How Babish Makes His Perfect Nachos: Every Choice, Every Step

When you make nachos,

you have to make a lot of decisions.

You have to decide on chips, cheese,

proteins, toppings, condiments,

and where all this is gonna go in your dish.

Some ingredients can make every bite of your dish

a little more perfect,

while others can leave you with a damp and soggy mess.

I'm Andrew Rea, aka Babish,

and today we're gonna see every decision I make

to make the perfect tray of nachos.

[upbeat music]

The beauty of nachos

is that there's no definitive right or wrong way.

It's entirely up to you.

These are gonna be my choices,

but they will not be arbitrary.

It's best to do it with intention and logic.

So let's move with intention, and start by choosing chips.

You might be surprised to learn

that chips play a vital role in nachos.

In searching for the perfect nacho chip,

you want something that is structurally sound,

not very absorbent, and isn't too loud on its own,

and bringing its own flavor to the party.

I'm looking for a strong chip

that has a distinct corn flavor.

They have, these are corn chips.

Tastes like corn, it's corn chips, nachos, corn.

Right away, I'm going to say no on the Doritos.

We're not making TikTok content here.

Too much flavor, too much going on.

I don't need the chip to be stealing the show.

So Doritos, get outta here.

These sort of multi-grain joints here,

These guys, you know, they're...

Okay, no, they don't have very good rigidity.

They're very fragile. [chip crunches]

And they taste like multi-grain bread.

In making nachos,

hat I'm looking for is something

that is distinctly unhealthy,

and this is at least trying to be healthy,

so it doesn't have a place on my nacho tray.

These are Xochitl chips.

It says how to pronounce it right there, which is fun.

These, I think, are frankly the worst chips on the market.

They have no structural rigidity.

Let me show you something.

This is salsa, this is the Xochitl chip.

Watch what happens.

[chips crunching]

I can do this all day.

There's nothing that it's gonna be able to stand up to

in a nacho scenario, please.

Tostitos Scoops, kind of an odd choice

because the whole point of this is for dipping.

Nachos are like chips that have been dipped for you.

It would work in a nacho situation,

but I'd be a little confused.

Tostitos Original, this is a handsome option,

but they're kind of a boring tasting chip.

I wouldn't eat Tostitos by themselves.

They definitely work in a nacho situation,

but not my ideal pick.

Tostitos Lightly Salted is the same thing,

but with less salt, and salt tastes good.

So there's less of it. So there's less tastes good.

So I, yeah, no, it's probably not the move.

These are Hola Nola Chips.

I don't know anything about them.

I do know that they taste good.

I love the original so much.

These guys are hardy.

They have very good strength to them.

They're oily, they're flavorful,

they're everything I'm looking for in a nacho chip.

If you can't find these,

really all you're looking for is thick, oily, flavorful,

a little bit too big to fit in your mouth.

These are the things gonna make up the perfect foundation

for the house of nachos that you will then proceed to build.

These are the chips that I'm choosing for my nachos.

[cheerful music]

Now, let's take a look at cheese.

Cheese is not only a huge visual element of nachos,

it's a textural element.

You want a really soft, young cheese

that's gonna melt beautifully, blanket your nachos,

and stretch pornographically every time you pull a chip.

Too aged a cheese, too old a cheese,

it's going to break, it's gonna become oily,

and might even become gritty if it's overheated in the oven.

It's very easy to make a mistake

when choosing cheese for your nachos.

And the first and most pronounced one you can make

is this, pre-shredded cheese.

So these guys are coded in anti-caking agents.

Potato starch, or corn starch, or some kind of starch.

You can see that they're dusty,

and that is to prevent them

from sticking together in the bag.

You don't want to buy a bag of shredded cheese,

and it turn into a a lump at the bottom.

This has the unfortunate disadvantage

of ruining both the look and the texture

of the cheese on your nachos.

We have here some cheese that we shredded ourselves

versus cheese that was pre-shredded.

We threw it in the oven, and look what happened.

A lot of the shreds have kept their shape.

It's not a good look on nachos.

That, and I'm gonna press a paper towel

onto each of these cheeses.

You can see the amount of oil that has leached out

of the pre-shredded cheese.

Worst cheese experience for a nacho-style environment.

What prankster put Gruyere on this table?

It's insane not only because

it has really, really strong funky aged flavor,

but also because just that, it's aged.

So for the actual cheese that's going on my nachos,

I'm going with these three guys.

