Are you enjoying these Mexican-ish recipes as much as I am? I could really eat fresh Mexican food all day, every day.
I’m sharing these fully loaded veggie nachos with you today, to serve at Cinco de Mayo or your next get-together, or to appease your weeknight nacho craving (been there, often).
My ideal nachos are topped with golden, bubbling cheese, not drizzled with nacho cheese sauce that often goes cold in three minutes. I prefer a mix of cheddar, for max flavor and golden edges, and Monterey Jack, for its more melty, creamy texture.
I like to layer in beans for extra protein and fiber, and pinto beans are perfect for that. They’re creamy and hefty enough not to dry out in the oven like black beans do, as long as you layer them underneath the cheese. You could spread refried beans on each chip instead, but I feel like making nachos should be more throw-together than tedious. Right?
Then I top the nachos with red bell pepper and jalapeños, and bake until golden. They’re in the oven for about 10 minutes, which is long enough to whip together this easy avocado sauce.
Finish with a sprinkle of green onion, cilantro and radishes, and serve with your favorite salsa. Nachos are ready.
Please let me know how you like these nachos in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Craving more recipes like this one? Check these out:
- Epic vegetarian tacos
- Baked jalapeño poppers
- Chunky avocado salsa
- Black bean sweet potato enchiladas
Loaded Veggie Nachos
- Author:
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Mexican
You’re looking at the ultimate vegetarian nachos recipe! No meat here—just tortilla chips, beans, veggies, lots of cheese and simple, creamy avocado sauce. Recipe yields 6 servings.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces sturdy tortilla chips
- 1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked pinto beans
- 1 packed cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 packed cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese, or additional cheddar
- 1 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
- Pickled jalapeños, to taste
- Avocado dip, thinned with water until it reaches a drizzly consistency, or guacamole
- ⅓ cup chopped green onions
- 2 radishes, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- Your favorite salsa (here’s my red salsa and salsa verde)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place handfuls of chips on the baking sheet and distribute evenly, minimizing the gaps between chips. Set aside.
- Sprinkle the prepared pan of chips generously and evenly with the beans, followed by the shredded cheese, bell pepper, crumbled feta and pickled jalapeños (use more if you really love jalapeños, less if you don’t). Bake until the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 9 to 13 minutes. Remove the nachos from the oven and set aside.
- While the nachos are baking, make the avocado sauce and prepare the garnishes.
- Once the nachos are out of the oven, drizzle avocado sauce on top as shown—any extra can be served on the side. (If using guacamole instead, dollop the guacamole over the nachos like polka dots.) Sprinkle the nachos with chopped green onion, radish and cilantro. Serve immediately, with salsa on the side.
Notes
Make it gluten free: Use certified gluten-free tortilla chips (most are gluten-free since they’re made with 100% corn, but double check).
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Ed Atlee
We love your recipes. Can you recommend a source of torillas and/ or tortilla chips? Thank you.
Kate
I usually get mine from Trader Joe’s! :)
Laura Lyons
Soooo much better than our usual boring veggie nachos. Thank you! Will make these on a regular basis from now on. Easy and yummy!! We used Trader Joe’s quinoa and black bean chips… :-)
★★★★★
jenny
Love it! I make my nacho just like this except I throw in some corn in there.
Kate
Corn would be a great addition, Jenny! Thanks for sharing.
Ariasmith
This veggie nachos recipe look simple & yummy!!
★★★★
Kate
Let me know what you think!
Raewyn Woolrich
Have recently tried this receipe, a winner for me, with Jalapenos bringing another dimension to the combination of flavours !!!
Guacamole – Coriander, Lime n Salt worked really well
Dale
great recipe and if you don’t miss or even know it’s lacking meat.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks!
Alina | Cooking Journey Blog
Easy, colorful and tasty dish! I like using pickled jalapeno in my recipes, so your veggie nachos is a must-make for me!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Alina!
Gaby Dalkin
The nachos are so simple yet SO good!
