Sweet Potato Nachos

Sweet Potato Nachos begin with seasoned, roasted sweet potato fries topped with corn, black beans, and cheese. Bake the fries, drizzle with chili-lime sauce, add your favorite toppings, and enjoy!

These Sweet Potato Nachos are a part of our Back-To-School Lifesavers — a series of recipes that are intended to have little (or no) veggie chopping, minimal prep time, around 10 ingredients or less (not including pantry staples), and use kid-friendly ingredients. Click here to see all the recipes in the series!

Sweet Potato Nachos

Nachos are always one of our quick go-to meals and this is one of the easiest nacho recipes ever! Today we’re changing up nachos a bit, and instead of chips, we’re using crispy, perfectly seasoned sweet potato fries. As much as I love tortilla chips, I may never go back — sweet potato fries as a nacho base makes for a total home run!

To ensure these nachos are filling and satiating we load in plenty of plant-based protein by adding an entire can of black beans. While these certainly can be served as an appetizer (or for game day!), they also make a great, filling dinner. And there aren’t too many kids who would argue with nachos for dinner!

Sweet Potato Nacho Ingredients

• Alexia® Crinkle Cut Sweet Potato Fries. If you’ve never tried these, you are in for a real treat! They’re mega flavorful, crispy on the outside, yet tender on the inside. They’re our favorite base for Sweet Potato Nachos! Here’s where to check to see if your local store carries them. We love Alexia’s crinkle-cut potatoes, but the sea salt sweet potato fries or waffle cut sweet potato fries will also work in this recipe. See “quick tip” box below.
• Black beans. The prep on this is easy — simply drain and rinse! Be sure to thoroughly dry the beans after being rinsed so they don’t water down the nachos or make the sweet potato fries soggy.
• Corn. Frozen or canned corn works great. We’ve also used sweet corn straight off the cob (uncooked) which adds a nice crunch to the nachos. Again, be sure to thoroughly dry the corn to avoid watering down the fries.
• Colby jack cheese. You’ll rarely see a recommendation to use pre-shredded cheese (we typically recommend grating your own), but the point of these nachos is speed and ease. We like a Colby and Monterey Jack cheese blend, but another great option would be sharp or extra-sharp Cheddar cheese.
• Optional: cotija cheese. Cotija is typically near specialty cheeses in the grocery store. An easy alternative is queso fresco which is generally near mozzarella and refrigerated tortillas in the grocery store. Depending on the cheese used, you may want less than the recipe indicates. (Cotija is much saltier than queso fresco, so you’ll want a lot less of it.) This cheese is optional but adds a nice complementary flavor if you already have some in your fridge.

Can’t access the store-bought sweet potato fries? Make a double batch of these delicious roasted sweet potatoes as the base for these nachos instead! [/quickitp]

Sweet Potato Nacho Toppings

To keep in theme with the simplicity of this meal, we keep the toppings to a minimum. We recommend a ripe, diced avocado (or guacamole) and loads of a quick chili-lime sauce (more on this below). A sprinkle of cilantro is also a nice topping to add in some freshness, but not entirely necessary.

This sauce is easy! While the nachos are baking, it’s the perfect amount of time to whisk together a few ingredients and the sauce is ready to go. No blender needed! Below are a few quick tips:

• We love Hellman’s/Best Foods® mayonnaise best in this sauce. It has a robust flavor without being too sweet. We recommend a full-fat mayo for the best flavor and thickness on these Sweet Potato Nachos.
• As for spiciness, I’d rate the dressing to be very slightly spicy. If you’d like to make it milder, reduce or omit the hot sauce and be sure to use McCormick® seasonings. (We find them very mild.) Keep in mind that reducing or omitting spice will reduce the overall flavor of the sauce.
  • Alternatively, amp up the heat by adding 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
• The sauce calls for lime juice and zest. If you use citrus a lot when cooking/baking, having a good citrus juicer and microplane is invaluable!

Recipe Tips

• Don’t overcrowd the pan: If the sweet potato fries are too close to each other or overlapping they’ll steam instead of roast. I recommend using an extra-large sheet pan (15 x 21 inches) or two large sheet pans. I like these pans- they’re 15×21 inches and work perfectly for these Sweet Potato Nachos.
• Serve quickly: These finished nachos don’t sit well. I recommend having all the toppings ready before the nachos are pulled out of the oven. As soon as the cheese is melted on top, remove the nachos, top them quickly, and eat right away. If you’re concerned about finishing all the nachos in one sitting, halve the recipe!

More Sweet Potato Recipes

• Taco Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with taco-seasoned meat
• Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup with chickpeas
• Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with a lemon-balsamic dressing
• Sweet Potato Enchiladas with black beans
• Sweet Potato Curry with spinach