The Best Vegan Nachos

It’s an explosion of flavors (salty, cheesy, spicy, tangy, fresh) and is guaranteed to be your best-ever nacho experience. These are restaurant-quality nachos that will literally blow your mind! Whip up a batch for Game Day, Cinco de Mayo, or any get together with friends, and watch yourself become the most popular person in the room (yes, they’re that good!). But they’re also filling enough to make for a dinner, if you’re in the mood for nacho night!

What kind of toppings can you add to vegan nachos?

Just like with my vegan crunchwrap supreme or my vegan breakfast burritos, you have loads of freedom to customize vegan nachos to your heart’s content (so long as you make a few switches to eliminate animal-based toppings, of course.) This post contains instructions for making everything from scratch, except tortilla chips. However, you can also swap out my proposed toppings for store-bought alternatives.

Vegan Queso: my addictively good vegan queso takes 5 minutes to blend up, and 5-8 minutes to warm up, so it’s very low-maintenance. I don’t recommend replacing this with a store-bough alternative because it’s what really makes these nachos. Vegan Taco Meat: this recipe takes less than 20 minutes and is so easy. You can, however, replace it with your favorite store-bought vegan ground meat/meatless crumbles (stir in the homemade taco seasoning from my recipe for more flavor). You can also use the fried tempeh crumbles in my Tempeh Tacos recipe. Refried Beans: I’ve got a simple recipe down below that you’ll want to use for all kinds of tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. Guacamole: The guacamole recipe makes enough to have some extra guac on the side, as a dip. Pico de Gallo: Feel free to sub with store-bought fresh salsa or your favorite jarred salsa. Vegan Sour Cream: I’ve included my homemade recipe, but we typically use store-bought for convenience (We love the Tofutti and Kite Hill brands). Pickled Red OnionsSliced JalapeñosCilantro Chopped Scallions

The truly essential toppings for these nachos are the queso and either the taco meat or refried beans, or both; you can customize everything else.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Vegan Nachos

Below you’ll find step-by-step instructions and photos for (1) walnut-mushroom taco meat, (2) saucy refried beans, and (3) queso, and (4) nacho assembly.

Walnut-Mushroom Taco Meat

Add the toasted walnuts to a food processor and blend briefly until finely chopped. Add the chopped mushrooms, homemade taco seasoning, salt/pepper, lime juice, and soy sauce. Pulse repeatedly until the mixture is finely chopped, but not smooth like patê. Heat a large frying pan with a bit of oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the taco meat, breaking it up with a spatula, for 5-7 minutes, until browned and a bit crispy.

Saucy Refried Beans

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and jalapeños and sauté 1-2 minutes. Add the oregano, chili powder, and cumin and stir for 1 minute. Pour in the canned beans, along with their bean liquid, and bay leaves. Cook 5-7 minutes, until saucy and thickened. Remove bay leaves and mash most of the beans with a potato masher or immersion blender. Cook for 2-3 minutes, adding water or veggie broth as needed. Stir in cilantro, lime juice, and season with salt and pepper.

Queso

Add the soaked drained cashews to a high-speed blender. Add the salsa, vegan yogurt, spices, nutritional yeast, water, pickled jalapeños, and jalapeño brine. Blend until thick, smooth, and creamy. Add more water as needed to thin out, if desired. Before assembling nachos, heat the queso up: add queso a small or medium saucepan and gently heat over low, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes. Add a splash or two of water, if needed, to thin.

Assemble the Nachos

Add all of the tortilla chips to a rimmed sheet pan and heat up in the oven at 350ºF/175ºC for 5 minutes. Scoop half of the chips off the sheet pan and set aside. Spoon half of the queso on top of the half of the chips. Top with half of the refried beans and half of the taco meat. Dollop a third of the guacamole on top. Spoon half of the pico de gallo (or salsa) on top. Drizzle several spoons of vegan sour cream across the nachos and add half of the rest of your fixings: sliced jalapeños, chopped cilantro, pickled onions, etc. Top with the reserved half of tortilla chips. Top with the remaining queso, beans, and taco meat. Add some more guacamole, pico de gallo, a few more spoons of vegan sour cream, and any remaining fixings. Serve immediately for maximal crisp, crunchiness; serve leftover guacamole on the side as a dip.

Tips for Making the Best Vegan Nachos

Not all tortilla chips are created equally. You cannot use any ol’ bag of tortilla chips for nachos, especially fully loaded nachos like these. Trust me, the first time we made these nachos, we used a standard grocery store brand tortilla chip and the nachos were soggy in 5 minutes. It was so disappointing. What tortilla chips are best for vegan nachos?For loaded nachos, you need a thick, heavy, sturdy tortilla chip with structural integrity. Inspect the bag before buying them: Do they look thick? Do they look like they could be served at a Mexican restaurant? That’s what you’re looking for! Some brands of thick tortilla chips include: Casa Sanchez (Thick and Crispy) (available at Whole Foods), Calidad and Santitas (available at Vons, Ralph’s, Albertons, Walmart, etc.), Masa Uno Tortilleria Salted Chips (available at Mexican grocery stores), Mission Tortilla Rounds (widely available). At some grocery stores, you can find bagged tortilla chips that were fried in-house or at a local restaurant. These work great! Or you can make your own tortilla chips using corn tortillas (super sturdy). Here’s a guide on how to make your own tortilla chips. Layer your fixings. This recipe calls for layering half of your fixings on top of half of the tortilla chips, then repeating this process. If you just add everything in one layer, the chips get weighed down under all the toppings, making them sad and soggy. And you miss out on optimal topping distribution. If you aren’t serving the nachos immediately (like right now), leave off the first layer of cool toppings (guacamole, salsa, sour cream, jalapeños, cilantro, scallions, etc.). Add a layer of these cool toppings on top of all the nachos just before serving, and serve any leftover guacamole/salsa/sour cream on the side for dipping. Heat up your warm ingredients. Before assembling the nachos, heat up or reheat the queso, refried beans, and taco meat. For a super easy cleanup, line your sheet pan with parchment paper (or foil) before assembling.

More Tex-Mex and Mexican-Inspired Recipes

Buffalo Chickpea QuesadillasThe Best Vegan Breakfast BurritosThe Best Vegan Chili Crunchwrap Supreme

If you love these Vegan Nachos, please give it a rating and review below! And of course, tag me with your remakes on Instagram!