The Food Lab: Texas-Style Nachos (are not better than piled nachos, but they're not worse either)

If you're new around these parts, The Food Lab is a column on Serious Eats in which I wrote about the science of home cooking for many years. It's also the name of my first book. I'll be dropping brand new Food Lab articles and recipes right here, so stay tuned!

Nachos are like the Taylor Swift song catalogue of foods. Popular, ubiquitous, prolific, often cheesy, and best enjoyed with the company of fellow lovers. Maybe not all of them are for you, but they've got a little something for everyone in their back catalogue. Even the haters (and there *are* nacho haters out there) will find one they love if they dig deep enough into the pile, even if they can't admit it.

I've written my share of nacho recipes, from a bacon and pineapple version (best eaten alone without pants on) to chicken tinga-topped nachos, from fully loaded vegan nachos (complete with vegan refried beans, vegan chili, and a glossy, gooey, vegan cheese sauce) to microwave nachos for one. I've even got a recipe in Gina Hamaday's book Buenos Nachos. I've nacho-fied tater tots, spam chips, and entire steaks.

But the other day, when I was speaking with Deb Perelman about the upcoming nachos episode of our podcast, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, I realized that I have two gaping holes in my nacho playlist, and they're the two most classic nacho styles. The first is what Deb and I call "piled nachos"–the kind served in sports bars with a half dozen toppings and layers of chips that come served on a tray or a hot plate.

With piled nachos, some chips end up with mostly cheese. Others will have a bit of chili, salsa, and olives. Some poor chips at the bottom may even end up a Blank Space. This heterogeneity between bites is a feature, not a bug, allowing all eaters to pick their own Style.

On the other end of the spectrum is is the OG: Texas-style nachos, a style in which every chip is identical.

Before we go on, let's get something out of the way: You Need to Calm Down. This is not a food fight. There's no need for Bad Blood between competing nacho camps. When it comes to nachos, you can be an equal opportunity Lover.

Bueno?

The History

Like many snack food origin stories, this one is entirely apocryphal: in 1943, Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya created nachos at the Victory Club restaurant in Piedras Negras, Mexico, for a group of women whose husbands were stationed at a nearby army base. He took what he had on hand–fried tortillas, beans, cheese, and jalapeños–and layered them before baking them to melt the cheese. (Why is it that in these origin stories, they always happen to have the perfect combinations of ingredients? The kind that say to each other "You Belong With Me?")

Igacaio's "Nacho's Especiales" were an instant hit and soon started to spread and evolve. While Texas-style nachos still remain individually topped, these days you'll find a wider variety of topping options, including guacamole, salsa, sour cream, or even bits of meat.

Here's how I usually make them. ...Ready For It?

Frying the Chips

It's entirely possible to make great piled nachos with store-bought tortilla chips. But for Texas-style nachos, with their heavy layer of toppings and edge-to-edge coverage, store-bought tortilla brands are mostly too Delicate.

Deep frying your own chips from corn tortillas cut into quarters may seem like a tedious job or messy job, but it's surprisingly easy and makes a huge different in the quality of the finished nacho.

Oftentimes, the goal of frying is to violently dehydrate and brown the surface of a food while keeping the interior nice and moist (think: fish and chips or fried chicken). For this type of frying, keeping a careful eye on oil temperature is key so that you don't end up accidentally over- or undercooking the fish or chicken.

Tortilla chips, on the other hand, are far more forgiving. Our only goal when frying tortillas is to drive off all of the excess moisture without excessively browning it. You can do this without even measuring the temperature of the oil. (I Can Do It With a Broken Thermometer!)

To do it, I start by heating a couple quarts of neutral oil (such as canola or peanut) in a large wok or braiser over moderate heat. I use the edge of a tortilla to test the temperature. The bubbles that come off of frying food are bubbles of water vapor as the liquid water in the food gets converted to steam. So as soon as the edge of a tortilla starts to bubble, we know that the oil is just above the boiling temperature of water. Once a steady stream of bubbles start to emerge (think: a pot of water at a simmer), the oil is ready to go and you can add all of the tortillas.

As they fry, I flip and submerge them regularly with a wire mesh spider to ensure that there are no bits of tortilla sticking out of the oil (Don't Blame Me if your tortilla doesn't crisp evenly).

