One night when I was a kid at sleepaway camp, our counselor told us that she couldn’t wait to go to sleep, so she could wake up and eat breakfast. This tiny moment has stuck with me for all these years and I always think of her when I’m anticipating a really fun breakfast.
These nachos inspire that kind of pure enthusiasm. They’re fantastic to make for a crowd, whether it’s a group of friends spending the weekend together (and quite possibly getting over a hangover) or a bunch of cousins or kids waking up after a sleepover.
These nachos really lend themselves to customization and are an excellent place to use up little bits of leftovers (for example, extra black beans, cooked and crumbled homemade breakfast sausage or bacon, roasted vegetables on the nachos, or a random radish or extra scallions in the tomato mixture). These nachos remind me that two big components of healthy eating are flexibility and pleasure. Both of those are essential for feeling good about ourselves.–Julia Turshen
Breakfast Nachos FAQs
When it comes to nachos, even the best-laid chips can suffer the soggy fate of being overloaded with too many wet ingredients. First, you’re going to have to dry those pickled onions, chopped tomatoes, or hot peppers as well as you can. And then—and this is the big secret—layer the cheese on the chips first. That melty buffer will save your chips from becoming flimsy and disintegrating.
For fun breakfast ideas that will feed plenty, try this breakfast lasagna, or whip up a triple batch of this savory breakfast casserole. This sausage and egg casserole is also always a winner. If you want to keep breakfast simple, make a tray of these sheet-pan eggs and some baked bacon.
Breakfast Nachos
Ingredients
For the salsa
- 2 large (8 oz) tomatoes, finely diced
- 1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and finely diced
- 3 tablespoons minced red, yellow, or white onion
- 1 large handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped (a little stem is fine)
- 3 tablespoons sliced pickled jalapeños (or 1 whole pickled jalapeño), finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- Kosher salt
For the nachos
- 6 large eggs
- Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
- 6 ounces tortilla chips (about 6 large handfuls)
- 1 cup coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup coarsely grated Monterey Jack cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
Make the salsa
- Position your oven rack 6 inches (15 cm) from the broiling element and turn the broiler to high.
- In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, avocado, onion, cilantro, pickled jalapeños, lime juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix gently to combine and season to taste with more salt if needed. Let the mixture sit while you prepare the nachos.
☞ TESTER TIP: If your tortilla chips are especially salty, you may want to be conservative with the amount you add to the salsa.
Make the nachos
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- In a medium, nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the beaten eggs and cook, stirring, until the eggs are barely set, 1 1/2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
☞ TESTER TIP: Cook your scrambled eggs so they’re slightly less done than you like as they’ll continue to cook in the oven.
- On a sheet pan, scatter the chips in an even layer, sprinkle evenly with half of the Cheddar cheese and half of the Monterey Jack cheese. Scatter the scrambled eggs on the cheese layer and then sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Broil until the cheese melts, about 2 minutes. Keep an eye on the nachos as broilers vary and yours may take a little less or a little more time.
Make the breakfast nachos
- Top the nachos with the salsa and dollop with the sour cream. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
I challenge you to dislike this breakfast nacho recipe. I’ll wait…I bet you can’t. They’re so satisfying and yet somehow much lighter than any other nachos I’ve eaten.
The pico de gallo with avocado is honestly more knife work than I’d normally embark on, before at least two cups of coffee, but I’ll happily bear that cross in exchange for how good it tastes. My family circled like vultures, stealing chips and pico while I was scrambling the eggs, which thankfully didn’t take long because otherwise we wouldn’t have had enough chips left.
We didn’t find the sour cream necessary, as it was delicious on its own, though I might increase the cheese quantity slightly. Just be sure to top with the pico at the table right before serving to prevent any soggy patches. These will be in constant rotation, though the pico will likely be a weekly affair, I just can’t get enough of it.
Something fun and different for breakfast? Yes please! We really enjoyed these breakfast nachos for a fun Saturday morning project. We followed the directions as written this time but the recipe looks to be very versatile. As we have someone with a severe pepper allergy in the house, I opted to serve the pickled jalapeños on the side instead of mixing them into the tomato mix, that way we could all enjoy this dish.
Most of your time is spent slicing and dicing the ingredients. If you are having these nachos for breakfast, I would suggest prepping the ingredients the night before to speed things up. Scrambling the eggs took 2 1/2 minutes. I would also be cautious about adding too much additional salt as some brands of tortilla chips can be very salty.
Once assembled, the tray took exactly 2 minutes under the broiler and breakfast was served. The tortilla chips were toasty and crisp, the cheese was melted, and the eggs weren’t overdone. That was a surprise for me, as I expected the additional cooking time to make them dry or rubbery. The only thing missing was sausage and bacon. We got 6 servings and I look forward to when I can make this again for the grandkids.
I’ll start by saying that I have never, ever put salsa on eggs. I know that’s something that, seemingly, the rest of North America does. I mean, I’ve seen Seinfeld. But like I’ve said a thousand times before, if you want to convince me to try something, all you have to do is pile it on top of nachos.
The tomato and avocado mixture came together easily and was really, really good. I used 3 Roma tomatoes because they were a little small, but they were flavourful and held up well.
The addition of the eggs was brilliant. I mean, anything that makes it okay to eat nachos for breakfast is brilliant, as far as I’m concerned. I’m looking forward to making these again with the addition of black beans or maybe a little sausage.
The only change I made was to use some misshapen and busted homemade taco shells instead of tortillas chips because I had a pile of them. This recipe is easy, which is a huge plus for any breakfast dish. And it’s incredibly tasty.
Tortilla chips are a huge weakness of mine, so naturally, I gravitate towards any recipe that uses them and makes a meal pass as breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This breakfast nacho recipe is perfect for any time of the day.
This breakfast nachos recipe is crave-worthy, and I love that I can make it whenever I’m in a pinch. This recipe provided a solid foundation on what to put on the nachos—they were perfect exactly as written—but also gave the freedom to add any additional toppings.
These breakfast nachos were SO good. I wasn’t expecting much, but the flavours of the tomato salsa really elevate this dish to something special. Super easy to pull together, too. Perfect for brunch and customizable according to what you have on hand. I’ll be making this again.
With this method, you can get breakfast on the table in no time at all. Throw some tortilla chips on a sheet pan, sprinkle half of your cheese over the chips, strew some scrambled eggs over the top, throw the rest of the cheese over the top of the eggs, place under the broiler until the cheese is melted. DONE!
All that you have left to do is sprinkle on some of the salsa you made while waiting for everything else to get done. I particularly liked the tang that the pickled jalepeños gave to the nachos on my plate. So there you have it. Throw, strew, sprinkle, and breakfast is served.
If you want to make things even easier on yourself, buy some prepared salsa—any kind you like. After making this as directed the first time, the second time I used a pepita salsa, a favorite of ours that I buy at Trader Joe’s. Yep. Breakfast on the table in no time at all.
