Layers of tortilla chips are scattered with salsa verde-spiked shredded chicken, sharp cheddar cheese, spicy pickled jalapeños and black beans. Jump to the Loaded Salsa Verde Chicken Nachos Recipe or read on to see our tips for making them.
Even more toppings — like fresh cheese, cilantro leaves, chili peppers and thinly sliced radishes — are added after baking. The whole baking sheet of nachos are served family-style. Get ready to dig in!
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: It’s so simple to make this chicken enchiladas recipe with salsa verde, chicken, sour cream, cheese and cilantro. Jump to the Chicken Enchiladas Recipe.
How to Make the Best Chicken Nachos
Store-bought rotisserie chicken makes these amped-up nachos easy. You could even use leftover chicken from a night or two before. The salsa can be store-bought, too.
Try making our Instant Pot Salsa Verde Chicken — the chicken stays juicy, tender and is perfect for these nachos!
Instead of red salsa, we go for green — or salsa verde — usually made from chili peppers, tomatillos, onion and garlic. It’s zesty, bright and works beautifully with these chicken nachos.
We do have a recipe for Roasted Salsa Verde on Inspired Taste –it’s pretty delicious. If you are up for making a batch of your own, make things easy on yourself and make it in advance. The salsa will keep for quite some time.
Building the nachos goes quickly — just layer tortilla chips, the salsa verde chicken, pickled jalapeños and cheddar cheese until all your ingredients are gone. Keep things even, you don’t want one person to get the extra cheesy nucleus, while others are stuck with dry, plain chips and an odd jalapeño. We really like to layer the cheese, too — that way every layer has a little bit of cheesy goodness, not just the top (something all too common in restaurants).
After 15 or so minutes in a hot oven, the nachos are done! All you need to do now is pile on even more goodies — like I said earlier, a fresh cheese (like queso fresco) and sliced chili peppers and radish are our favorites. And that’s it. Slide the baking sheet into the middle of where your friends and family are and watch as the nachos disappear.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: We love these chicken lettuce wraps because they are easy, healthy, and so tasty. Jump to the Honey Dijon Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe.
Recipe updated, originally posted January 2015. Since posting this in 2015, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Loaded Salsa Verde Chicken Nachos Recipe
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Store-bought rotisserie chicken makes these amped-up nachos easy. Instead of red salsa, we go for green — or salsa verde — usually made from chili peppers, tomatillos, onion and garlic. It’s zesty and works beautifully with chicken. In addition to the chicken, we pile our nachos up with sharp, flavorful cheddar cheese, spicy pickled jalapeños, spring onions and lots of extras like thinly sliced radishes and crumbled fresh cheese. Serve these family-style, right off of the baking sheet.
You Will Need
1 rotisserie chicken, pulled from the bone and shredded (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 cups salsa verde, plus more for serving, try our salsa verde recipe
1 large (13-ounce) bag tortilla chips
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup pickled jalapeño slices or candied jalapeños
3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
8 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup crumbled fresh cheese such as queso fresco, feta cheese or goat cheese
3 medium radishes, sliced very thin
Sliced black olives
Cilantro leaves
Red and/or green chili peppers
1/4 cup sour cream, thinned with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water
Directions
1Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2Add salsa verde to a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the chicken and cook 5 minutes until warmed through.
3Arrange a single layer of tortilla chips on the bottom of the foil-lined pan then begin building the nachos. Scatter one third of the chicken, black beans, pickled jalapeños, chopped green onion and grated cheddar cheese over chips. Repeat with additional layers of chips and toppings until they are used up. (We usually end up with three layers of chips).
4Bake the nachos until the cheese has completely melted and everything is hot, 15 to 20 minutes.
5Serve nachos family style, right on the baking sheet, with as many additional toppings scattered on top as you like — we love adding crumbled fresh cheese, extra salsa, fresh chili peppers, thinly sliced radishes, and a drizzle of thinned sour cream.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- When buying salsa verde (or when making our own homemade version), we like the salsa to be a medium spice level. There are a few brands with very spicy versions, if you are not a fan of extra spicy dishes, be careful to choose a bottle that says mild or medium. You can also stir in a little sour cream to the salsa and chicken mixture to cool things off a little.
- Make your own shredded chicken. Here’s how we make a batch of tender, flavorful shredded chicken on the stove in less than 1 hour. Or see our method for making salsa verde shredded chicken using a pressure cooker or Instant Pot.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values. Nutrition provided is for the lemon garlic version of the recipe.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
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These nachos are great. Even my skeptical husband liked them and said they need to be made again. Thanks!
These salsa verde nachos definitely put any nachos that I have ever made before to shame… they look incredible! I have to try the recipe!
This recipe sounds really good. Thank you.