Chicken and Bean Taco Nachos
Soooo I’m not really sure what to call this taco-type creation. It is a mix of chicken and refried bean, stuffed in a flour tortilla shell, pan fried, then topped with all of your favourite nacho toppings and they are DELICIOUS. This is like a mini taco/chalupa, yet I topped them like you would nachos - hence the name: taco nacho. You can tweak this recipe to make it as spicy or mild as you want and it is completely customizable based on what toppings are your favourite! You could even make them with taco ground beef, taco veggie ground or pork - I just really like chicken.
What makes this recipe for me is the TAJIN!!! I discovered this spice when I was bartending at a local high end steakhouse. I wish I had a more glamorous story. Like “Oh I was vacationing in the Mayan riviera and this little old Mexican lady at the local bodega made me the best tacos that had tajin on them”. No. Not the case. It was my shitty bartending job.
ANYWAYS, they introduced Tajin (pronounced - ta-Y-in, the ‘j’ is silent, like in yyyyyogging), as a rimmer for the pineapple margarita and the second I tasted it my mind started going WILD with all the possibilities. Its made from ground, dried chile peppers (a blend of chiles de árbol, guajillo and pasilla), dehydrated lime and sea salt. Its spicy. Its sour. Its salty. Its just - miraculous. I use it pretty much throughout every aspect of this recipe. Most people sprinkle Tajin on fruits and vegetables but I use it as a more multi-purpose seasoning and I haven’t had any complaints yet!
I can picture these taco nachos coming out of one of those cute little colourful taco trucks on the boardwalks of sunny San Diego and enjoying them on the beach with an icy cold Corona. YUM!
Pictured here I used: sour cream, queso (recipe here), roasted salsa (recipe here), pickled jalapenos, a “pico de gallo” that I whipped up (yes its in quotes, I know its not authentic. Shut up), iceberg lettuce and green olives because around here - we put olives on our tacos. Weird, I know. But nothing beats a hit of that briney/salty goodness to cut through the richness and spiciness of tacos. I could also picture like a roasted corn salsa as a topping which would be delicious. (Hmmmm need to write a recipe for this … )
To begin, you have to cut out all of your little tortilla rounds. I’m not going to lie - I did not make these tortillas but you can use my recipe for homemade flour tortillas if you’re feeling adventurous. I feel like this is kind of a catch 22 type scenario because you’ll save yourself cutting them down with the circle cutter, but then you have the time it takes to actually make and cook the tortillas. Either way, you’re not going to be disappointed. And I won’t judge you for using the store-bought ones.
I then started making my salsa. It can take a while to do since you have to make sure the veggies are nice and roasty toasty and charred to get the most flavour. So if you want to use store-bought, again I won’t judge. While the veggies are roasting I made the queso and set it aside on super low temp to keep for serving.
Dice your chicken into small 1x1cm (approx obvi) cubes, pieces, whatever, and toss in all your favourite taco spices. I used: tajin (just a bit), s&p, cumin, chilli powder, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika (make sure you’re using the best one). I pan fried this quickly so that the chicken was just cooked through (it will cook more when you pan fry them so don’t stress - I just didn’t want to turn the chicken to cardboard) then brought it over to my cutting board and ran the knife through it a few times so it was diced very thoroughly. Opened that can of refried beans (I like this kind) and mashed everything around until it was well-mixed. Next time I make this recipe, at this point I’m going to add in some diced green chiles to crank the heat up a bit. I’m including this in the actual printable recipe. I know it will be delicious. Don’t @ me.
Adjust your seasoning at this point to your liking too. Add more salt, more cumin, whatever floats your boat.
Just remember the golden rule: taste, TaStE, TASTE EVERYTHING!!! My measurements for spices are, as always, approximate and my recipes are made according to my tastebuds and what IIIII think tastes good. This doesn’t always lead to the most authentic recipes or the “proper” measurements, spices etc. But this is MY recipe. So make it how you like it. Or don’t. I honestly don’t care.
FOCUS!! God…
Ok, so take this mixture, and put about a teaspoon of it into the centre of your mini tortillas, fold it in half and squish it all down until you have little half moon tacos with about 1/2 cm of filling evenly distributed throughout. Set those aside and make, like, 100 more. I’m kidding. Kind of. It felt like it took forever to make them all. I suppose you don’t HAVE to make that many, but I’m always of the mindset that if you’re doing it - you might as well DO IT! Plus, I was feeding two grown men, and they’re eating machines so I had to make sure there was enough. Once they started though they both agreed it was hard to stop eating them. Thank god I made as many as I did. Cover and set aside.
Once you have all your little tacos filled, get your cast iron and fill with enough oil to JUST cover the bottom layer of your taco and not at all submerged. If they’re submerged it will lead to very oily taco nachos. Not pleasant. For my cast iron this was 1/2 cup approx. You can use whatever oil you want but pay attention to smoke points. I like using vegetable or canola because these both have a super high smoke point and seem to crisp things up the best in my pans. You can use avocado or olive oil as well just make sure you watch them for burning! Set your pan to med-high and once your oil is hot enough, toss those puppies in until they’re golden brown. It will only take approx 2-3 minutes per side. Drain on cookie rack, paper towels, whatever you have just make sure you blot and drain any excess oil because no one wants an explosion of lava-oil in their mouth. Not fun or tasty.
You can now go ahead and plate them up with the toppings that you want. You just have to make sure you finish everything with a sprinkle of tajin. Trust me. We made a kind-of taco/nacho buffet type thing so you could make your own and put whatever toppings you fancied (haha I’m British) on them! HUGE SUCCESS!! I will be making these again ASAP.
PRINTABLE RECIPE
For Taco Nachos:
4 chicken breasts prepared to recipe
1 can of refried beans
20 large flour tortillas cut into 2” rounds (yields 50), or make your own with this recipe
1 can green chiles
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp tajin
For toppings:
Queso (Homemade recipe here)
Sour cream
Salsa (Homemade recipe here)
Iceberg Lettuce
“Pico de Gallo” (3 roma tomatoes, 1/2 white onion, diced, seasoned with s&p and tajin)
Green onions
Diced green olives
Dice chicken and season with suggested seasonings. Cover and set aside in fridge to absorb them.
Prepare queso and salsa. Dice and cut up veggies for toppings. Cover and put in fridge for later.
Make taco/nacho rounds. Either make and cook the tortillas from scratch and form into 2” rounds, or cut out 2” rounds from store bought tortillas.
Take prepared chicken and sure it is diced finely. Combine with can of refried beans and green chiles. Make sure this gets thoroughly combined. Adjust seasoning to your taste at this point.
Fill each round with approx 1 tsp of chicken/bean mixture and fold in half, squishing down the filling evenly until it reaches the edges. You should have approx 1/2 cm of filling. Continue and fill all shells.
Coat the bottom of a cast iron in generous layer of oil. It should be enough that it JUST covers the bottom layer of your taco nacho (see above for more detail). Set your pan to med-high and add taco nachos to pan. Pan fry for 2-3 minutes a side until golden brown. Drain excess oil.
Top taco nachos how you want and ENJOY!
