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These sweet potato nachos are loaded with healthy ingredients like black beans, corn and avocado. Customize this healthy appetizer to for a game day or a creative weeknight dinner.
Try this cashew queso or black bean and corn dip next time—they’re Mexican favorites!
I’ve been working on a collection of healthy appetizers for you and these sweet potato nachos are another in that list among all of my Mexican recipes.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love these Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos
- They’re perfect for a party or game day.
- Add whatever toppings you want—keep them vegetarian or add protein.
- More nutritious than traditional nachos.
- Fit into many diets like gluten free and dairy-free with my cashew queso.
- Makes dinner exciting! We love a big batch of nachos around the coffee table.
- Kids love them, especially if you let them add the toppings.
Finish Mexican night with a cocktail: Try cucumber margarita, mango margarita, or hibiscus margarita.
And if you love nachos, try these breakfast nachos to feed a crowd or steak nachos with ribeye.
Ingredients You Need
Here are the simple ingredients you need for this recipe. Jump to the recipe card for exact measurements.
Nachos
- Sweet potatoes: look for ones that are long and narrow, or you’ll have really large sweet potato chips.
- Olive oil or avocado oil: to toss the sweet potatoes and spices.
- Spice mix: garlic powder, paprika, cumin, chili powder, salt, and black pepper.
- Black beans: I used canned black beans. You could also use pinto beans or refried beans.
- Corn: use canned corn to save time, but fresh corn cut off the cob is great too.
- Cheese: use freshly grated cheese for best meltability. I like sharp cheddar cheese or Monterey jack cheese. Make quick cashew queso to keep them dairy-free.
Nacho Toppings
Here are some of my favorite nacho toppings—and they all taste good on top of a sweet potato!
- Sliced avocado, guacamole, or avocado crema
- Red onion, green onions, or pickled Mexican onions
- Fresh jalapeno or pickled jalapeno
- Sour cream (I stir in a little milk to thin it out like Chipotle’s)
- Fresh cilantro
- Sliced tomatoes or pico de gallo
- Lime juice
- Shredded lettuce
- Store bought salsa or homemade corn salsa
- Hot sauce, jalapeño ranch, or taco sauce.
How to Make Sweet Potato Nachos
- Prep the sweet potatoes: Peel sweet potatoes and thinly slice them using a knife or mandoline. If you have time, soak the sweet potatoes in a bowl of water for at least one hour to remove extra surface starch and help them crisp up in the oven. Remove them from the water, pat them dry and place them in a large bowl.
- Bake the sweet potato chips: Lay the sweet potato slices in an single layer on a sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove them from oven and add the black beans, corn and cheese if using. Do not add the cashew queso during this step if you’re using it.
- Add the warm toppings: Once they’re cooked, add the black beans and cheese (if using) and put them back in the oven.
- Add the cold toppings: Finally, top the sweet potato nachos with jalapeno, tomato, guacamole, avocado, and corn before serving. Eat right away!
Success tip: Make sure the sweet potatoes are spread in any even layer. They won’t crisp if they’re overcrowded.
Why Are My Sweet Potatoes Soggy?
I have to give you a heads up, these sweet potato nachos won’t be quite as crispy as traditional nachos because they’re made with sweet potatoes. But you won’t be lacking flavor at all. To help get them crispy, here are a few tips:
- If you have time, soak the sweet potatoes in water to remove surface starches.
- Toss the sweet potato chips in a little cornstarch prior to drizzling them with oil.
- Arrange the sweet potatoes in an single layer and bake them first.
- Broil for a little bit at the end of cooking.
- Eat them while they’re fresh and hot.
How to Customize
- Make them vegan or dairy-free: Instead of traditional shredded cheese, use vegan cheese or make this vegan queso and put it on top.
- Add protein: use leftover steak, chicken, carnitas, tempeh or crumbled tofu on top. Shredded rotisserie chicken is another good option.
- More veggies: try all the toppings I mentioned or get creative with what you have. I like adding bell peppers and green onion too.
- More toppings: use the list I shared or get creative with your Mexican toppings with Greek yogurt (or sour cream), fresh cilantro, pickled onion, or my favorite guacamole.
Try these healthy apps next: creamy avocado dip, healthy spinach artichoke dip, dairy-free buffalo chicken dip
Storing Leftovers
All nachos are best eaten fresh, but you can store these sweet potato nachos in an airtight container for up to 3 days. I like to store my toppings and sweet potato rounds separately.
To reheat, lay the sweet potatoes flat on a large baking sheet and bake 350°F for 5-10 minutes to reheat. You can add more black beans and cheese if needed. Top with reserved, or fresh, toppings and enjoy.
More Sweet Potato Recipes
Sweet Potato Nachos Recipe
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Ingredients
Nachos
- 3 medium sweet potatoes thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 (15 oz) can beans drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 oz) can corn (fresh or frozen works too)
- 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend or cashew queso (Note 1)
Toppings
- 1/2 red onion diced or pickled onion
- 1 jalapeno sliced
- 1 avocado diced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- Fresh cilantro, salsa and guacamole to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and set aside.
- Peel sweet potatoes and thinly slice them using a knife or mandoline. If you have time, soak the sweet potatoes in a bowl of water for at least one hour to remove extra surface starch and help them crisp up in the oven. Remove them from the water, pat them dry and place them in a large bowl.
- Sprinkle the sweet potato chips with the corn starch, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper and toss to coat. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss one more time. Dump the sweet potato chips out onto the prepared baking sheet in an even layer, doing your best not to overlap any so they crisp up.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Carefully remove them from oven and add the black beans, corn and cheese if using. Do not add the cashew queso during this step if you're using it.
- Reduce heat to 350°F and place back in the oven for 7-10 minutes, until cheese is melted and heated through.
- When the nachos are done, remove from oven and top with onion, jalapeno, avocado and tomatoes. Top with cashew queso if using. Garnish the nachos with chopped cilantro and jalapeno lime ranch.
Notes
Equipment
- Sheet Pan
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How much corn starch is necessary for this recipe?
Love all of the WMM recipes I’ve made so far and this one is no different! Can’t wait to make these again for cinco de Mayo tomorrow!
Thank you, Madison!! Hope you had a great cinco de mayo!