These Grilled Chorizo and Carnitas Nachos recipe is the ultimate gourmet nachos recipe! Topped with jalapenos, tomatoes and avocado, they can’t be beat!
Evidently this week is turning into cheese week. I’m here today to make a logical case as to why these Grilled Chorizo and Carnitas Nachos should totally be considered a dinner food.
Right now my husband is off rolling his eyes. I may or may not have gone off on a completely absurd, out-of-nowhere, entirely-unprovoked mini tirade on this subject when I was making this. I’m not quite sure where it came from, mainly because I don’t generally find myself being passionate about nachos in general, let alone how they should factor in to someone’s meal plan. But here I was, going on and on while I was standing at the grill, with David looking at me bewilderingly and saying,
“I don’t understand where this is coming from. Who said you shouldn’t eat nachos for dinner?”
Me: “I don’t know, PEOPLE. Why aren’t they a dinner option? Why are they blackballed as a dinner food?!?”
Him: “Um. Okay.”
Part of me thought that perhaps there would be a little judgement passed about the fact that I was advocating these for dinner. But frankly, if you’re irritated by that, you probably shouldn’t be reading my blog and you should go make some quinoa onion rings (and yes, those are a real thing that I saw on Pinterest the other day).
Like I discussed yesterday, the key to a good cheese dish is LAYERS. Layers of cheese and chips and toppings. Dave always says that I am the worst person to eat nachos with, because I go for the top layer and only eat chips that are covered with toppings and cheese.
Um, if I’m eating nachos, I’m not wasting the calories on the crappy chips.
But the beauty of this approach is that they all end up being good chips then. I can’t be the only one that does this.
But, I digress.
I was going to bring up a couple points regarding carnitas nachos for dinner:
1. Why exactly do we think that nachos are not a dinner food? Can someone explain to me how nachos are anything other than hardshell tacos that have totally fallen apart after breaking, as they all do after the first bite?
2. If nachos aren’t considered healthy enough or well-balanced enough or too high-calorie to have for dinner, then why are we supposed to eat them as an appetizer, then go on and consume a full meal?
3. One last thing- I’m fairly sure that nachos are no more bad for you than say… lasagna, what I would consider to be its Italian counterpart.
I’m not even sure why I felt this needed to be justified, but the thoughts are out there now. Moving on.
Remember when I posted the Slow Cooker Carnitas Burrito Bowl Soup? I told you that I put a really big pork shoulder in there to make double the carnitas, then froze half of it for later. Bam! I took one of the chunks out of the freezer, defrosted it in the microwave, and I was already almost done with dinner. These nachos truly are a meal in and of themselves- carnitas, chorizo, corn, tomato, avocado, peppers- if the measure of a good dinner is color, then baby, you are covered.
Oh and bonus, this recipe leaves you with almost no dishes to do afterwards. Score.
If you liked this crispy nachos recipe, check out these other hand held appetizers:
Grilled Carnitas and Chorizo Nachos
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups pork carnitas
- 1/3 lb chorizo sausage uncooked but broken up into small pieces
- 4-5 small sweet peppers sliced crosswise
- 1 ear of corn kernels stripped
- 2 + cups of mexican blend shredded cheese
- Tortilla chips (I used a blend of Doritos and plain Tostitos
- Additional toppings: jalepenos fresh diced tomato, cilantro, avocado, banana peppers
Instructions
- Prepare a tray to be used on the grill and preheat your grill on low.
- Spread out the chips evenly across the platter. Top with half the carnitas, chorizo, corn and sweet peppers, then top with 3/4 cup of cheese (or more. Repeat with the second layer, adding the other peppers, tomato, avocado and cilantro. Top with the remaining cheese.
- Slide onto the grill and cook on medium-low for 8-10 minutes, until the chorizo is cooked and the cheese has melted. Serve immediately with sour cream, if desired.
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