Serve the perfect game day appetizer, easy movie night snack, or quick weeknight dinner. Sweet potato nachos are perfect for those who are looking for a fast and healthier option.

Loaded Easy Sweet Potato Nachos

This recipe is super flexible – just top your nachos with the meats and vegetables you have leftover in your refrigerator. No cooking skills are required.

Are Sweet Potatoes / Nachos Healthy?

These nachos can be made as healthy or not healthy as you deem fit! Sweet potato chips provide an option lower in carbohydrates and higher in nutritional value compared to regular potato chips. However, the overall level of healthy is up to you with your topping choices!

According to Time.com, sweet potatoes are also rich in vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, and magnesium. These vitamins are important for brain and nervous system and heart health.

Ingredients

All ingredients are optional depending on what you like. Here are the best toppings for loaded nachos: shredded cooked chicken, black beans, corn, shredded cheese, jalapenos, lettuce, tomatoes, avocadoes, cilantro, and green onions.

Since I love the convenience of this recipe, I prefer to use existing chips over homemade. My favorites are Terra Krinkle Cut Sweet Potato Chips (Sea Salt) and I grab them from my local grocery store. If you are unsure where to find them, use their store finder to find a location near you. You can also find them online, but I have found them to be cheaper in-store.

You can also speed up the process by grabbing pre-cooked frozen chicken breasts for the chicken, just be sure to examine the labels closely if concerned about healthiness. The pre-cooked breasts often contain a lot of extra preservatives.

How to Make Sweet Potato Chips

If you prefer a thicker, healthier, and less crispy but more flavorful chip, making your own sweet potato chips is the right option for you! Make them in a few simple steps:

Wash your sweet potatoes and slice them thin by using a mandolin.
Add them to a large bowl and drizzle olive oil over top. Toss.
Place the sweet potato slices on parchment covered baking sheets, in a single layer.
Sprinkle them with sea salt.
Bake at 400˚F, flipping halfway, for about 25-30 minutes or until golden.

How to Make This Recipe

Bake two chicken breasts and allow them to cool. Shred with a fork. Add a full bag of sweet potato chips to a nonstick baking pan (about 17”x11” in size or similar will work).

From the ingredients above, add anything that you would like served on your nachos hot. In this recipe, I used shredded cooked chicken, black beans, corn, shredded cheese, and sliced jalapenos. Bake at 400°F for 4-6 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Remove from oven. Top with your choice of ingredients you want served cold: shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, diced avocadoes, minced or whole cilantro leaves, and sliced green onions.

The Best Way to Layer Nachos

The best way to layer your nachos is: meat, beans, corn, then shredded cheese. This allows for the cheese to melt nicely over top. The jalapenos go on top of the cheese to make them easier to find/pick out as not everyone can handle their heat.

Then once the nachos are baked, the order of the additional ingredients no longer matters. If whole cilantro leaves are used, I do put these on top to avoid them being crushed.

How to Reheat

If you think not all of the nachos will be finished…serve the hot part of the nachos hot and allow people to take what they’ll eat on their plate. They then can choose their cold toppings. This will leave the remaining hot and cold toppings separated, allowing for easier reheating.

When ready to reheat, add the nachos with the hot toppings onto a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 300°F, add the pan in, and bake for between 5-15 minutes (start at 5 minutes if not many are left) or until slightly crispy and the cheese is a nice, melted texture.

Healthy Variations to Try

Want to make your nachos healthier/fit a certain lifestyle? Try some of the easy tweaks below.

Gluten Free – Sweet potato nachos are already naturally gluten free! As are all the toppings suggested in the above recipe. Enjoy!
Paleo/Whole 30 – If you’d like to keep your nachos to be considered paleo, be sure to make the sweet potato chips yourself. Then stick to the compliant toppings: shredded cooked chicken, jalapenos, lettuce, tomatoes, avocadoes, cilantro, and green onions.

Keto – Sweet potatoes are unfortunately not keto-compliant. If you’re looking to make nachos, try substituting them with keto tortilla chips.
Vegan – Cut the chicken from this recipe and use extra black beans. Sub shredded cheese for vegan cheese or remove it completely.

What to Serve with Sweet Potato Nachos

These nachos are best served as an appetizer. To serve at a tailgate party, serve alongside: chicken wings, sloppy joes or hot dogs/brats, chili, jalapeno poppers, spinach artichoke dip or buffalo chicken dip, veggies and dip, fresh fruit, and snack mixes.

These nachos are also hearty and could be used as a full meal if desired. Serve alongside tacos and margaritas for a fun & delicious taco night.

Enjoy! Here’s to regaining our sparkle together,

✧❈✯✦Jenn✦✯❈✧