A speedy and easy treat from the air fryer. Full of all the things you like covered with cheese. What is there not to love?
Nachos
Nachos are easy to make the way you like them. If you don’t like chillies, don’t add them. If you want olives, add them (sliced)—more cheese, less cheese, and reduced-fat cheese all work. You can easily make them precisely to your tastes, which takes little time in the air fryer.
Tortilla Chips
All the nachos start with Tortilla chips. The cheapest is the best for this recipe, and Tesco does an Aldi price matched for 48p for 200g. These are perfect for homemade nachos.
Cheese
Cheddar grated. Be it a block, you have grated some off or bought pre-grated. Pick the cheese you like, extra mature, mild, lower in fat; they are all good.
Extras
This is your time to shine. Add slices or chopped extras: supermarket chillies, seeds removed and sliced. Red and green slices of chillies look good, and if you like the heat, they are perfect in air fryer nachos. Olives are a polarising choice, but sliced hotdogs, salami, pepperoni and sliced meats like ham work well.
Whatever you add, make it small, diced, sliced or tear the pepperoni or ham into smaller chunks. No bigger than a tortilla chip, preferably half the size, and this will allow more flavours per mouthful of nacho to get the best experience.
Recipe
- Spread a third of a pack of value tortilla chips on the bottom of your air fryer.
- Sprinkle a third of the grated cheese over the tortilla chips
- Add a third of your mixture (excluding the chillies, they go on top)
- Another third of the pack of tortilla chips over the first layer
- Add another third of the cheese as an evenly sprinkled layer,
- Add another third of your extras as a layer, saving the chillies for the top
- Add the rest of the pack of tortilla chips on top as a layer
- Place your extras with more purpose, so they look good and are evenly distributed
- Sprinkle over the last of the cheese; grate more if it looks a bit sparse
- Add your sliced red and green de-seeded (or go hot) chillies on top of the cheese as little crowns of hotness on the cheese.
Bake
Based on the time for a typical 5.7L air fryer. You can check the meltiness of the cheese part way through by opening the air fryer drawer. It’s safe to do this; just be aware it is hot.
You can let the air fryer heat up with the nachos; you don’t need to preheat the air fryer.
Cook in the air fryer at 160°C (320°F) for 8 minutes.
Pull out the drawer and see how well melted the cheese is. You can take it out now or put it back in for another 5 minutes.
Some like their cheese just melted, while others like it more well done. Some smaller air fryers will take longer because the layers are thicker. Your extras can make a difference; wetter ingredients will take more time, and smaller portions will take less time. Just pull out the air fryer drawer to see how it’s doing. Add more time if you think it needs to.
Take the hot and messy nachos from the air fryer, put them on the serving plate, and add sauces or toppings like guacamole, sour cream or salsa to compliment your tastes.
Serve and enjoy.
Cooking Time
