Everyone loves delicious, crunchy, rich nachos, and they’re even better when you can make them in 5-minutes.
Nachos are an actual miracle, and if you’ve been missing out on some nacho amazingness because your dorm doesn’t have an oven then you’re in luck: you can actually make yourself a delicious bowl full of awesome in the comfort of your own microwave.
5-MINUTE NACHOS
So nachos are like the little black dress of food: they go with every crowd for every occasion. You can make them for football games, game nights, for quiet evenings in with your S.O, for study groups, for the night of an epic breakup, and everything in between. However, you may be laboring under the delusion that you can’t make them without an oven, and that is simply not true.
5-Minute Nachos are super easy to make, there’s almost no cleanup, and you make enough for everyone to have their own bowl full, which means fewer knock-down, drag-out fights over the last chip, and that’s always a plus.
HOW TO MAKE 5-MINUTE NACHOS
- Spray the inside of a microwave-safe bowl.
- In another small bowl, stir together the beans and salsa.
- Place half of the chips in the bowl and top with a third of the cheese and half of the bean-salsa mixture. Top with the remaining chips, another third of the cheese, and the remaining bean mixture. Top with the remaining cheese.
- Cover and microwave until most of the cheese is melted about 1 minute. Uncover and microwave until the remainder of the cheese melts, about another 30 seconds.
- Top with the avocado and other garnishes and serve with additional chips if desired.
VARIATIONS ON 5-MINUTE NACHOS
Nachos are some of the most customizable dishes known to man, and here are some fun and tasty add-ins that you can experiment with.
- Cajun Seasoning
- Garlic Salt
- Olives
- Chopped onions
- Corn
- Black beans
- Cotija cheese
SAVE SOME FOR LATER
Nachos don’t really keep well, so it’s better if you just eat everything you’ve already made and save the individual parts to make a new batch whenever you’d like. Pretty much all of the ingredients will last for a pretty long time as long as you keep them stored properly. “Stored properly” doesn’t mean wedged under your bed because you ran out of room in the fridge.
COST FACTOR
$$: There’s a good number of elements to this recipe, which can add up, depending on where you shop and how elitist you are about your produce. It’s okay to buy canned stuff sometimes, seriously. You can do it.
MICROWAVE TABLE
- 1,000 watts or higher: Higher wattage, lower cook time. Our microwave is about 1,250 watts, but if you have one with about 1,000 watts you will want to cook for 4:10, then check them out to see how crisp they are.
- 700 watts: Microwaves under about 900 don’t heat things evenly or consistently, so don’t go anywhere while you’re cooking. Cook the nachos for about 1:45, then in 50-second increments.
5-Minute Nachos
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1/2 cup canned refried beans
- 3 tablespoon salsa
- 10 tortilla chips , or more
- 3 tablespoons shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 1/2 avocado , diced
Instructions
- Spray the inside of a microwave-safe bowl.
- In another small bowl, stir together the beans and salsa.
- Place half of the chips in the bowl, then add 1/3 of the cheese and bean salsa mixture.
- Top with the remaining chips, another third of the cheese, and the remaining bean mixture. Top with the remaining cheese.
- Cover and microwave until most of the cheese is melted about 1 minute. Uncover and microwave until the remainder of the cheese melts, about another 30 seconds. Top with the avocado and other garnishes and serve with additional chips if desired.
Nutrition
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