Planning an epic game day? You’re going to want to make these delicious homemade nachos! With pulled pork, black beans, barbecue sauce, melty cheese and lots and lots of toppings, these pulled pork nachos are easy to put together and are such a fun treat.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love nachos. How about you? I’m not so inclined to get nachos in a restaurant because I’m often underwhelmed. They never seem to have enough toppings on them. I love my nachos loaded. Loaded nachos are where it’s at, if you ask me. Gimme all the toppings, all the cheese, feel me?
So, as you can probably imagine, nachos happen every so often in our home. We love to whip up some sheet pan nachos and serve them alongside baked wings. And, of course it doesn’t have to be a game day or anything. No, it’s likely just a random Friday night while watching a movie or whatever show we’re into at the moment … all while wearing comfy clothes, of course. It’s seriously the best.
Ingredients Needed
- Tortilla chips: Classic corn tortilla chips are my favourite.
- Pulled pork: This slow cooker pulled pork recipe is my go-to for pork nachos. It turns out super flavourful and pull-apart tender.
- Canned black beans: Pinto beans are a delicious alternative to black beans if you want to mix things up.
- Barbecue sauce: Use your favourite variety.
- Shredded cheese: For these pulled pork nachos, I used a jalapeno Monterey Jack cheese. Other delicious options are cheddar and mozzarella. All melt well, but the Monterey Jack and cheddar varieties will add more flavour to your nachos than the mozzarella will.
- Toppings: This is where you get to make the nachos your own! Some favourites are tomato, red onion and avocado (below are more topping ideas for nachos).
- Dips and condiments: I love serving nachos with lots of salsa, sour cream, guacamole and/or queso on the side.
How to Make Pulled Pork Nachos
Here is an overview of how to make these homemade nachos (full details are in the recipe card below).
- Combine the pulled pork, black beans and barbecue sauce in a skillet and warm through, stirring occasionally.
- Spread half of the tortilla chips onto a large sheet pan, top with half of the pulled pork, then sprinkle with half of the shredded cheese. Repeat one more time.
- Bake the nachos until the cheese is nice and melty.
- Once done, garnish to taste with your favourite nacho toppings (that’s when you get to make the nachos your own).
Nacho Topping Ideas
You can probably make nachos 100 times and each time can be different (depending on what toppings you use). It definitely keeps things interesting, that’s for sure.
Some of my favourite toppings for nachos are:
- Diced bell pepper: Use whatever colour you have on hand or like best.
- Fresh sliced or diced red onion: Rinse them under cold water and pat dry before using if you want to remove some of their pungency.
- Diced tomato: I really enjoy using Roma tomatoes for nachos. Remove the seeds and just use the flesh so you don’t add to much moisture to your nachos.
- Sliced or diced avocado: Make sure you pick a perfectly ripe avocado for the best flavour, freshness and texture. Here is how to tell if an avocado is ripe. As an alternative, you could dollop your baked nachos with guacamole.
- Fresh or pickled sliced jalapeno pepper
- Crumbled queso cotija cheese
- Sliced black olives
- Chopped green onion
- Shredded lettuce: I particular love to use Romaine or Iceberg lettuce because they’re nice and crunchy.
- Chopped cilantro
Tip: Canned pineapple also pairs lovely with these pulled pork nachos. The sweet and savoury combination is super yummy. Just like the debate about if pineapple should be on pizza, people may wonder if pineapple belongs on nachos. For me though? I love it! Bottom line: use what you enjoy best.
Can I Make Individual Nachos?
Most definitely! If you want to make individual portions, you can distribute the nachos onto smaller sheet pans or use small cast-iron skillets or oven-safe pie plates.
How cool would it be to set out your nacho toppings and then everyone can garnish as they like? It’s such a fun idea for game day or movie night.
Leftovers and Reheating
Nachos are at their best when eaten right away after they’re baked. That’s when the chips are nice and crispy, the cheesy is melty and the toppings are fresh.
