Loaded with spicy chipotle "cheese" and ground taco tofu, this vegan and oil free Healthy Nachos Recipe is definitely a crowd pleaser!
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Raise your hand if you feel good after eating a giant plate of nachos! Yeah, I bet there weren't many of you raising your hands. That's how I feel about traditional junk food like nachos. It tastes amazing going down, but afterwards I don't feel the best. I'm sure I'd feel fine if I just had a few chips worth, but who actually does that?
That's why I'm obsessed with this Vegan and Oil Free Healthy Vegan Nachos Recipe! I can enjoy the taste and richness of traditional nachos without some of the negative side effects that I often experience after eating too many oily tortilla chips, processed vegan cheese and faux ground beef.
Typical Nachos Ingredients
If you order Nachos at a Mexican restaurant you'll usually be served a plate loaded with a combination of some of the following ingredients
- fried tortillas or tortilla chips
- seasoned ground beef
- shredded chicken or pork
- beans (refried, black or pinto)
- shredded cheese or cheese sauce
- sour cream
- salsa or pico de gallo
- tomatoes
- black olives
- corn
- shredded lettuce
- jalapeños
- guacamole or avocado
- onions
- cilantro.
All of these ingredients are rare to find on one single plate of nachos (that would be a meal for Man vs. Food!), but every restaurant and person combines some of these ingredients in their own unique way to make a super heavy, albeit delicious, plate of food.
Healthy Vegan Nachos Ingredients
However, if you're trying to eat healthier or follow a plant based diet, you might not fair too well with a plate of loaded nachos. That's why I've figured out a whole foods, plant based way to enjoy one of my favorite meals!
Nachos Base
I actually eat nachos fairly often, but instead of store bought tortilla chips I make my Homemade Oil Free Baked Tortilla Chips the base of my nachos.
Nachos Toppings
For toppings I like to use my 2 Ingredient Ground Taco Tofu and beans as the protein. Then I top that off with store bought salsa (or my super easy Easy Roasted Tomato Blender Salsa), diced avocado, fresh cilantro and my current obsession: Homemade Chipotle Hummus!
How To Make Nachos
I listed off a bunch of nachos ingredients above, but how do you actually make nachos? There are a couple of different ways you can do it.
Using an Oven
Growing up, my mom would make our nachos by baking them in the oven on a large baking tray (hello family of 6)! She would...
- Cook the ground beef and get all of the other toppings prepared while the oven preheated.
- Line a baking tray with foil and then spread a layer of tortilla chips on the foil.
- Layer the cooked ground beef, shredded cheese and more tortilla chips, more ground beef and more cheese on top
- Bake in the oven until the cheese melted.
- Once everything was melty and hot, she would remove the nachos from the oven and serve them with cold ingredients like sour cream, salsa, chopped onion etc.
Of course, being typical American kids, we LOVED nacho night and probably didn't have to be told once to finish our dinner.
Using A Skillet
Another way to prepare nachos is to just top a layer of tortilla chips with ingredients that are already pre-cooked and warmed up. So instead of using the oven to melt the cheese you could use a warm cheese sauce and drizzle that on top of your chips and other toppings. This is usually how I prepare my nachos as it's super quick and easy and doesn't require dealing with an oven.
How To Make Nacho Cheese Sauce Without Shredded Cheese
I turn my Homemade Chipotle Hummus Recipe into a pourable, spicy, nacho cheese sauce to drizzle on top of whatever nacho ingredients you prefer.
It's super simple actually.
All I do is take some of my Homemade Chipotle Hummus, thin it out with a little bit of water and then heat it up either on the stove top or in a microwave until hot. Then I drizzle it on top of my loaded plate of Baked Tortilla Chips, Ground Taco Tofu, black beans, salsa and whatever else my heart desires!
This Healthy Vegan Nachos Recipe leaves me feeling so good and satisfied and it's fully of whole food, plant-based sources of carbs, protein and fat.
I can't wait to make meals like this for Harper once she gets older!
I'd love to know some of your favorite Nacho toppings! If you give this Simple Healthy Nachos Recipe a try, please let me know! Leave a comment down below, rate the recipe and share it with your friends. I'd even love to see a photo of the final product on Instagram so be sure to take a picture and tag @theconscientiouseater!
📖 Recipe
Loaded Healthy Vegan Nachos Recipe
Ingredients
- Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips
- 1 package extra firm tofu
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
- Homemade Chipotle Hummus
- Avocado or Guacamole
- Salsa
- Cilantro
- Jalapeños
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 400 °F and cut your tortillas into wedges in preparation to make the Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips.
- While the chips are baking, prepare the ground taco tofu by draining and pressing out any excess water from the tofu with your hands. Crumble the tofu into a bowl and mix in the entire contents of the taco seasoning packet.
- On a skillet over medium heat, either using water or a little bit of oil, sauté the seasoned tofu along with the black beans until cooked through and warm.
- To prepare the nacho cheese, take ½ cup - 1 cup of the Homemade Chipotle Hummus and thin it out with a little bit of water until it's a pourable consistency. Then in a microwave safe bowl or in a sauce pan, slowly heat the hummus until warm.
- Once the baked chips are ready and the tofu/bean mixture is warm, prepare your nachos by layering whatever ingredients you desire on top of your baked chips. Drizzle the warm Chipotle Hummus overtop and garnish with avocado slices, fresh salsa, cilantro and spicy jalapeños.
- Enjoy warm!
Emily says
Ooh I love your favorite toppings for homemade nachos. And someday soon I really need to try homemade tortilla chips. I'm going to open up your recipe and try to do it some time this week. It's been a little bit quieter around here, so I'll get some time to bake or cook more. 🙂 Also, avocados plus hummus plus cilantro on top of chips would be just lovely.
Faith says
I hope you like them Emily! You can jazz them up with different seasonings too which is fun. Enjoy the quieter days ahead!