First up, Oaxaca, the closest thing that you're gonna get

to mozzarella on the table here.

It's extremely stretchy. It's an excellent melter.

Very inoffensive in flavor,

but it's gonna bring a lot of great texture,

and a lot of great stringy, porny meltiness.

Next up we've got Pepper Jack.

This is probably my favorite cheese on the planet.

I could snack, I could eat this whole bar

making eye contact with you the entire time.

Not blinking, not breathing. I could do it.

Fantastic melter. It's a young cheese.

It's one of the best melting cheeses on the market.

Last but not least, we have Queso de Papa.

This is a longhorn-styled cheddar.

I guess longhorn only refers to its mezze luna shape.

All it really is is a very mild young cheddar.

Mild and young like me, not really.

Beard's turning gray, not so much anymore.

Spicy old, that's me.

This is the opposite, mild young, better analogy. [chuckles]

We also have mild cheddar cheese here.

This is effectively the same thing.

It would work just as effectively.

You'd never know the difference.

So these are the cheeses that I'm picking.

I'm grating them myself

so I have control over the shred size,

and what kinds of cheeses are going in there.

If you do larger shreds,

they're gonna maintain their separateness

so that you can evenly coat your nachos with shreds.

This is so much better than the pre-shredded cheese.

By weight, it's more expensive,

and you're getting a worser product.

So grate your own cheese, for God's sake.

So now I'm doing the pepper jack,

and the addition of little bits of chili

and red pepper in there brings just enough heat

where it's not going to numb out your in-laws

who can't handle spicy food.

I never know what to do with cheese toward the end.

Just like, do I grate my fingers? Do I go all the way?

There we go.

Last up, the Oaxaca,

and this is gonna be a little bit harder to shred.

What you can do is throw this guy in the freezer

for about 15 minutes to make it easier to grate.

It's like trying to grate a snake.

That's enough.

I'm just adding this for stretch factor,

not so much for flavor.

So, these are the cheeses that are going on my nachos.

Let's get the rest of this stuff outta here.

So now, let's talk protein.

[cheerful music]

Protein's a great way to add flavor and texture

and protein to your nachos,

and it really is what takes it more

from a snack to a full meal.

Don't necessarily need it,

but if you're gonna call 'em deluxe nachos on the menu,

it better have protein on it 'cause I'm not paying extra.

Let's talk pork.

Pork is an excellent option for nachos,

but it's pretty labor intensive

because you can't just chop this up

and throw it on your nachos.

This is a slow and low cut.

Ideally you wanna make carnitas out of this.

Maybe if you made a little bit too much carnitas

for taco night last night,

it's an excellent use for it.

Next up we have chorizo.

This is my personal favorite.

A little bit spicy, has a ton of flavor,

very easy to prepare for the nachos.

You just have to fry it up.

We have chicken breast,

which is a wholly inappropriate option for nachos.

Chicken breast is extremely lean,

it dries out super quickly,

has little-to-no flavor of its own.

I want something that's really bringing

a personality to the party.

So I'm not gonna go chicken breast.

If we have shrimp, which I am first off,

not a shrimp and cheese kind of person, not my bag.

That, and shrimp, when overcooked

becomes stringy, and chewy, and bouncy, and gross.

And you have to cook it first.

You can't just throw raw shrimp on your nachos.

Are you out of your mind?

And then you have to throw the whole thing in the oven.

So you are going to overcook your shrimp.

It doesn't make sense to me. I'm not a big fan.

I'm going chorizo because it's quick, it's easy,

and it's gonna bring a whole lot of flavor to the party.

Let's make some chorizo.

You want to get raw chorizo. Appetizing, no?

I'm going straight into a cold pan

because this stuff is so greasy and fatty,

it's you don't need to oil the pan.

You can, of course, break things up

with a wooden spoon like this,

but this is a bit more efficient way

to effectively turn this into ground meat.

[chorizo sizzling]

There we go.

All right, this stuff is fully cooked,

broken up, and draining on paper towels.

It's nacho ready.

Let's get the rest of this stuff outta here.

Now, let's talk about vegetables.

[upbeat music]

Perfect.

So, like most nacho elements,

we're looking for flavor and texture here.

I am a fan of virtually everything on this table

except for this stuff.

[dramatic music]

I am one of those people

who is genetically averse to cilantro.

