Chicken Nachos
with Homemade Pickled Jalapeño Rings

Party food in a flash! Chicken Nachos are quick and easy to assemble with rotisserie chicken, black beans, grilled peppers, homemade pickled jalapeños, cheddar and more. Seriously good stuff!

Chicken Nachos, party food in a flash ♥ KitchenParade.com. Quick 'n' easy with rotisserie chicken, beans and peppers. High Protein. WW Friendly.

Budget-Friendly Party Food. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. High Protein.

Forget Politics.

The Super Bowl is America’s Grand Old Party and the annual extravaganza happens every February.

St. Louisans, we may miss the Kurt Warner glory years, but look on the bright side. Now that the Rams have up and moved themselves back to LA, lets us point our remote controls to the Big Game’s best plays: the television commercials, the half-time show and the party food. Go team!

Party Food in a Flash

Chicken Nachos somehow make the party, whether for an occasion or you know, just a midweek supper after a long day.

Chicken Nachos ♥ KitchenParade.com, quick 'n' easy with rotisserie chicken, black beans, grilled peppers, jalapeños, cheddar and more.



QUICK SUPPER: CHICKEN NACHOS

Hands-on time: 30 minutes
Time to table: 45 minutes
Serves 8 as an appetizer, 4 as entrée
    PEPPERS & BEANS
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 bell peppers (see TIPS), sliced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • 15 ounces canned black beans, rinsed and drained
    CHICKEN
  • 1/2 pound cooked chicken (see TIPS), shredded
  • Zest and juice of a lime
  • Salt & pepper to taste
    NACHO TOPPINGS
  • 3 chopped green onions (don’t skip)
  • 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) grated cheese (see TIPS)
  • Pickled jalapeños, from a jar or homemade, see Quick Jalapeño Pickles
    TO SERVE
  • 4 ounces tortilla chips
  • 1/2 cup sour cream (see TIPS) or Mexican sour cream, see Lime Crema
  • Salsa

Heat the oven to 450F/230C.

PEPPERS & BEANS In a skillet, heat the oil until shimmery. Add the peppers, garlic and spices; cook, stirring often, until just cooked but still colorful. Stir in the beans; warm through.

CHICKEN Meanwhile, toss the chicken, lime zest and juice, salt and pepper in a bowl.

ASSEMBLE Set up an assembly line with the Peppers & Beans, the Chicken and small bowls of the 4 Nacho Toppings. For a single oven-safe dish, leave room around the perimeter to arrange the tortilla chips but in the center, layer about half the Peppers & Beans, half the Chicken, and half of each topping. Repeat the layers, then arrange the chips around the edge.

BAKE Bake until the cheese melts, about 10 – 15 minutes or until mixture is hot and bubbly.

SERVE Serve with sour cream and salsa on the side. Dig in!

TO MAKE AHEAD All the components (the Peppers & Beans, the chicken, even the Nacho Toppings) can be prepped ahead of time but you'll want to assemble it all just before going into the oven, especially the tortilla chips (or maybe shortly before).

ALANNA's TIPS For a flash of color, use one green and one red pepper. One breast from a rotisserie chicken works beautifully, so does leftover roast turkey or chicken. If you use a rotisserie chicken, do save the carcass to make No-Big-Deal Homemade Chicken Stock! A Mexican cheese blend adds a welcome bite. If you like, stir chopped cilantro and minced pickled jalapeño rings into the sour cream. For portion control management, I like to serve Chicken Nachos in small individual oven-safe dishes such as these mini cast iron servers (affiliate link), we have all three shapes, round, oval and rectangle!
NUTRITION INFORMATION
Quick Note: A huge % of the calories and points come from the chips and sour cream. If you're paying attention, limit those!
Per Entrée Serving (for each serving, assumes 1oz tortilla chips, specifically Tostitos Bite Size; 2 tablespoons sour cream; 2 tablespoons salsa) 650 Calories; 35g Tot Fat; 17g Sat Fat; 118mg Cholesterol; 756mg Sodium; 42g Carb; 7g Fiber; 6g Sugar; 40g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 15 & PointsPlus 17 & SmartPoints 21 & Freestyle 8 & myWW green 19 & blue 8 & purple 8.



Quick Jalapeño Pickles ♥ KitchenParade.com, easy homemade refrigerator pickles, no canning required. Great for Mexican Meal Prep.

I see people buy huge jars of jalapeno rings. Instead, make your own, just a few pantry ingredients and no canning required. Very handy to have on hand!

Need more detail? It's all here, Quick Jalapeño Pickles


QUICK JALAPEÑO PICKLES These homemade refrigerator pickles keep in the fridge for months. Just pack a clean glass jar with thin slices of fresh jalapeño rings, then slip in thin carrot slices and a bay leaf. Bring 1:1 volumes of water:vinegar to a boil, add half a teaspoon salt per cup of liquid. Fill the jar, let it cool, add a lid, then refrigerate for a week before serving. Delicious! Keeps forever.



Game-Day Pretzels ♥ KitchenParade.com, great party snacks.

Every good party needs great party snacks!


GAME-DAY PRETZELS Warm 6 ounces of popcorn oil, then stir in a packet of Ranch dressing mix, 2 teaspoons of dill weed and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder. With your hands, work the spice mixture into 2 pounds of small pretzels (shapes work better than pretzel sticks). Place on two sheet pans to dry on the counter overnight. Best made 24 hours before serving. The recipe is easily halved for less volume or doubled for great food gifts.


More "Mexican" Recipes

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

Mexican Chicken Salad Oaxaca Tlayuda (Flat Tacos) Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos
~ more Mexican recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

~ Mexican Scrambled Eggs (Huevos Revueltos a la Mexicana) ~
~ Veggie Burritos with Cilantro Sauce ~
~ Zucchini Mushroom Tacos ~
from A Veggie Venture

Start With a Rotisserie Chicken!

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

Asian Chicken Salad Easy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas White Chicken Chili
~ more rotisserie chicken recipes ~

© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2008, 2014, 2015 (repub) & 2020

Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Anonymous1/25/2008

    So you don't actually have to 'can' the jalapenos? They just stay in the refrig? PS Wow, lots of calories in nachos.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ali ~ Right, that's what refrigerator pickles are, ones that stay good just by being left in the refrigerator. Some last a couple of weeks, these have been in my fridge for over a year and are still good. PS No kidding. You can reduce the calories by leaving out the chips but they're a definite indulgence. I suspect lots of people don't know, I sure didn't.

    ReplyDelete
  3. In re Game Day Pretzels - doesn't that knock all the salt off? Sounds good though. BTW - Kurt started out in Des Moines as the arena bowl star. When he left arena football just died. Damn! The commercials are the only thing worth watching now. Great recipes Alanna - thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sally ~ If the salt came off, I didn't notice, perhaps because IF it did, like most packaged mixes, the Hidden Vally dressing mix has lots of sodium.

    I REMEMBER that about Kurt Warner, here they talked about the 'former Hy-Vee bagger'. Those were fun years!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna