Veggie Loaded Healthy Nachos

You can feel good about having these Healthy Nachos for dinner!

I recently read an article about food blog trends that should end in 2014. I chuckled my way through it, agreeing with most of the author’s points, until I got to the part about “healthifying” recipes. Now, I will certainly agree that “healthifying” isn’t a word. In fact, I’m not personally in favor of a lot of cute words in my field like foodie, blogiversary, and others. However, I can’t agree that it’s wrong to make a recipe more healthy! It’s true that moderation is key, and most of us should allow ourselves to enjoy buttery cookies or big fat burgers on occasion. The trouble is, I don’t want to save cookies and nachos for special occasions. I want to eat them somewhat regularly, and in order to do that, I need to make them less bad for me! You can’t convince me that anything is wrong with that. On that note, I bring you these Veggie Loaded Healthy Nachos. This recipe is really simple to make. Just add a couple diced vegetables to boldly-spiced taco meat, spread it over reduced-fat chips, and top with a modest amount of cheese. Dinner is served! I expected to get my husband to eat the vegetable additions without too much fuss, but he actually thought the zucchini made the nachos better! You could also add corn or rinsed and drained black beans to this. The more vitamins and fiber the merrier, so get creative!

Ingredients and Toppings to Make Your Nachos Healthier

You can really load up these nachos to make them have even more healthy ingredients particularly in relationship to the amount of tortilla chips and cheese. Here are some of my favorites to add.

• Add more veggies. You can add as much as you like and really load them up. My favorites are:
  • Diced sweet white onion
  • Diced black olives
  • Diced jalapenos
  • Fresh corn cut off the cobb
  • Diced fresh tomatoes
• Add some beans for more fiber and protein.
  • pinto beans
  • black beans
  • refried beans or bean dip
• Add some extra toppings after your bake them for healthy extra flavor.
  • fresh lime juice
  • chopped fresh cilantro
  • chopped scallion or green onion tops
  • fresh pico de gallo salsa

Veggie Loaded Healthy Nachos

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This boldly spiced meat loaded with vegetables makes for a healthy and delicious take on nachos!

• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x

Ingredients

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• 16–20 oz. ground turkey
• 1 zucchini diced into 1/2” pieces
• 1 orange bell pepper diced into 1/2” pieces
• 1 tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder substitute 1/4 cup diced onion if preferred
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 bag reduced-fat tortilla chips
• 2 c. 2% milk Mexican blend cheese
• salsa optional
• reduced-fat sour cream optional

 

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray, and heat over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey, zucchini, bell pepper, and all spices. Stir to combine and saute, stirring frequently, until meat is cooked through and bell pepper is tender.
3. Meanwhile, arrange chips in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or aluminum foil. (There will be enough meat to make two pans of nachos, which will feed 5-6 people a dinner-sized portion.)
4. Evenly sprinkle meat mixture over chips, then sprinkle cheese over the meat. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve with salsa and sour cream if desired.

 

Notes

This recipe is written to make two pans of nachos, but you can reduce the amount of chips and cheese to make one pan, which will serve about three people for dinner. This will leave you with leftover meat, which makes great taco salad!

• Author: Andi
• Prep Time: 5
• Cook Time: 20
• Category: Main
• Cuisine: Mexican

If you find yourself with leftover taco meat from this recipe, how about trying this Cheesy Mexican Dip?