Sweet Potato Nachos

Yield: A lot! Will feed 4 as a meal, or can serve more as a party side dish…

Ingredients:

1 lb sweet potatoes (~2 large or 3 medium), washed and sliced into 1/4” thick slices (do not peel)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Freshly ground black pepper

2 cups shredded chicken** (homemade shredded chicken or use rotisserie chicken)

1 cup salsa

1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup corn kernels (I use frozen, and no need to follow cooking directions for corn, just add to nachos straight from frozen and they will cook up in the oven)

2 scallions, thinly sliced; reserve the darker green parts for garnish

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or other favorite cheese for nachos, like Monterey jack or pepper jack for a kick!)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Add sliced sweet potatoes to a mixing bowl. Drizzle the olive oil over sweet potatoes and sprinkle with salt, black pepper, cumin, & garlic powder. Mix until sweet potatoes are well coated.

3. Place sweet potatoes on a parchment lined baking sheet, without overlapping them. You may need to use two baking sheets. Bake sweet potatoes for 15 minutes, then take out of the oven and flip sweet potatoes. Bake for another 15 minutes.

4. While sweet potatoes are cooking, prepare the nacho toppings. In a mixing bowl, combine shredded chicken and salsa. Set all other toppings aside.

5. Take sweet potatoes out of the oven (NOTE: at this time, if you are using two baking sheets, transfer all sweet potatoes onto one baking sheet to layer the nacho toppings). Spread nacho toppings evenly across the sweet potatoes. I recommend first sprinkling half of the cheese over the sweet potatoes, then add remaining toppings, and finish by topping with remaining 1 cup of cheese.

6. Bake nachos for about 5 minutes, then switch to broil for 2 minutes to get bubbly cheese!

7. Garnish with darker green parts of scallions + any other nacho toppings you love: cilantro, shredded iceberg lettuce, chopped tomatoes, extra salsa, pickled or fresh sliced jalapeno, sour cream or Greek yogurt, lime wedges, shredded cabbage, diced avocado or guacamole!

Recipe Notes:

-You can also use ground meat in place of shredded chicken. Or, feel free to omit the chicken for a vegetarian recipe.

-Bake the sweet potatoes for even longer if you want them to get more crispy.

-Feel free to omit the spices on the sweet potatoes or to change them to your family’s preference! If you like some spice, try adding 1/4 teaspoon of chile powder.