Barbecue Chicken Nachos

A lot of foodies, chefs, and culinary artists place an overgrown value on the idea of cooking as therapy. While I do agree with that, I think what’s missing is approachability. A lot of people feel like they don’t have what it takes to create really great tasting food at home. Other folks think about the energy and thought involved with cooking and decide against it, but I’m here to ease your fears and hype you up the whole way through. I chose the word create very specifically when referring to making great food at home. Cooking should be fun. There are not many rules that I live by, but there’s one you should remember: sometimes you’re going to f**k it up and that’s perfectly okay. Things won’t always turn out picture perfect. but do anything enough times and you’ll get it right. 

Ultimately cooking at home develops your palette so that you already know your preferences when you go out to spend money in restaurants. How awful would it be if you were on a $200 date with the one you finally had the courage to DM and you now you lowkey want to throw up because you ordered a blue rare steak? Terrible. I want to help save you from that with a short series of meals you can easily create at home to impress your significant other, family unit or your goddamn self. Every Friday I'll be sharing with you some recipes from my kitchen too yours. 

Nachos are one of those things that you generally eat begrudgingly from a concession stand. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a dope authentic Mexican spot around it ’s unlikely that you’re eating nachos often. If you’re approaching food as a beginner, however, customizing nachos is a great foundation.

With nachos, you have unlimited protein options. In the past, I’ve done salmon avocado nachos, cheesesteak nachos, breakfast nachos. Tortilla chips will be our familiar foundation and we’ll have plenty of space for creativity based on personal preference. In the name of simplicity, I’m going to walk you through a quick barbecue chicken topped nachos. 

things you’ll need:

- cookie sheet or any oven safe pan. 
- parchment paper
- bag of your favorite tortilla chips
- shredded cheese (cheddar, jack, mozzarella maybe)!
- jar of queso
- boneless chicken thighs (two per person) 
- barbecue sauce
- green onion
- red onion

preheat your oven to 375 (degrees) 

We’ll start off with the barbecue chicken. You’ll want to coat a standard frying pan/sautée pan with olive oil. Next you'll add the chicken to the pan and begin to get it browned (12-14 minutes or until fully cooked through). Once it’s fully cooked through, allow 3-5 minutes of cooling time then dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces and toss in barbecue sauce. 

While the chicken cools we’ll slice up some onions. Red onion first. Peel your red onion and slice. Again, because this is about personal preference, the slices can be as large or as small as you like. Keep in mind the onion will be raw when the nachos go into the oven. Smaller pieces of onion will cook faster. Follow with slicing green onion. 

Now it’s time for assembly. 

You’ll want to line your cookie sheet or oven dish with a piece of parchment paper. The best part about using parchment paper is there will be no dishes to clean at the end of this. 

Cover your dish with tortilla chips. 
Next, sprinkle a little shredded cheese to cover and add another small layer of chips. next we’ll evenly cover the chips and shredded cheese with our barbecue chicken (don’t be shy about rearranging chicken for even distribution). 

Add a few dollops of queso to the mix, add your chopped red onions, and cover with a little more shredded cheese. You’ll put the dish into your 375-degree oven for 14-18 minutes. 

When the nachos are all finished, sprinkle diced green onion and serve with sour cream and salsa. 

Try this at home and let us know how it goes!