Kate
Thanks, Gaby! :)
Cassie Autumn Tran
I haven’t had nachos in a while, but I LOVE mine to be loaded with guacamole, mashed beans, pico de gallo, vegan ground beef, caramelized onions, fajitas, and LOTS and LOTS of jalapenos over blue corn tortilla chips! These look amazing and I love the ideas of toppings you provided!
Kate
So many options with Nachos for sure!
Natalie Ellis
I love nachos full of veggie filling like you did. That’s the simply but best way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!
Kate
They are so good. Thanks, Natalie!
Rhonda Borders
Kate, I made your Homemade Vegetarian Chili recipe with very minor changes. The changes were made only because I was taking care of my husband’s mother and father, in their home, and I used what they had. My father-in-law had hip surgery. A couple of days after he was home, he started to fall and my mother-in-law tried to catch him. They both ended up in the floor and she ended up with a broken shoulder. They are in their late 80’s. I wanted something healthy for them to eat. I have used a couple of your recipes in the past; but, this is the first time that I left a comment. It was a huge hit. It is definitely a recipe that I will make again. Thanks, Rhonda
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy to hear they are doing better! I’m glad it was just the thing you needed. Thanks for the review, Rhonda!
Marisa
I made this recipe last week and it’s delicious! And so easy to make we cleaned the tray. Even my husband who likes meat, loved it. Will do again for sure!
Kate
Love to hear that! Thanks, Marisa. If you would want to leave a star review, I would appreciate it.
HJ
This looks so delicious! Of course, who has all those ingredients on hand? But will do with what I’ve got. Thanks! My family LOVES nachos!
Kate
Let me know what you think, HJ!
Jackie Clevenger
Yummy! I made the Loaded Veggie Nachos and my company loved them, even took a photo of the recipe home with them! I did all of the prep work early in the day so there was little last-minute busyness. Also like serving them right out of the oven and out-to-the-porch:)
Thanks so much,
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful! Thanks for the review, Jackie.
Jeffrey L NicholsJ
I made this. What a great meal. Added Light Sour Cream.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks, Jeffrey!
Sharlyn
Kate, where do I get the nutritional information? It would be very helpful to show Weight Watcher points on all your fabulous dishes. Thank you!
★★★★★
Kate
Hi Sharlyn, Here is my nutritional information disclaimer: https://cookieandkate.com/nutrition-disclaimer/. I’m not an expert with weight watchers so I’m sorry I can’t be of more help there. But, I hope this helps some!
Beck Daniel
We made this as appetizer for a birthday party. There were no leftovers. We changed the recipe by smearing refried beans as well as spreading pinto beans. Great nachos and the vegetarians and gluten free people in my family loved it.
★★★★★
Kate
What a fun recipe to have at a birthday part! Thank you, Beck for sharing. I appreciate it.
Kathryn
We love this recipe. I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner this Friday, the start of the baseball American League Division Series. He replied “the food of victory”. So this is what he’s getting. :-)
★★★★★
Kate
Great game day fare for sure! Thanks for your review, Kathryn!
Maggie Unzueta
Yum! I could eat that.
Kate
They are delicious!
Natalie
Oh my goodness…these are fantastic!! My family of four just gobbled a tray of these down in minutes…haha!
I altered a smidge: I added diced red onion (didn’t have green on hand); added olives to my kids’ side (5 and 8 years)…blah); used diced avocado because I was too lazy (and hungry) to make the sauce or gauc; and finally, topped it all with a squeeze of lime and “Karam’s Garlic Sauce”…freaking delish. Thanks for the awesome recipe!!!
★★★★★
Kate
Sounds great! Thanks for sharing, Natalie.
Renee Gillespie
So good!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Renee!
Jenny
Another perfect recipe! All the flavors work so well together!
★★★★★
Gretta Manni
Love, love, love these nachos. made them twice in one weekend!
★★★★★
Kate
Great to hear, Gretta!
Jenna
WOW! These are the best nachos I’ve ever had! The avocado sauce really elevates the dish.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Jenna!
