more of a DIY or a Build Your Own Nachos. It’s got your basic nacho ingredients for the most part. I will admit that it is lacking the whole artificial melting cheese factor. Why? Well as much as I love cheese, I’d rather save my cheese consumption for another time – when I can really enjoy some really good cheese, not artificial gooey stuff. Blech! But there’s a lot stuff going on here with these nachos, so you won’t miss it.

First there’s ground turkey seasoned up like taco meat, then of course there’s salsa. Instead of sour cream, I make Chipotle Yogurt Sauce. I also make “Refried” Beans which are not actually fried at all. And then of course there’s tortillas but not the chips you buy in the bag. I just get regular ole corn tortillas and stick them in the toaster oven until they’re crispy. Oh but wait- here’s the best part – all the vegetables! My standards are sliced green onions and shredded cabbage seasoned with lime. But I usually always have either diced red peppers or sometimes sliced radishes (or sometimes both!). That’s the beauty of this meal – you can add a bunch of your favorite veggies to pile on your nachos! (Am I the only one who gets excited about that?!)

Anyway, by using ground turkey and omitting the cheese and sour cream, this dish is much lower in saturated fat than typical nachos. You’re also getting fiber from the beans and all those veggies. And in case you didn’t know, most Americans do not eat enough fiber (among other things). And in case you didn’t know, fiber can help you maintain and possibly lose weight as well as help lower your risk for certain conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. Hmm, so how about that – let’s build some nachos then!

So the idea is simple – just break the chips into bite size pieces, pile on the goods, and there you have one perfect DIY nacho bite!

Happy National Nacho Day! How do you like your nachos?

Build Your Own Nachos

Author: Erin Dishes Nutrition

Ingredients

For the ground meat:
1/2 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 lbs ground turkey (I used 93/7 ratio of fat to lean)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, diced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup salsa
1 tablespoon parsley, minced
salt and pepper
For the chipotle yogurt sauce:
1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt
1 tablespoon chipotle in adobe sauce, peppers minced
1-2 tablespoons buttermilk
juice of half a lime
For the "refried" beans:
1 can pinto beans, drained
1/2 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon cayennne
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
Accompaniments:
corn tortilla, heated in oven until crispy
shredded cabbage (I like to squeeze lime over it and a little salt and pepper)
chopped green onions
diced red peppers
salsa

Instructions

For the ground meat:

Heat pan on medium heat, add oil.
When oil is hot, add onions and jalapeno. Cook for a minute.
Add garlic and season with salt and pepper.
Cook for another minute then add ground turkey.
Add chili powder through salt. Cook until turkey is no longer pink, breaking up into small pieces as it cooks.
Once cooked through, add salsa and parsley. Cook another minute. Keep warm until ready to serve.

For the chipotle yogurt sauce: