Costa Rican Nachos Recipe

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Costa Rican nachos combine homemade tortilla chips, shredded meat and refried beans for a delightful and unique appetizer recipe.

About This Recipe

I have a huge love affair with Costa Rican nachos. Let’s just get that out there right now. It’s partly because I love love love homemade tortilla chips, and this dish always uses them. It’s also because I love Costa Rica shredded beef, and they also have that as an ingredient! When I was living in San Ramon I would order nachos every chance I got. When I got back to the United States, I would crave them so much that I just decided to replicate them at home.

But let’s talk a little bit about how Costa Rican nachos work. Like everywhere in the world, you will find tons of variations of nachos in Costa Rica. In this post I’ll tell you how to make my favorite type.

What’s especially delicious about Costa Rican nachos is the cheese and the sour cream. Unfortunately, it is pretty much impossible to find Costa Rican cheese outside of Costa Rica, so I usually use the Mexican queso Oaxaca. Some nachos also use nacho cheese sauce, and you can also do that too but I personally don’t really like it so I don’t use it.

The other hard part about making Costa Rican nachos at home is getting the sour cream, known in Costa Rica as natilla. Luckily, if you can find Salvadorean sour cream you are super close. When I don’t have that on hand I just use regular American-style sour cream.

Finally, one big contrast between American nachos and Costa Rican is that the cheese isn’t always melted. Another contrast is that in traditional Costa Rican restaurants, you will find each nacho is built individually and you will get a plate of 10 or so individual nachos. Less messy! Sometimes, you will even get the chips with the toppings separate so you can just build your own nacho.

The thing about these nachos is that they are easy to make if you have the ingredients already made. If you don’t, I suggest you make a few dishes and then use what is leftover for nachos the next day.

Related post: Costa Rican Appetizers You’ll Love

Costa Rican Nachos Recipe

Printable recipe below

Ingredients

• Tortilla chips
• Refried black beans
• shredded beef or shredded chicken
• Costa rican chimichurri
• Costa Rican typical cheese OR Mexican Oaxaca cheese
• Natilla (costa rican sour cream) or american style sour cream (optional)
• Guacamole (optional)

Instructions

You have two options- you can do the nachos layered in a group like we do in the United States, or you can make each nacho individually.

If you are making each nacho individually, arrange the chips one by one on a plate. If not, you can put one layer of chips.

Warm your black bean dip and your meat. Put them on top of your tortilla chips.

Add the cheese you are using. You can either melt it under the broiler on high 3 minutes or until cheese is melted. You can also microwave them for 30-45 seconds on high power.

Layer the chimichurri, sour cream and guacamole on top.

Related post: 30+ Foods To Try In Costa Rica

Substitutions

I definitely cheat and use refried black beans from the can, and just add a little bit of water and heat them up for the nachos.

You can also use Mexican-style refried beans in place of the black bean dip.

You can use jarred or fresh pico de gallo from the grocery store in place of the homemade chimichurri. You can do the same with the guacamole, or omit it entirely.

I have definitely used regular tortilla chips instead of making my own, but the recipe definitely isn’t s good. You might have some artisanal homemade tortilla chips in your local Hispanic grocery store, and they are worth the splurge in my opinion.

The photo above shows nachos with estofado- a beef tail in red sauce. Divine.

Variations

Costa Ricans love to put nacho toppings on all kinds of things! Here are a few variations I have seen over the years. You can add the nacho toppings to patacones, as seen above in the make your own nacho style.

You can put all the nacho toppings on top of french fries or yucca fries

There are also vegetarian nachos, just omit the meat when you order.

If you are looking for a vegan nacho, you can just ask for everything but the cheese and meat. You’ll end up with a delicious dish of tortilla chips, black beans and chimichurri sauce. So good!

Related post: 10 Delicious Vegan Options in Costa Rica

What To Serve With Costa Rican Nachos

Even though nachos are a meal or an appetizer in themselves, you can serve them with all kinds of other dishes.

Many Costa Rican restaurants will serve the nachos with a green salad with fresh lettuce, lime and chimichurri.

I love to eat nachos with an ice-cold Imperial beer (or any beer, really!)

If you are serving the nachos as an appetizer, you can follow it with some of the most popular Costa rican traditional foods- Sopa Azteca, gallo pinto, a Costa Rican casado, arroz con pollo, or even a light picadillo de chayote with Costa Rican white rice. Don’t forget the Salsa Lizano!

Check out all of our Traditional Costa Rican recipes!

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