Richele Springer
I’m eating this as I type – so good! I modified a tad, using ancient grain organic tortilla chips, adding black beans, omitting pickled jalapeños and cilantro bc I use them in my homemade green salsa and substituting all the cheeses with just goat cheese cheddar cheese. It’s unbelievable how good these nachos taste!
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great! Thank you for sharing real-time feedback, Richele.
Lana
These were delicious! Loved the addition of radishes! Will definitely make again!
★★★★★
Kayla C
You did it again Kate! So yummy and I also made the avocado dip!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Kayla!
Mindi Hartman
Excellent recipe! Would definitely make again.
★★★★★
CATHERINE
This was very good, simple and the salsa recipe is the best salsa I have eaten
★★★★★
Mari
Hi Kate!
I just wanted to let you know that this recipe is famous in Norway! The third most popular podcast in the country keeps mentioning your recipe, and it’s soooo delicious!!!! The podcast is called Lørdagsrådet (the Saturday Counsil), and I just wanted to let you know, and also hopefully make people who google «loaded veggie nachos lørdagsrådet» (like I once did, lol) find the exact recipe, haha!
Thank you for this!!!
lise
oppstoppernese!
Heidi
★★★★★
Karoline
Oppstoppernese fra meg også!!
★★★★★
Guro
Oppstoppernese!
Thea
Oppstoppernese!!
Brittany
I just made these as a snack after working late in the office. They were so, so good! I didn’t have the pickled jalapeños so I used Hot Chili Peppers instead. I am definitely going to make these again.
Alice
Already made this recipe three times and everyone in the family loved it!
★★★★★
LAURA
These nachos were delicious. I made them with black beans because I didn’t have pinto and it was totally fine. I was nervous about the feta but it was the perfect touch and I will never make nachos without it again. My husband devoured them. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Ingeborg
this recipe is well known by the podcast community in Norway. Or, it’s known all over Norway I would say.
One of the biggest podcast hosts in Norway adores this recipe and talks about it quite often, maybe to often @Live. Well- my point? This recipe is as close to god my mouth goes.
★★★★★
Eirik Voss
I made my own twist of this
I added cummin, ground beef and bacon cubes
Amazing
Thanks to Lørdagsrådet på NRK
Dr.Jones & Live Sagen Nelvik
★★★★
Cathy
The nachos were a huge hit here! I added some seasoned beefless ground as well. The kids asked if I’d make them again tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Kate
Hooray! I love to hear that, Cathy. Thanks for taking the time to review.
Morgan
Can I use canned red kidney beans instead of pinto beans?
Kate
Hi Morgan, sure! The taste and texture would be slightly different, but still work.
Jim Tutsock
766 grams of salt per serving is not healthy as you get older. I’m amazed at how much salt is in all canned beans, even the low sodium ones. I can make my own and I’m liking Garden of Eatin’ salt free organic blue corn chips. Even their salted is lower than most. My favorite at TJ’s are the ones made from cut up tortillas but just too much salt. I will scout more of your Mexican dishes, I see you have nachos with blue corn chips as well. I’ve made your tahini dip many times, it’s great on falafel. TJ’s has best packaged falafel but super high in sodium so will need to try something different there or just cut out all other salt that day. I wake up feeling much better when cutting back on the salt.
Sneha
This was really simple and tasty! I love that it’s healthier than regular nachos. Thanks for another great recipe.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome! I’m happy you enjoyed this recipe, Sneha.
Maddie
I made this tonight for the Superbowl (just me and the husband), with just a few changes thanks to a New England snowstorm — no feta, pickled banana peppers instead of jalapenos, and a drizzle on top of a vegan cheese sauce that I had on hand – otherwise as written, and wow, they are delicious. And I don’t feel ridden with guilt after eating! Thanks for a great recipe and the inspiration.
★★★★★
Kate
Sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing, Maddie.
Jen
OM.MY.GOSH!! This is so delicious! I will be making this often. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Jen! Thank you for your review.