Are you drooling yet? These loaded vegan nachos are amazing. I mean, just look at them. Plant-based, healthy and perfect for movie night or any night.
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🧄 Ingredient notes
To make these loaded vegan nachos, you'll need:
- tortilla chips (store-bought or make your own)
- black beans or refried beans
- vegan nacho cheese (make your own)
- shredded purple cabbage
- shredded lettuce
- pico de gallo (store-bought or make your own)
- vegan sour cream (store-bought or make your own)
- sliced jalapeño
- sliced avocado
You can use this recipe as a base or inspiration and use store bought ingredients, as needed. Or, make everything homemade (you won't regret it!).
You can substitute other ingredients in this recipe, depending on what you have on hand. Nachos are flexible like that, y'all.
Substitution ideas
Tortilla Chips
- Any kind of corn tortilla chip will work.
- Yellow corn, white corn, blue corn, tortilla strips, tortilla triangles, etc.
- (But, not fritos.)
- I wouldn't recommend a super thin tortilla chip, since it won't stand up to the weight of the toppings.
- You can make your own fat free tortilla chips in 15 minutes with just corn tortillas.
- Or, if you have tostadas at home, you can break those into chips, too.
Black Beans
- Refried beans would be delicious here (add a little water or salsa to them and season with cumin or taco seasoning. Then, heat to warm).
- Also, vegan spicy charro pinto beans would be delicious, as well. Eat leftovers with rice or add to tacos.
- Cooked lentils could also work.
Vegan Queso Nacho Cheese Sauce
- This is arguably the most important element of these Loaded Vegan Nachos. So, if you make anything from scratch, make this.
- However, you can use vegan shredded cheese instead, if you like. If you do this, definitely add some hot sauce or salsa to your nachos for heat.
Pico de Gallo
- Instead of pico, add some chopped tomatoes, fresh cilantro/coriander and squeeze of lime juice to your nachos.
Vegan Sour Cream
- You can omit the sour cream if you don't have any and can't make my homemade version.
- Or, you could use a dollop of plain vegan yogurt in a pinch, but I would taste a little with the nachos first to see if you like it. Yogurt is not the same as sour cream, so you may prefer to just omit it.
- You could also add extra avocado, since it has a soothing, creamy affect.
Avocado
- If you don't have any avocado, you can use extra sour cream.
- Or, just omit it.
Jalapeño
- Substitute any hot pepper you like.
- Or, hot sauce, like Cholula, Tabasco, sriracha, chile garlic sauce or hot pepper oil.
Sheet Pan
- Instead of assembling on a sheet pan, you could make individual servings on plates.
🔪 Instructions
Prep your ingredients
Your first step is to prep all your ingredients.
If you decide to only make one thing from scratch, I would recommend making the Easy Vegan Chile con Queso Nacho Cheese Sauce.
It's a very important element to these loaded plant-based nachos.
One batch of my vegan nacho cheese sauce will make about 4 cups of sauce, which is the perfect amount for these nachos.
If you make extra, you can save it in the refrigerator to make more nachos later in the week. It's also freezable!
Keep your nacho cheese sauce hot by simmering it on low on the stove, until you're ready to assemble your nachos.
Assemble your nachos
Here's the layers for our nachos:
- half of the chips
- half of the black beans, purple cabbage and cheese sauce
- the rest of the chips
- the rest of the black beans, purple cabbage and cheese sauce
- top with shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, sliced avocado, sliced jalapeño, vegan sour cream
👨👩👦👦 Serving suggestions
Nachos are an anytime food, especially when they're chocked full of veggies and healthy toppings, like these are.
These are especially great for occasions like movie night or family game night.
If not everyone wants all of the toppings, then I would suggest setting up a Nacho Bar and let everyone pick their own toppings to assemble on their own plates.
Keep the vegan queso hot by putting in a small crockpot on low or in the Instant Pot on the "keep warm" setting.
💜 More recipes you'll love
- Vegan Spicy Charro Beans in the Crockpot
- Breakfast Tacos with Spinach, Sweet Potato and Charro Beans
- 30+ Vegan Taco Ideas and Rainy Day Everything Tacos
Love this recipe? Please rate it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below in the recipe card. And, if you make it, please tag me on Instagram or Facebook in your posted photos! I would love to see your creations. 😄
📖 Recipe
Loaded Vegan Nachos
Equipment
Ingredients
- 10 cups tortilla chips store-bought or oil-free homemade chips
- 15 ounces canned black beans drained and rinsed
- 32 ounces vegan queso cheese sauce store-bought or homemade
- 1 cup purple cabbage finely shredded
- ½ cup pico de gallo store-bought or homemade
- 1 avocado sliced
- ½ cup lettuce shredded
- ½ cup vegan sour cream store-bought or homemade
- 1 jalapeño thinly sliced
Instructions
Prepare HOMEMADE Toppings (if using)
- Prepare Chips, Queso, Pico and Sour Cream: If you're using store bought or already prepared ingredients, skip to "Assemble Nachos" section. To make your own, here are links to my easy recipes:
- Make Homemade Vegan Sour Cream (cashew cream) or Vegan Tofu Sour Cream
Assemble Nachos
- Heat cheese sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until ready to assemble your nachos. Or, microwave in a microwave-safe bowl, stirring every 30-60 seconds.
- Spread half of the tortilla chips over the bottom of a large empty sheet pan.
- Sprinkle half of the black beans and purple cabbage over chips.
- Drizzle half of hot vegan queso over chips.
- Spread out remaining chips, black beans, purple cabbage and drizzle cheese sauce evenly across pan.
- Top with pico de gallo, shredded lettuce, vegan sour cream, sliced avocado and sliced jalapeños. Serve immediately, family style.
Notes
- Tortilla Chips: any kind of corn tortilla chip will work. You can make your own fat free tortilla chips in 15 minutes with corn tortillas. Or, if you have tostadas at home, you can break those into chips, too.
- Black Beans: Refried pinto beans or refried black beans would be delicious here. Also, vegan spicy charro pinto beans would be delicious, as well.
- Vegan Queso Nacho Cheese Sauce: This is arguably the most important element of these Loaded Vegan Nachos. So, if you make anything from scratch, make this. However, you can use vegan shredded cheese instead, if you like. If you do this, definitely add some hot sauce or salsa to your nachos for heat.
- Purple Cabbage: This is optional, but I really like the crunch. You could also use shredded green cabbage, if you like. Or don't use it at all. Or, add extra shredded lettuce.
- Pico de Gallo: Instead of pico, add some chopped tomatoes, fresh cilantro/coriander and squeeze of lime juice to your nachos.
- Vegan Sour Cream: You can omit the sour cream if you don't have any and can't make my homemade version. You can also use extra avocado, since it has a similar cooling affect.
- Avocado: If you don't have any avocado, you can use extra sour cream. Or, just omit it.
- Jalapeño: substitute any hot pepper you like. Or, hot sauce, like Cholula, Tabasco, sriracha, chile garlic sauce or hot pepper oil.
- Sheet Pan: Instead of assembling on a sheet pan, you could make individual servings on plates.
Sabrina says
These are so awesome! I love the vegan nacho cheese and sour cream. These ingredients gave it the total classic comfort food feel and taste. Thanks, I’ll be making these again soon.