Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos

More than just a snack, these Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos make the best of what you have on hand and are great for sharing.

This post was created in partnership with our friends at Kalona SuperNatural™.

Alt title: What many batches of Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos taught me about life

Just kidding, we’re not going there today. I’m not going to get all vulnerable here or wax poetic about nachos and the meaning of life or tell you that making these with only an air-fryer and toaster oven standing in for my broken wall oven was nothing short of a kitchen circus (because it was) but I will say that these Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos are pretty life-changing if you’ve never had them before.

The best part is that you can make them amazing with just about any topping or bits of leftovers you have on hand and a super simple Southwest Ranch Dressing. If you’re in a DIY mood you can make your own sweet potato chips in the oven or an air fryer or you can grab a bag of two of your favorite sweet potato chips (these are my all-time favorite) and take the fast track to nachos that are meant to be shared with friends – or in the case of batch #3 show here, devoured right from the table where the photos were going down with my husband who basically stalked me and the casserole dish the entire time I was making them. Not kidding, I didn’t dare turn my back on them for fear he would eat them before I could take the photos. 

Use what you’ve got.

Leftover cooked chicken or taco meat? Fantastic, toss them in the pan. Random cheeses in the fridge? Great, shred them up. A couple of less-than-perfect avocados on the counter? Sweet, cut out the bad spots and mash them with some garlic, lime juice, and salt. You get the idea. Use what you’ve got on hand and don’t worry about following a recipe. This is what cooking is all about – experimenting with tastes and textures and learning to improvise.

Dress it up.

The toppings really do make the nachos which is why, when contemplating what to put on top of these Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos, I knew it needed to be something creamy/spicy/tangy to add more depth of flavor (and, let’s be honest, because my husband won’t eat anything Mexican-ish without sour cream). Ultimately, I settled on the idea of a Southwestern Ranch Dressing made with Kalona SuperNatural™ Kefir mixed with a little sour cream to get the perfect consistency for drizzling.

Kalona SuperNatural kefir is a fermented dairy beverage made from milk from pasture-grazed cows. It contains a more diverse array of bacteria than yogurt (15-30 strains, on average) making a great choice for adding to smoothies, dressings, overnight oats, oatmeal, and more.

Kalona works with small family farms to bring you delicious, certified organic cream-topped kefir from pasture-grazed cows. They deliver their dairy products in the most natural state possible. All Kalona SuperNatural™ Kefir meets these standards:

• Non-homogenized
• Grass-fed
• Batch-pasteurized
• Grade A
• USDA Certified Organic
• Kosher Certified

You find out if  Kalona SuperNatural™ Kefir is available in a store near you by using their store locator.

Go all out with what you’ve got.

When it comes to toppings, the sky is the limit. Here are a few of my favorites when making these Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos:

• Leftover chicken or taco meat (try our Easy Instant Pot Shredded Chicken, The Perfect Chicken Breast, or our Homemade Taco Seasoning if you need a recipe)
• Canned black beans (drained and rinsed) or refried beans
• Shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese
• Salsa (my absolute favorite is salsa verde – whatever you don’t use here you can use to make this Slow Cooker Chicken Chile Verde!)
• Corn (fresh or frozen)
• Diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro, green onions, sliced jalapenos, black olives, diced avocado or the best homemade guacamole

What are you waiting for?

The answer should be, “nothing” but I get it if you need to run to the store to pick up a few items. Just do it quickly because you really need to make these Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos. And then invite some friends over to enjoy them. Don’t worry if your house is messy, theirs probably is too. The point is that you don’t worry about making them perfect, you just make them. Then you enjoy them. It’s really that simple and that’s exactly what several failed batches of these loaded sweet potato nachos taught me about life this week… it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be shared.

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Let's Get Cookin'

Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos

• Author: Jessica Beacom
• Prep Time: 10 min.
• Cook Time: 10 min (using premade chips)
• Total Time: 20 min
• Yield: Serves 4 1x
• Cuisine: Grain-Free, Egg-Free

Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the Sweet Potato Chips*:

• 3 large sweet potatoes, very thinly sliced (a mandoline works best for this)
• 1 Tbsp. avocado oil (or other cooking fat of choice)
• Salt

For the Toppings (use as few or as many as you like):

• 6 ounces shredded, cooked chicken or taco meat
• 1 ½ cups shredded cheese (such as cheddar, Monterey jack, pepper jack, a Mexican blend or mozzarella)
• ½ cup black or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ cup corn (fresh or frozen; thawed and well-drained)
• ⅓ – ½ cup diced tomato
• ⅓ – ½ cup salsa of choice
• Fresh cilantro, sliced green onions, diced red onion or bell pepper, black olives, diced avocado or guacamole, etc.

For the Southwest Ranch Dressing:

• ⅓ cup Kalona SuperNatural™ Plain Kefir
• ⅓ sup sour cream
• 1 tsp. taco seasoning (try our Homemade Taco Seasoning)
• ¼ dried dill
• ⅛ dried thyme
• ⅛ dried parsley
• Juice of ½ lime
• Pinch of dried chipotle or ancho pepper powder (optional)
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

To Make the Sweet Potato Chips:

1. Preheat the oven to 325℉. 
2. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Toss the sweet potato slices with oil. Place slices in a single layer on the baking sheet taking care not to crowd them then sprinkle with salt.
3. Place baking sheets in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through cooking time, or until slices are lightly browned and crisp on the edges.
4. Remove chips to a wire cooling rack to rest while you repeat with the remaining sweet potato slices.

To Make the Nachos:

1. Layer ½ of the sweet potato chips (homemade or store-bought) onto a baking sheet or in a glass baking dish. 
2. Top with ½ of the chicken or taco meat, beans or corn if using, and cheese. 
3. Repeat with this layer, ending with cheese on top. Place baking sheet or dish into the oven and bake 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
4. While the nachos are baking, combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Remove pan from oven, add salsa, diced tomatoes, sliced or diced onions, chopped cilantro, avocado or guacamole, etc.
6. Drizzle Southwest Ranch Dressing over nachos and serve with lime wedges, if desired.

Notes

*You can also substitute 8 ounces of pre-made sweet potato chips. 

Note: The nutrition information for this recipe will depend on whether or not you use premade, bagged sweet potato chips or homemade chips and the amount and/or types of toppings you use. We recommend using the free recipe analysis feature of MyFitnessPal to calculate this information for yourself based on the ingredients used.

Tell us, what’s your favorite ‘throw together’ meal? Share in the comments below.

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This post was made possible by our friends at Kalona Supernatural. Although we received compensation for this post, the opinions expressed here are – as always – 100% our own. Thank you for supporting the great companies we work with thereby allowing us to continue creating great recipes and content for you.

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