Nachos loaded with ground beef, cheese, and delicious toppings are so easy to make, and baking them in the oven is the best way to make nachos. It takes only a little time to prepare these ground beef nachos and it bakes up in just 10 minutes.
These sheet pan nachos are a quick and easy way to make a big batch of nachos for a group or for a quick family dinner which is how we use them on busy nights.
You can make them as loaded nachos or as simple as cheese nachos, depending on your mood or what you have in your house. If you have more time, you can also choose to add more toppings. It is totally up to you.
It really is such a great quick meal or party food.
Ingredients
- Tortilla Chips. Look for a sturdy tortilla chip, not the really thin ones that can break under the weight of the cheese.
- Cheese. I like to use a blend of cheeses. The cheddar and jack cheese is for flavor and the queso quesadilla cheese is for that beautiful creamy melting ability. If you cannot find queso quesadilla, just substitute it with more of the jack cheese.
- Ground beef: I prefer an 85/15 blend to have a little fat on the meat which helps hold all of the seasonings.
- Seasonings for the ground beef (sweet paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, kosher salt). You can also use store-bought chili seasoning mix if that is easier.
- Pickled jalapeños.
- Scallions
- Salsa. You can use homemade or store-bought.
How to make loaded nachos with ground beef
Making these nachos is so simple. It is all about preparing a few ingredients and then assembling them.
Here is what it looks like:
- Brown the meat: This takes only a few minutes.
- Add the Seasoning: The seasoning for these sheet pan nachos is so simple. You probably already have all of these items in your pantry. You can also use chili seasoning if you have that on hand.
Recipe Note: I prefer making my own chili seasoning.
- Mix it all together: Mix well for 1 minute. You want the ground beef to pick up all of that delicious seasoning flavor.
- Layer Tortilla Chips: Layer tortilla chips on a sheet pan. You want to make sure not too many tortilla chips are stacked up so when you eat the nachos, there will not be any chips that miss the toppings and cheese.
- Add meat and cheese: Add a thin layer of cheese then meat. Adding the cheese first really helps prevent the nachos from becoming mushy.
- Bake: Once you have added some of the cheese and all of the ground beef on top of the tortillas, add the remaining cheese to the top and bake for 10 minutes.
- Add the toppings: Once the nachos come out of the oven, you add all of those fresh ingredient toppings. The pico de gallo, pickled jalapenos, scallions, etc.
These loaded ground beef nachos are so easy. They are mainly assembling and they only need 10 minutes in a 375-degree oven to cook up until the cheese is bubbly. Just add your toppings right before serving and that is it.
Toppings
When serving these oven-baked nachos, I like to serve sour cream on the side. If I have more time I like to make:
- Homemade guacamole or an easy avocado dip!
- A creamy cilantro lime sauce or poblano sauce.
- A roasted tomato salsa is always delicious!
More Sheet Pan Recipes
If you love these sheet pan nachos, you'll also love these:
Sheet Pan Nachos With Ground Beef
Equipment
- 1 large sheet pan
Ingredients
Homemade Pico de Gallo
- 1 ½ cups tomatoes diced with juice squeezed out before dicing.
- ¾ cup white onion diced finely
- ½ of a medium jalapeño diced finely
- ⅓ cup fresh cilantro chopped finely. You can use less if you like less cilantro.
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 lime
Nachos
- 14 ounces tortilla chips one large bag
- 1 pound ground beef 80/20 blend
- 2 cups assorted mixed Mexican cheese shredded I prefer a combination of cheddar, jack cheese and queso quesadilla cheese. Just make sure you have a few that you can mix and match for flavor and good melting.
- ½ cup pickled jalapeños
- ½ cup scallions diced
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- sour cream for serving
Ground Beef Seasoning (Taco seasoning)
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
Pico de Gallo
- Cut your tomatoes in half and gently squeeze out any liquid and scrape out the seeds.
- Dice your tomatoes and add them to a medium bowl.1 ½ cups tomatoes
- Dice your onion extra finely and add those to the bowl.¾ cup white onion
- Dice your jalapeño extra finely and add those to the bowl.½ of a medium jalapeño
- Add the salt, cilantro and fresh squeezed juice of one lime.1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 lime, ⅓ cup fresh cilantro
- Mix well.
- Let rest covered on the counter for 15 minutes or up to one hour to allow the flavors to come together.
Nachos
- After making the pico de gallo, pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
- In a large sauté pan over medium heat add vegetable oil and beef and cook the beef until brown. About 5 minutes.1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 pound ground beef
- Now add your ground beef seasoning.1 teaspoon sweet paprika, 1 teaspoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon cumin powder, ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder, ⅛ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Mix well for one minute then remove from the heat.
- Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup).
- Layer the tortilla chips on to the sheet pan.14 ounces tortilla chips
- Sprinkle a thin layer of cheese over the tortilla chips.
- Add the ground beef evenly over top.
- Add the remaining cheese over the ground beef2 cups assorted mixed Mexican cheese shredded
- Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the nachos just start to brown on the edges of the pan.
- Remove from the oven.
- Top with the jalapeños, scallions and ¼ of the pico de gallo.½ cup scallions, ½ cup pickled jalapeños
- Serve immediately with the remaining pico de gallo and sour cream on the side.sour cream
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
See full nutrition disclaimer hereTried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
Dan says
Was delicious!
Melissa says
Glad you enjoyed them 🙂