Think nachos have to be a heavy, unhealthy dish? Okay, maybe it won’t win any prizes for healthiest dish ever–unless you replaced the chips with kale–but that doesn’t mean it has to be a calorie bomb. By making many of the ingredients at home, you can lighten the dish up and control your fat, sugar and salt levels. For instance, did you know it’s really easy to make tortilla chips at home? Take regular old tortillas, cut into wedges and fry in oil. Then you can dust them with as much or as little salt as you want or even add spices like cumin or chili powder. It’s fast, easy and you know exactly what’s in your food.
Likewise, we’ve got a super easy recipe for “refried” beans that don’t take any frying at all. It’s simply Randall Beans Pinto Beans with onion, hot sauce, onion and a dash of sugar. They’re perfect for tacos, nachos or any other recipe that calls for refried beans.
Don’t be afraid to mix up our nacho recipe–add shredded lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, ground beef or turkey. Make the recipe your own and take back nachos!
Randall Hearty ‘N Healthy Refried Beans:
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups of Randall Pinto Beans
- 6 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt, (or to taste)
- 8 ounces shredded jack cheese
- Extra cheese for the top, if desired
Drain the beans over a bowl. Measure out 1/2 cup of the liquid and reserve. Purée the beans with the 1/2 cup of reserved liquid in a food processor or blender until mixture is very smooth. (If blender is used, pour in the liquid first, then add the beans.)
Heat the olive oil in a heavy sauce pan. Add the onion. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until the onion is just tender. Stir in the puréed beans.
Add the sugar, hot pepper sauce and salt. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the cheese until it is melted.
Serve hot as a vegetable side dish with more cheese melted on top of each serving.
Makes about 5 cups.
Cheesy Chili Bean Nachos
Ingredients
- 10 large flour tortillas
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
- 1 recipe Randall Hearty ‘N Healthy Refried Beans*
- 1 14-ounce can chopped mild green chilies
- 3-4 pickled jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced (to taste)
- 8 ounces shredded jack cheese
- 8 ounces shredded mild cheddar cheese
Cut each tortilla into 6 wedges. Fry in 365-375° vegetable oil until golden and crisp. Remove to a paper-towel lined dish and drain thoroughly.
To Assemble the Nachos:
Spread each crisp tortilla wedge with some of the Refried Beans. Mix together the two peppers and sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon over the Refried Beans. Top with some of each cheese. Place on baking sheets. Place in a preheated 375° oven just until cheese is melted.
Serve hot.
Makes 60 appetizers.
