Barbeque Chicken Nachos

Thought I would make a few things this week to give everyone some ideas for the Big Game this weekend!

2 pounds (approx) chicken. I used chicken breasts for this version which are probably the easiest.
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 8 ounces smoked gouda, shredded
- red onion, sliced
- Cilantro, diced (optional kind of)
Other optional stuff: sour cream, serrano peppers, avocado, hot sauce, salsa

BBQ Sauce:
- 1 onion, grated
- 1 serrano pepper, diced (or jalapeno)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon vegetables oil
- 2/3 Cup ketchup
- 2 Tablespoons molasses
- 1/2 Cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 Cup bourbon (optional) I didn't use it, and it was still yummy
- 1/4 Cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and pepper


Making the Sauce. The nice thing about making your own barbecue sauce is that you can, well, make it your own! I honestly make it a bit different every time.

Prepping the veggies. One trick to help your sauce stay relatively smooth without having to blend or process it is to grate your onion instead of chop it. The grating makes it almost dissolve in the sauce and flavor it really nicely and evenly. Plus, grating it is actually easier than chopping it anyway.

I still chopped up my pepper and garlic as normal though.
grated



Start by adding the oil to a medium saucepan and once it’s hot, add the onions, pepper, and garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the onion is soft, then add all the other sauce ingredients.

Stir this all together and let it start to simmer and cook down over medium-low heat. It doesn’t need to be really thick. It won’t be as sugary or thick as some bottle sauces that you see, but there’s a lot of flavor going on in there. If you want it thicker you can cook it down until it reaches a consistency that you like or add a bit more ketchup or brown sugar which will thicken it up as well.

I simmered mine for probably 10-15 minutes.

Boil your chicken breast til done,(about 30 min)and shred

Add the chicken to the sauce

then you just spread out a bunch of tortilla chips on a sheet pan and fork on a good amount of the BBQ chicken.
making nachos

You probably know this part.

Next, add the shredded cheese. I used a combination of mozzarella and smoked gouda. The gouda works awesomely with the BBQ Chicken. I also sprinkled on some diced red onions to give it some bite.
cheese and onions

Simple really.

Since the chicken is already cooked, just bake these guys at 350 degrees until the cheese melts. Should take about 15 minutes. Then sprinkle on some chopped cilantro and any other toppings.

Yum.


At the end of the day, this is a really flexible dish that is almost guaranteed to make some really good nachos. Do me a favor though and at least try to whip up some of your own BBQ sauce. You won’t be disappointed and might never go back to the bottled stuff.

Oh and If you have any of the chicken mixture leftover you can always make bbq chicken sandwiches or bbq chicken pizza!