Having said that, if you do have leftovers, don’t toss them! Properly store leftover nachos in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (assuming your pulled pork is freshly made).
To reheat, remove the cold toppings from the nachos as best you can (things like lettuce, tomatoes and bell peppers — toss any avocado because it’s likely to oxidize, i.e., turn brown). Set the toppings aside for use shortly. Place the nachos on a sheet pan and cover with aluminum foil (be careful not to touch the cheese so it doesn’t stick as it melts).
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the nachos for 15 minutes or so until heated through, then add the cold toppings back on there. If you want to discard the previously used toppings and replace with some new ones, you can totally do that. The nachos are not going to be the same as freshly made, but will still be delicious.
Tips for Making the Best Nachos
- Shred the cheese yourself versus buying pre-shredded. Shredding the block of cheese yourself leads to more melty cheesy goodness, and isn’t that what we all want with nachos? Now, if you happen to just have pre-shredded on hand, you can definitely use that. I’m all about using what you have, when possible.
- For nachos, I prefer a non-flavoured variety (meaning something without a seasoning on it, like cheese-flavoured or something). I also like to use a tortilla that’s not too thin, but rather on the thicker side so it can hold up to all the nacho toppings. Finally, I like those that are not too salty. The nachos already have a lot on the go, flavour-wise.
- For easier cleanup, line your sheet pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. That way, when the cheese melts, for instance, it’ll melt onto the parchment paper or aluminum foil and not on the sheet pan.
- To make a big family-style portion of nachos, I love using a large sheet pan, something around 13-inches x 18-inches or so. It’s large enough that you can spread the nachos out nicely. If you don’t have a large sheet pan, you can distribute the nachos out over two smaller ones.
- I love to add the nacho toppings after the nachos have baked. That way, they’ll stay vibrant and fresh and add lots of colour, texture and freshness to your baked nachos.
- Speaking of toppings, make sure the ones with more moisture have been patted dry of excess moisture (if necessary) or drained before topping your nachos. You don’t want to make them soggy.
More Yummy Game Day Recipe
If you make this pulled pork nachos recipe, be sure to leave a comment below!
Pulled Pork Nachos
Ingredients
Nachos
- 2 to 3 cups cooked pulled pork
- 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained well
- ⅔ cup barbecue sauce, plus more for drizzling over the baked nachos
- 1 large bag tortilla chips, approximately (something about 285 grams to 300 grams)
- 4 cups shredded jalapeno Monterey Jack cheese
Optional Topping Ideas
- Diced bell pepper
- Diced or sliced red onion
- Diced tomato
- Diced avocado
- Pickled sliced jalapeno peppers
- Shredded lettuce, I love iceberg or romaine
- Sliced black olives
- Crumbled queso cotija cheese
- Chopped cilantro
For Serving
- Salsa
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
- Queso
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper (makes cleanup a lot easier).
- Meanwhile, combine the pulled pork, black beans and barbecue sauce in a skillet and place over medium heat to warm through, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
- Spread half of the tortilla chips out onto the prepared sheet pan, then top with half of the pulled pork mixture and sprinkle over half of the shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Repeat with another layer of tortilla chips, the pulled pork mixture and shredded cheese.
- Bake the nachos until the cheese is nice and melty, about 10 minutes.
- Once done, garnish to taste with any of the optional toppings. If desired, drizzle over some more barbecue sauce.
- Serve immediately with salsa, sour cream guacamole and/or queso. Enjoy!
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
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Tried this recipe?
If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!
Valentina
I definitely don’t need a game day for this deliciousness. Yum! 🙂 ~Valentina
David @ Spiced
Holy cow – that’s the best looking tray of nachos I’ve ever seen! Seriously. You’ve got all of my favorites in there. The only problem is I need you to deliver these in the next 30 minutes or so…can we arrange for that to happen??
Michelle
Such a delicious game day snack — love drizzling that BBQ sauce over the nachos, really elevates the flavour!