Chicken Nachos with Refried Beans

This recipe came out of necessity. I had originally intended to make chicken tacos with refried beans, but discovered I had no taco seasoning and no tortilla. What I did have was tortilla chips and taco sauce. 

As a snack, I oftern make a quick stove top cheese sauce (or use leftover cheese sauce if I have it) and the. Add taco sauce to it. Put it in a bowl and enjoy with some tortilla chips. 

Well, when I discovered I didn't have everything I needed for nachos (poor menu planning on my part), I decided to improvise a little. 

I made my refried beans as usual. Bacon grease in a cast iron skillet heated on medium. Add the beans and season well. I use chili powder, onion powder, garlic salt, a little red chili flake, some Worcestershire sauce and a little lemon. Then I added some water and let us come to a boil. Mush the beans at this point. Add more water as necessary to create the right consistency. Easy peesy!

For the chicken nachos, I just made my cheese sauce as normal, then added some cut up roast chicken I had in the freezer. Once the chicken was heated through, I added some taco sauce and stirred until blended. 

Serve over or with tortilla chips of your choice. Total yum!

Chicken Nachos

1 tablespoon bacon grease (you can use butter, too)

1 tablespoon flour

Season to taste (I used chili powder, red chili flake, onion powder, garlic powder)

1 cup milk (or chicken stock)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup chopped roasted chicken

2-3 tablespoons taco sauce

In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt bacon grease. Add flour and stir till flour absorbs grease. Cook for 2-3 minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste. 

Add seasonings and cook 1 minute longer. 

Turn heat down to medium low, add milk and stir to combine. Make sure you keep stirring to get rid of all the lumps. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. 

Turn heat to low am slowly add shredded cheese a little at a time. Stirring between each addition until cheese is fully melted and combined. 

Once all the cheese has been incorporated, remove from heat. Add chicken to heat through. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and taco sauce. 

Refried Beans

1 tablespoon bacon grease (or butter)

2 cups pinto beans (I had some in the freezer I had blanched and frozen, but you can used canned).

Seasoning of choice (I used chili powder, red pepper flakes, onion powder, garlic salt and a little Italian seasoning)

About 1 cup water

1 lemon

In a large cast iron skillet, heat grease over medium heat. Add beans and allow to cook 3-5 minutes. 

Add seasonings and cook 1 minute longer. 

Add about 1/2 cup water and allow to cook for about 5 minutes. Begin to mush beans until desired chunkiness is reached. 

Add the zest and juice of 1 lemon. 

If beans look too dry, add more water until desired consistency is reached. 

Remove from heat. 

Serve both beans and cheese over or with tortilla chips of your choice.