That being said,

I recognize how most people think cilantro tastes delicious,

and how it is an essential part of garnish in nacho cuisine.

So we are including it in spite of my genetic deficiency.

Onion, red onion in particular,

I think is an excellent addition to nachos.

It looks great, tastes great, adds a little crunch.

Fresh jalapenos are awesome

for heat, and for color, and for jalapeno-ness,

but I prefer pickled jalapenos

because these guys bring a little bit

of that briny sour bite to 'em.

So it brings a flavor entirely different

from anything else on this table.

A lot of people love putting olives on their nachos.

That eludes me personally,

but I think we're gonna treat our nachos

not unlike a pizza.

One half with olives, the other half with jalapenos

or something like that

so people get a little bit of choice in the matter.

They get a say.

Raw bell peppers.

[pepper crunches]

A little bit too much crunch roulette.

So I'm not gonna do raw bell pepper, personally.

Another nacho topping

that you'll see pretty often is radishes.

Very nice earthy flavor.

Maybe we'll do half with radishes on it. Who knows?

It's our pizza. I mean nachos.

So red onion, you don't need much of it.

Not super fine dice.

I wanna know that I'm eating an onion.

I don't want it to be ambiguous.

Radishes, just gonna want to slice into thin little rounds.

I don't have very professional knife skills.

We could use a mandolin

if you really don't value the tips of your fingers.

Drained pickled jalapenos.

You don't want to add sog to your chips,

so I'm making sure

that I'm getting as much liquid outta here as possible.

I might even pat 'em dry on paper towels

if I really want to be fastidious.

I think these guys are gonna bring a good mix

of crunch flavor, and personality to my nachos.

So this is what I'm going with.

Next up, condiments.

[cheerful music]

These are things that would go on a bite,

not on the nachos themselves.

Certainly not in the oven.

I don't think any of these things you would want to get hot.

One of the more essential condiments

with nachos, I think, is guacamole.

You're definitely gonna wanna make your own guacamole

because avocado almost immediately oxidizes

when you cut into it.

So even this so called fresh stuff in the fridge section

has ascorbic acid to make sure that it doesn't turn brown.

It uses lime juice concentrate.

Fresh lime juice is so much better than bottled lime juice.

If you don't believe me, squeeze a fresh lime in your mouth,

and maybe don't do that,

but just, just trust me.

And it's not hard to make your own guacamole.

It takes five minutes.

You wanna make sure that you've got nice ripe avocados.

When you're pressed your finger into the outside,

it should yield a little bit.

If you're really desperate,

and you need ripe avocados right now,

you can actually put them in a low oven,

like a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven, for like 20 minutes.

That does make their flesh soft.

I want to add red onion, bring flavor, color, and crunch.

I'm going garlic crusher.

The more you break down garlic,

the more garlic flavor you're gonna get out of it.

So this is a way to really bust up your garlic.

Need lime juice for flavor,

and also the acid helps preserve the color of the guac.

Half-teaspoon of cumin in there.

[spoon clanks]

And get a pinch of salt, freshly ground pepper,

and mash 'em up with a fork

until you reach your desired consistency.

Some people like a chunkier guac,

some people like it to be smooth as nineties jazz.

A little bit of fresh jalapeno for spice.

And of course, some of the devil's lettuce.

And yeah, see that still has a little bit

of avocado texture in it.

Still got some chunks in there, you know.

Which one would you rather have?

I'll wait.

Next thing we gotta do is a fresh salsa or pico de gallo.

Once again, gonna be worlds better than anything

you can get at the store.

I have some nice ripe tomatoes on the vine.

I'm going for a pretty chunky pico.

Going with white onion

because it is mellower than the red onion.

It's obviously you want a lower ratio

of onion to the tomato.

You could chop the garlic,

but I'm just gonna press it again.

It's almost the same thing as guacamole,

but with tomatoes instead of avocados.

You ever think about that?

Let's go one lime in this guy.

Little bit of salt, pepper.

Last thing I'm gonna add is a little bit of heat,

and this time in the form of hot sauce.

It's not spicy, it just adds a little personality.

It's a very quick, simple and easy pico de gallo.

Pretty as you please. Fresh as a daisy.

All right, so something else

we're taking a look at is crema,

a cultured sour cream that is little thinner,

so it's drizzleable, and it's tangier.

Out of the jar is fantastic.

But it's not very easy for everybody to find.

So to make a rough at-home approximation,

we can just take regular old sour cream, plop.

