Healthy Nachos
Posted: 03/05/26
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You are going to LOVE this Healthy Nachos recipe. Alongside classic toppings of melted cheese, guacamole, and your go-to salsa, ground beef is lightened up by being combined with refried beans (which also helps up the protein content!), and our homemade cottage cheese queso adds a wonderfully creamy element. This is a tray of healthy nachos without compromising on flavor!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This Healthy Nacho recipe has everything you want from a tray of baked nachos: melty cheese, savory beef, creamy, gooey queso, and plenty of tasty toppings. But with a few lighter swaps like our cottage cheese queso and refried bean beef, they’re healthier for you than regular Game Day nachos!
- We’ve mixed the usual ground beef and refried beans from your favorite nacho recipe to make the nachos easier to eat, and the combo is delightful! But, you can separate them if you prefer.
- These beef bean nachos are totally customizable with your favorite toppings: guacamole, salsa, sour cream, canned black olives (choose the sliced ones!), sliced green onions, shredded lettuce, canned corn, and your favorite hot sauce will all be delicious. Instead of the beef and bean topping, chicken tinga would also be amazing on these nachos.
Chef’s Tips
- If you want to speed up this recipe by skipping the cottage cheese queso, or you have a favorite recipe already the queso can easily be subbed for store-bought or your usual go-to queso recipe. We like this one!
- Up the veg (or at least, fruit) content by subbing out the tortilla chips for plantain chips. You can also lighten this up by using baked tortilla chips if you have a brand you prefer.
More Healthy Game Day Recipes You’ll Love
- Crockpot Queso Dip with Cream Cheese
- Blackened Salmon Loaded Fries
- Low Carb White Chicken Chili Recipe
- Baked Potato Dip Recipe
- Gluten Free Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks
- Air Fryer Popcorn with Butter
If you loved this recipe as much as we did, don’t forget to leave us a review below. ★ Follow Easy Healthy Recipes on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram, too!
For more delicious recipes, visit our sister sites, 40 Aprons and Easy Cheap Recipes.
Healthy Nachos with Beef & Refried Beans
These loaded, cheesy yet still Healthy Nachos are loaded up with ground beef, refried beans, cottage cheese queso, melted cheese and all of your favorite toppings for the perfect Game Day treat!
Ingredients
- 1 large bag of tortilla chips we use organic to make ourselves feel better OR plantain chips OR chicharones
Beef & Bean Mix
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 1 can refried beans
- ¼ cup water
Cottage Cheese Queso
- pinch ground cumin
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2-3 teaspoons pickled jalapeño juice from the jar
- ¼ cup shredded pepper jack cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapenos optional
Toppings
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheese blend
- 1 cup pico de gallo store-bought or homemade, plus more for topping
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 fresh jalapeño, sliced or pickled jalapeno slices
Optional toppings
- Guacamole
- Salsa
- Sour cream
- Canned black olives
- Sliced green onions
- Shredded lettuce
- Corn
- Hot sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉.
- To make your cottage cheese queso, blend all of the ingredients together except for the pickled jalapenos. Warm through in a saucepan over a medium low heat until the pepper jack cheese has melted. Stir in the pickled jalapeños, if using. The give you a tang and little kick that really takes this up a notch. They’re optional though!
- To make the beef and refried bean mix, heat the vegetable oil in a skillet on medium high heat until it begins to shimmer. Add the ground beef to the pan and season it with all of the taco spice blend. As the meat cooks, use a spoon to break the meat up into crumbles. Cook for about 8 minutes until the meat has browned and drain the fat using a colander.
- Return the meat to the pan and add the refried beans and the water. Heat the mixture until the beans are smooth and warmed through. Reduce the heat to low and keep the beef-bean mixture warm while you prepare the chips.
- To the parchment-lined baking tray, add half of the tortilla chips. Sprinkle the chips evenly with half of the ground beef mixture, half the queso, half the shredded cheese. Top with the remaining half of tortilla chips, ground beef mixture, remaining shredded cheese, and remaining queso.
- Bake at 400℉ until the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 6-10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and add your choice of toppings. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
Switch up the queso: If you want to speed up this recipe by skipping the cottage cheese queso, or you have a favorite recipe already the queso can easily be subbed for store-bought or your usual go-to queso recipe.
Use different chips: Up the veg (or at least, fruit) content by subbing out the tortilla chips for plantain chips. You can also lighten this up by using baked tortilla chips if you have a brand you prefer.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 1322kcal | Protein: 43g | Fat: 62g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 1g | Total Carbs: 33g | Fiber: 15g | Sugar: 10g | Net Carbs: 18g | Vitamin C: 22mg | Cholesterol: 126mg | Sodium: 1433mg | Potassium: 1339mg | Calcium: 382mg | Iron: 4mg
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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