Eventually, as the moisture gets driven off, you'll see the bubbling slow down to a trickle. That's the sign that the tortillas are ready to be transferred to the paper towel-lined bowl you had waiting for them.

(Incidentally, the idea that foods fried in colder oil absorb more oil is a myth. In fact, the opposite is the case! Foods fried in hotter oil have more of their trapped internal moisture driven out, which in turn leaves more interstitial spaces for oil to get absorbed. Here's a scientific paper written specifically about tortilla chips and oil absoprtion.

As the chips rest and cool, surface oil gets absorbed into their interior. If you want too long to apply salt, the chips will just Shake it Off, so It's important to salt them as soon as they come out of the fryer while they're still hot and glistening with oil.

Topping the Chips

Next I top each of the chips with a spoonful of refried beans. If you want to make them from scratch, Daniel Gritzer has a great recipe on Serious Eats but I make nachos with canned beans the vast, vats majority of the time.

In Texas, Longhorn, a variety of Colby is the cheese of choice. But even in my Wildest Dreams I can't find Longhorn in Seattle, so I settle for Colby-Jack. Monterrey Jack, a good melting cheddar, or Queso chihuahua will al do just fine. Just avoid the pre-grated stuff which typically has anti-caking agents that prevent it from melting smoothly. Fresh grated is the way to go.

Once the nachos are topped with cheese, I add a slice of pickled jalaepño to each one.

Toasting the Nachos

What's the best way to toast these nachos? I've tried broiling, baking in the oven, even microwaving (it works–so long as you microwave the chips on their own first in order to toast them before adding the cheese and re-microwaving), but the countertop toaster oven is my favorite option. It's partly because the intense heat from above and below mean that the chips get a little toasty while the cheese melts, but it's mainly because countertop toasters heat up faster than the conventional oven, and when nachos are on the menu, getting them into my mouth as fast as possible is the goal.

Timing on the cheese-melting step can vary depending on the oven and cheese you're using, but needless to say, you want it fully-melted and gooey.

Once out of the oven, you can add other toppings if you'd like. A dollop of guacamole or sour cream, a drizzle of salsa, some shreds of rotisserie chicken or carnitas. If you, like me, have half a grass-fed, dry-aged, reverse-seared ribeye lying around, you can add a slice of that along with a bit of charred salsa verde.

Gorgeous, right?

So to all you piled-nacho-lovers and Texas-nacho-skeptics, I Knew You Were Trouble.

Look What You Made Me Do.

Texas-Style Nachos

Every recipe I publish here is personally tested, tasted, and approved.

What I like about this recipe:

• Individually topping each nacho gives you hearty, balanced flavor in each bite.

• Frying the chips fresh ensures they are sturdy enough for a hearty amount of toppings.

YIELD: Serves 2 corn tortillas

ACTIVE TIME: 20 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes

Notes: You can use store-bought chips if you have a good, thick, local brand. Avoid standard fragile supermarket brands. You can very easily double or triple this recipe by multiplying all the ingredients except for the oil.

Ingredients:

2 quarts (2l) neutral oil, such as canola, peanut, vegetable, or corn

2 corn tortillas, cut into quarters

Salt

1/2 cup (120g) warm refried beans

4 ounces (120g) shredded colby-jack, jack, or mild cheddar cheese

8 slices pickled jalapeño

Other toppings, such as guacamole, sour cream, salsa, or meat as desired

Directions:

1. Line a medium bowl with a few layers of paper towels. Preheat an oven or toaster oven to 375°F (190°C) Heat the oil over medium heat in a large wok or saucepan. Dip the corner of a tortilla quarter into it occasionally. Once the tortilla starts bubbling rapidly but not violently, add all the tortillas to the oil and fry, using a wire mesh spider to flip and submerge the chips regularly. Continue frying until the bubbles slow to a trickle. Transfer the chips to the bowl and season with salt.

2. When cool enough to handle, spread about a tablespoon of beans on the concave side of each chip. Spread the chips, bean-side-up on a sheet pan. sprinkle each chip with cheese and top with a jalapeño slice.

3. Toast in the oven until the cheese is fully melted and the chips are lightly toasted, about 4 minutes. Serve immediately with any additional toppings as desired.