Plop, and both thin it and tangify it with lime juice.

We just want to get this

to the consistency where it is like pourable,

like drizzlable.

Man, all these limes makes me want a margarita.

And that, there we go.

See, that's about as close as you can get

to real crema without using real crema.

Perfect. Last but not least, beans.

I don't like beans. I'm not a beans guy.

When I make chili, I make chili con carne, without beans.

That being said, most people do like beans on their nachos.

I don't see the value

of putting them directly on the nachos.

They're not very flavorful.

They're bringing some protein, some fiber to the mix,

but they're not like really tasty.

So why not go all the way, and use refried beans?

These guys have been cooked and then re-cooked in pork fat.

So go refried beans, if you ask me.

All right, so I have my various condiments.

I think that's all I need here.

Let's get this stuff outta here.

Well, dear viewer, do you know what time it is?

[upbeat music]

It's nacho time.

I'm gonna build my nachos on a sheet tray.

You wanna maximize surface area and minimize depth.

If they're this tall,

they're not gonna get heated through all the way.

And if they do, the outside's gonna get burnt.

And the more surface area, the better.

That means more chips are gonna get more stuff on them.

I do my nachos in two layers.

First, a bedrock of chips

hit only with cheese, nothing else.

I'm gonna combine all the cheeses in a bowl

so that they are evenly distributed together.

Not too heavy a layer on this first layer.

If you overload the cheese, you're gonna get soggy chips.

And we also wanna make sure

that we have enough cheese for the top layer.

Our picture-perfect chips on top of that.

This is perhaps being a little too precious.

We're recording this.

We're doing this in your house, just dump it on there.

Even though it's just chips and cheese,

this already looks festive.

Just wait till we get all the stuff on it.

I like to do cheese then toppings

both because it looks better,

and because it insulates our chips from getting too soggy.

And make sure that as few chips as possible

lay naked on your sheet tray.

Don't want that. It's a family show.

No naked chips.

The only toppings we're putting on the nachos right now

are ones that we want heated up.

I'm gonna start with the chorizo, nice and toasty.

And this might be the most flavorable sausage known to man.

That looks pretty good.

Some of my vegetables get a little bit heat.

So let's throw some red onion down.

This isn't in the oven for an appreciable amount of time

to really cook anything but like onions, like heat.

We're gonna do half with jalapenos,

and I appear to be shingling them in a pattern.

I didn't mean to when I started, but now here we are.

And then the other half, we'll do olives.

Look at all the flavors, textures, and colors we've layered.

Like, nobody could look you in the eye,

and tell you that these aren't fully-loaded nachos.

If they did, you would legally be in the rights

to place them under citizen's arrest.

The rest of this stuff, we don't want to put it in the oven.

So we've got our nachos built.

Let's get these in the oven. Gimme one minute.

[upbeat music]

These guys just got out of the oven.

Now it's time to garnish.

Add some radishes to the olive side of the situation.

They're gonna add a little bit of crunch,

a little bit of earthy goodness.

Then drizzle on some crema,

just devil-may-care style.

Don't wanna make soggy chips.

Just want to bring a little bit

of this tangy stuff to the party.

I'm gonna pile these various dips in the corners

so that way they're not intruding,

they're not getting overheated,

they're just ready to go.

Some pico, which I'm going to do my best to drain.

Like we obviously are gonna get

a little bit of liquid with the pico.

I'm gonna do what I can to mitigate that.

And how about two refried bean stations?

We'll do one on this side, and one up front.

For garnish, some picked cilantro.

Big old leaves that I can pick off.

And that is my tray of fully loaded nachos.

[upbeat music]

My ultimate nachos.

[chips crunch]

I love the pickled jalapenos, and I do like the olives

'cause they bring that nice little briny sourness,

and that's a really nice contrast

against all the richness, and cheese, and all that stuff.

Chips are still nice and crisp holding their shape.

[chips crunch]

Guac is well seasoned, creamy, it's fantastic.

It's my favorite plate of nachos.

And as you can see, look at that,

these chips are not yielding to all the toppings

that they are burdened with carrying.

My ideal nachos are loaded and layered just like these,

but they're just that, they're my ideal nachos.

Your ideal nachos might look wholly different.

Whatever decisions you make are fine, they're yours.

Just make sure that you make them with intention.

That's how you're gonna end up with the best final product.

[upbeat music]