Sheet Pan Nachos

Sheet Pan Nachos are the easiest appetizer you can make! Throw a batch of tortilla chips piled with toppings into the oven & start feasting!

I love good finger food and believe me when I say Sheet Pan Nachos are the ultimate party appetizer. Crispy chips piled high with fresh, spicy toppings and smothered in two different types of cheese, how could you possibly go wrong?! The only way to make these delicious sheet pan nachos any better is to learn how to make a margarita and serve up a batch of those tangy cocktails with your nachos!

SHEET PAN NACHOS
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It is absolutely no secret that I love Mexican food. I am (no joke…) snacking on chips and salsa as I write this. Salty, spicy, and totally customizable to suit whoever wants to eat it, Mexican food is seriously elite.

At the very tippy-top of that elite list of yummy southwestern food is of course NACHOS! Whether you’re serving a crowd for a football tailgate party or you simply want to add a little fun to your family dinner, I promise you these best ever sheet pan nachos are going to satisfy!

Piled high with delicious toppings and two different types of cheese (no such thing as too much cheese, am I right??), these sheet pan nachos are the ultimate game day party food and they fill my soul to the brim with deliciousness.

Nacho Ingredients

The beauty of this sheet pan nachos recipe is that it is totally customizable to whatever your tastes are.

You love spicy? Ramp up the jalapenos.

Do you prefer sheet pan chicken nachos? Go ahead and swap out for shredded chicken!

Here are my go-to ingredients to make my ultimate sheet pan beef nachos:

Taco meat – I personally love beef crumbled on my sheet pan nachos. It adds a delicious flavor to the nachos especially when I use my homemade taco seasoning!

Cheese – no sheet pan nachos recipe is complete without tons of cheese. The more, the better in my mind!! To make the best ever sheet pan nachos, I use a combination of sharp shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack, and my homemade pourable nacho cheese sauce because sheet pan nachos with queso are the best kind of nachos!

Toppings – You can absolutely customize your sheet pan nachos to your own tastes. My favorite toppings are black olives, chopped tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro! Sometimes I’ll add drained and rinsed black beans and even roasted corn during the summer.

How to Make Sheet Pan Nachos

You’re going to want all your ingredients prepped and ready before you start to assemble your sheet pan nachos, so cook up your meat, chop up your toppings, and shred your cheese so you’re good to go!

1. Once your ingredients are all prepped, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. We’re gonna bake these nachos rather than broiling to ensure everything heats up perfectly.
2. Now it’s time to assemble! Grab a baking sheet pan and line the bottom with tortilla chips.
3. Layer half of the taco meat and then the nacho sauce on top of the chips.
4. Next, add half of the onions, olives, jalapeno peppers, and cheddar cheese. Save the tomatoes for the top layer and after baking!
5. Now, add a second layer of tortilla chips (can’t weigh all those bottom chips down with toppings. The second layer is key to nacho perfection!).
6. Add the rest of the taco meat, nacho cheese sauce, olives, onions, jalapeno peppers, cheddar cheese, and some tomato.
7. Pop your sheet pan nachos in the oven and let them bake for 15 minutes.
8. Once the cheese is bubbly and the chips are starting to crisp up, remove your nachos from the oven and top with guacamole, sour cream, tomato, and cilantro.
9. Serve up your loaded nachos immediately with lime wedges.

What order do you layer nachos?

Every nacho chef will have a different “secret” method for layering nachos. For me, the most important thing is that you try to ensure even distribution of your toppings. You want as many of your ingredients on each and every chip.

For me, the ideal nacho bite has meat, cheese, and fresh toppings all piled on to one single chip. You know when you order nachos out at a restaurant and you have a pile of soggy chips at the bottom with not a single topping left? Yeah, that’s not how I like my sheet pan nachos.

Instead, I make sure that I layer chips, then meat, then cheese, then toppings, and then repeat! The double layer of chips and toppings ensures that you’ve got delicious toppings on every bite!

How do you make nachos not soggy?

There’s nothing worse than a soggy nacho. Ok, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but really… nobody wants to bite down on a chip that they’re expecting to be crunchy only to be met with a floppy, wet chip.

My biggest tip to avoid soggy sheet pan nachos is to serve and eat them immediately after baking them! The longer you let those toppings sit on the chips, the more likely they are to become soggy.

Another pro-tip to avoid soggy nachos? Use thick, sturdy tortilla chips. Thin chips fall apart super easily and get weighed down by the toppings. You want to be able to pick up your chip without it breaking!

Looking for more Mexican-inspired party food? Check out these other Real Housemoms favorites!

• Cowboy Nacho Bites
• Southwest Corn Salsa
• Crescent Roll Taco Ring
• Jalapeno Crab Dip
• Cheesy BBQ Chicken Quesadillas
• more APPETIZER recipes…

Tools used to make this Sheet Pan Nachos recipe

Sheet Pan: pretty obvious by the recipe title that you’d need a sheet pan, right? This one is my absolute favorite!

Sharp Knife: a sharp knife is every chef’s best friend, especially when chopping up toppings for sheet pan nachos!