Leftover Carnitas Waffle Fry "Nachos" with lettuce / cheese / sour cream
We use waffle fries instead of chips for a fun twist on nachos. With leftover carnitas from Monday, these "nachos" come together fast, feed a crowd, and are easy to customize with your favorite toppings. Featured in 2017, this recipe received great reviews from our Cook Smarts community.
Smarts: In testing we liked frozen waffle fries (Alexia makes a sweet potato waffle fry that was great here) as a base for their ability to hold up to toppings, but you could try these with tater tots or other frozen fries if you'd like to experiment! Tortilla chips will work too.
Ingredients
- Onions, medium - 1/2, diced
- Lettuce, romaine - 1 heart, chopped
- Tomatoes, medium - 1, diced
- Cilantro - 1/4 cup, chopped
- Waffle fries, frozen - 20 oz (use sweet potato waffle fries if you can find them; sub tortilla chips)
- Cheese, any pre-shredded blend - 6 oz
- Slow-cooker carnitas (leftover from Monday) - ~3 cups
- Lime juice - 2 tsp
- Sour cream - 1/3 cup (sub plain or Greek yogurt)
- Salsa, any type - 1/4 cup
Nutrition Facts
Prep
Make
- Cook waffle fries according to package directions (if using tortilla chips heat oven to 350F / 177C degrees; spread chips out onto a sheet pan, top with toppings according to Step 3 below, and then bake for 5 to 10 minutes, until cheese has melted).
- When fries are cooked, remove pan from oven and turn on oven's broiler (skip this step if using tortilla chips).
- Top fries (or chips) with cheese, onions, and then leftover carnitas. Place under the broiler and broil until cheese is melted and carnitas are warmed through, 3 to 4 minutes (watch the nachos closely so they don't burn).
- Finish nachos with a squeeze of lime juice and cilantro. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and salsa at the table so that everyone can customize. Enjoy!
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Reviews
This meal has 11 reviews
YUM! DIFFERENT FROM TACO CHIPS BUT VERY GOOD!!
Used both normal and sweet potato fries and this was an easy and yummy if not the most healthy way to eat leftover carnitas.
I loved how simple and tasty this was with frozen waffle fries.
Loved these on a cold night! Made with the sweet potato waffle fries and loved them. Added some pickled onions that we had, skipped the lettuce and tomato because we were lazy. So tasty!
Made it with the sweet potato fries as suggested. Really tasty!
Very tasty. I used waffle fries (not sweet potato) but this could easily be made with regular fries (which I might have preferred over the waffle fries).