Cheese Nachos with Ranchero Sauce | A Simply Perfect Plate of Nachos
These simple cheese nachos with ranchero sauce are a quick and easy snack and pair perfectly with a margarita. One batch of ranchero sauce will make several pans of nachos—or save some sauce for a quick enchilada dinner.
½tbspneutral oilcanola, vegetable, or light olive oil
½largeonionroughly diced
1mediumred bell pepperroughly diced
3clovesgarlicroughly chopped
1½tspDiamond Crystal kosher salt
1tbspchili powder
½tbspsmoked Spanish paprika
½tbspground cumin
1tspancho chili powder
1tspgranulated garlic
½cupchicken stock
114.5 oz candiced tomatoes
½tspapple cider vinegar
Cheese Nachos with Ranchero Sauce
4-5oztortilla chipssee note
4ozMonterey jack or pepper jack cheesegrated
Instructions
Add the olive oil to a medium pot and heat it over medium heat. Add the onion, red bell pepper, and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes until the vegetables have softened and the onion turns translucent. Add the garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, ancho chili powder, and garlic powder to the pot. Cook for a minute to lightly cook the garlic and toast the spices.Add the chicken stock and diced tomatoes. Bring to a heavy simmer and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes.Once cooked, blend the sauce with an immersion blender until smooth. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a stand blender, just be careful to keep the lid open a little to allow steam to escape. Use a kitchen towel over the slightly opened lid to keep the sauce from spraying everywhere. Really, just get an immersion blender.Once blended, stir in the apple cider vinegar.
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Spread your tortilla chips out on a quarter sheet pan or a pan of similar size, about 9x13 inches. Try to keep the chips in one layer.Ladle the ranchero sauce over all of the chips making sure each chip gets a bit of sauce.Evenly sprinkle the grated cheese over the chips.Bake in the hot oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese has melted into gooey pools and the sauce has browned just slightly. Enjoy with a margarita on the rocks with salt if you're into that sort of thing.
Notes
This recipe serves about 2 people. It's easy to double though and there's enough ranchero sauce for at least 3 batches.
This makes 3 cups of ranchero sauce. Keep leftovers in the fridge for up to a week. It's great for on-the-fly enchiladas.
Choose a decently thick chip for this recipe meaning do not choose a chip specifically labeled as thin. The ranchero sauce makes these chips slightly soggy (in a good way, I think!), but a thin chip will not hold up to the sauce.