Nachos for Dinner review

This is another book I’m including in my best cookbooks of 2024 reviews even though it was published in 2022.  I’ve been seeing it in kitchen shops and boutiques for two years and I almost bought it a couple of times. I finally got a copy from the library.

About the book:

Crispy Base + Melty Sauce + Flavorful Topping = Nachos make a perfect sheet pan dinner!

It’s like a dream come true! First, because you now have an invitation to eat a plate of nachos as a real meal, and second, because here are dozens and dozens of recipes and ideas to transform this beloved snack into a nourishing sheet pan dinner. Plus dessert.

Written by the irrepressible Dan Whalen, Nachos for Dinner combines the mad-genius spirit of his previous books, ‘Smores and Tots!, with the practical brilliance of sheet pan suppers. First Whalen breaks down the nacho’s intrinsic appeal to its three essential components—a crispy base, a melty sauce, and a flavorful topper. And then he gives you the three flavor profiles—a lot of umami, a little heat, and something bright-tasting, whether pickled or fresh. From there the world is your nacho plate.

Of course there’s the chips-and-cheese classic, but then the nachos veer decidedly into dinner, with favorites from every part of the meal from French Onion Nachos, Buffalo Chicken Nachos, and Cobb Salad Nachos to Fish Taco Nachos, Banh Mi Nachos, and Shrimp and Grits Nachos. And there are plenty of not-chos (that is, nachos that use other ingredients for the chips)—like Lasagnachos, Scallion Pancake Nachos, and Pretzel and Brat’chos. Even Apple Pie Nachos for dessert.

About the author:

Dan Whalen is the founder and creator of the popular recipe blog, The Food in my Beard, home to the famous Quesadilla Bun Burger.  In the past 10+ years since the website’s inception, he has published over 2000 recipes that have been viewed over 50 million times.

He has written five cookbooks. Besides Nachos for Dinner, he has published S’mores!, The Comfort Food Mash-Up Cookbook, Tots!, and Stuffed.

He currently lives in Columbus working as a full time blogger and writer.

What I thought…

You can surmise from his list of cookbooks above that Whalen likes to do riffs. Let’s put lots of things on tater tots. Let’s see if we turn a cheeseburger into a ravioli (Stuffed). You get the idea.

So, I don’t know what I was expecting…. But this book includes everything on chips. Duh. Things like Tikki Masala, lasagna, falafel, and crispy cod are layered on.

Some of Whalen’s recipes were inventive. Some were just weird.

Of course there’s the basic version but then Whalen gets “inventive.” I could not connect with most of his recipes.

The best part of the book is the “Building Block” section which included salsas, beans, pickles, cremas, slaw and other recipes to build your nachos. There are guac recipes along with instructions for fajita veggies and roasted veggies. The recipes I wanted to try were here—cumin-roasted cauliflower, carnitas, chorizo.

Honestly, I didn’t find a “nacho” recipe that I really wanted to sample. (Well, maybe the street corn nachos.)

This would be a great book for ideas about using leftovers, like if you had some beef bulgogi or leftover stroganoff.  I’m just not sure I would go to the trouble of making these aforementioned dishes just to throw them on top of corn chips.

I guess I’m old school. Just give me chips and the liquid cheese.

I usually like the irreverent, tongue-in-cheek authors like Whalen (who doesn’t “give a chip”), but I just couldn’t connect. Maybe since I’ve been anticipating reading this book for two years, I was expecting more.

This is one book I’m really glad I check out of the library.

I’m linking up with Foodies Read for July.