Did someone say… fiesta? At home? Contrary to popular belief, it can be done. All you need are some sweet potatoes and bomb toppings and that’s it. You have yourself a fiesta.
Just when I thought I’d done everything I could possibly do with my giant Costco bag of sweet potatoes, sweet potato nachos came knocking on my door. You can bake sweet potato fries and sweet potato cubes all you want, but you haven’t really unlocked the true capacity of sweet potatoes until you turn them into crispy, flavor-infused chips.
This recipe looks like it has lots of ingredients, but the ingredients are super simple and can be adjusted based on what you have.
And if you associate nachos with yellow cheese and tortilla chips from Taco Bell, please do think again. These nachos bring all the flavor while making you feel good about it! Simple ingredients that make you feel fueled and energized, rather than the sluggish feeling many might associate with nachos.
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STEP 1: Make the sweet potato chips.
Sweet potatoes can be pretty asymmetrical, so the key to this part is making your chips as thin and uniform as possible. You’re going to want to bake your larger chips on one baking sheet and smaller chips on the other, if you can. If not, then mixing them together is fine too – just know that some will be softer and some will be crisper.
As for the spices, bring them on! Use less chili powder if you’re sensitive to spice.
STEP 2: Prep your toppings.
Get creative here! I went with black beans, avocado, tomato, jalapeno, and bell pepper, but use whatever you have on hand. Other suggestions include onion, cilantro, and corn.
STEP 3: Blend the avocado crema.
Just your standard avocado cream recipe! Some avo, some lime, some yogurt, and some water.
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STEP 4: Assemble!
Make it neat, make it messy – doesn’t matter because it WILL taste incredible. I went with chips on the bottom, then some toppings, then more chips, more toppings, and ultimately, the crema.
Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Chips
- 2 medium sweet potatoes thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp garlic
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp salt
Toppings
- ½ tomato, cubed
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- ½ bell pepper
- 1 can black beans or 1 cup cooked black beans
- 1/2 red or yellow bell pepper
- ½ avocado, cubed
Avocado Crema
- ½ avocado
- ½ tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp yogurt
- water to thin to desired texture
- salt to taste
Instructions
- If you have dried black beans, prepare them ahead of time by soaking overnight or for at least 6 hours. Pressure cook for 5-7 minutes in salted water. If using a can, skip this step.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Slice sweet potato rounds as thinly as possible.
- Mix all ingredients of the sweet potato marinade in a small bowl (olive oil, paprika, chili powder, garlic, pepper, salt). Split to two baking sheets.
- Coat sweet potatoes in the mixture. Try to place similarly sized sweet potatoes on the same sheet.
- Put the sweet potatoes in the oven. Cut toppings while they are in the oven.
- After 10 minutes, flip them using tongs or a spatula.
- Put chips in for another 10 min. Process ingredients for the crema in the mean time: avocado, lime juice, yogurt, water, and salt.
- Check on sweet potatoes. If they are still not crisp as desired, broil on high for 1-2 min.
- Assemble those nachos! Sweet potatoes on the bottom, followed by toppings, more sweet potatoes, more toppings, and finally your avocado crema and some cilantro.
- Have a fiesta!
So next time you think nachos require bland chips with lots of heavy cheese and sour cream, think again.
