What toppings should come on nachos?

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FinalDasa

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#1 FinalDasa  Moderator

Picture this: You've sat down at a Generic Restaurant and order the nachos without even glancing at the menu. You have no clue what will be coming on top of these nachos, all you know is a mound of deliciousness is on it's the way.

The plate arrives and...what's on it? What are the most typical toppings for nachos? Nothing fancy or extra or surprising. Just your run of the mill plate of nachos. Are there toppings you absolutely wouldn't expect? Toppings that are downright required? Do these nachos need meat? Tomatoes will do or must it be a salsa?

Indulge me in your nacho indulgences.

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MerxWorx01

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Lowest expectations would be stadium style where it's just melted "cheese" and a few slices of brined jalapenos. This level of nachos manages to undercut 7-eleven Nachos(I'm assuming these are no longer available) to a startling degree. But these are not lowest rung restaurant nachos. I'd say Taco Bravo Nachos where its just ground beef and warm shredded cheese.

This might be the bare minimum without getting hauled away by the food police for just serving tortillas and salsa then calling it nachos.

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CreepingDeath0

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Cheese, sour cream, hot salsa, jalapenos.

Keep guacamole far away from me.

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brian_

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#4  Edited By brian_

I have never order nachos at a restaurant. I'd say 90% of the nachos I've consumed in my life were at home, in bag form. And probably 75% of the time, I just eat them plain. Cheese is a preferred topping, but kind of a pain in the ass. Mostly avoid salsa, unless I've got an exceptionally low quality bag of chips and there's no cheese around.

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bigsocrates

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As a vegetarian I would never do this because of the risk of getting meat. I always need a clear description of what's on the nachos or I need to ask if there's meat and if so whether I can order without.

In terms of my base expectations, that would be chips, cheese, some kind of spicyness (often jalapenos) and some kind of diced tomatoes (tomatoes, chunky salsa, pico, whatever.) In terms of my preference...get some shredded lettuce, guac, sour cream, and black beans on there.

As a vegetarian I have seen some funky "vegetarian nachos" including with weird roasted vegetables like bell peppers, corn, or asparagus. No to all of those. NO THANK YOU!

Some Beyond or Impossible fake meat can work okay, but that stuff is kind of bland so I'd rather just have black beans.

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ajamafalous

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I live in Texas, so the most generic nachos that I would expect would be ground beef and queso.

I would personally add at least sour cream, guacamole, and pico de gallo.

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norm9

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Required- Cheese, lots of it. Cilantro, jalapenos, a dollop of sour cream in the middle, and maybe avocado.

Optional- Beef.

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rorie

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I am a cheese purist. What I will NOT tolerate is sour cream. Get that shit off of my nachos.

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deactivated-629ec706f0783

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@rorie: Agreed. I've come around on Guac over the past 5 years or so, but sour cream will forever be a vile, vile foodstuff that I don't want touching my meal.

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ShaggE

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Minimum: Cheese, sour cream, jalapenos.

Bog standard: Cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, beef or chicken, salsa, black olives.

That goodgood: All of the above, guacamole, cilantro, preferably pico instead of salsa but that's optional.

Fantasy "fuck the rules" nachos: All of the above, but replace the chips with a big-ass Tex-Mex burger wrapped in a taco pizza and served on a plate equivalent to the landmass of Idaho. ... Okay, even I'm starting to think that my hunger-based imagination defaults to "wrap a hamburger in a pizza" a bit too often. At this rate, I'm actually going to end up trying it, and even my freakish metabolism couldn't fight that monstrosity.

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Humanity

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Cheap nachos would be nacho cheese and maybe some jalapeños. More fancy nachos would be with some meat, better quality cheese like melted cheddar, beans, jalapeños as well as some sour cream.

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billmcneal

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Meat, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, olives, beans, these are all acceptable

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Ulfhedinn

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I like my nachos with some sour cream and jalapenos, I don't care what anyone says.

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isomeri

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I'd say that default nachos come with a side of pico de gallo and maybe guacamole. If you're putting stuff on the nachos then it should be labeled as nachos grande etc.

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stantongrouse

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I think in parts of the UK there can be some Nachos to really lower the expectations of what you can get. My current worst was a (not cheap) "standard" Nachos bowl in a hotel bar/restaurant which was tepid chips with unmelted cheese that wasn't entirely grated. Really bad. It's gotten better in the larger cities in the last few years but I would say nachos are one of the (many) things we really struggle to get right on this island.

I'd support most of the above suggestions, I'm not too fussy, just want them hot and with cheese that has some interaction with said heat. As a part of the world without a large Central/South American diaspora community to correct us I think we get a bit carried away sometimes with how we localise a bowl of nachos. The standard bowl from our favourite hangover repair pub when I was at college only did nachos with cheese, refried beans and bacon - for ages I thought this was just the norm. Not sure that's too authentic but they were damn tasty. Oh, and when I went back a few years later they had added a "Super Bowl" which inexplicably was the majority of the ingredients of a full English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh breakfast (bacon, sausage, egg, black pudding and beans) with a heart attack's worth of cheese. Again, not sure this would do for the purists but it was definitely acceptable to us.

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AlexW00d

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Likely not authentic at all, but all I would want is tortillas, salsa, cheese and jalapenos. No sour cream or guac for me, although appreciate they're standard. Probs wouldnt ever order nachos anywhere tho, would justy do them at home for 10% of the price

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sparky_buzzsaw

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Basic - spicy cheese, chips, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, shredded chicken or ground beef, jalapenos.

Advanced - all the above, guac, some kind of chipotle/sauce drizzled across the top, options for meat.

As an aside, a local place offers up a killer pulled pork nachos with a spicy BBQ sauce drizzled over the nachos and it is superb.

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Ry_Ry

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My experience is that it's just gonna be chips and melted cheese. I'll consider myself "lucky" if the cheese is already on the chips.

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Shindig

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#20  Edited By Shindig

I'm going to assume cheese is the default.

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asylumrunner

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Melted Cheese is absolutely on those nachos, but just melted cheese is unacceptable, I think the default nacho is at least melted cheese and one "something else". If I'm at a restaurant, and not just, like, a stadium or racetrack, chips and cheese isn't nachos, that's chips and queso.

That something else could be brined jalapeños, sour cream, pico de gallo, ground beef or shredded chicken, and maybe some salsa. Guac is also fairly common but being significantly pricier than the rest of the items (I think) I don't necessarily expect it, although I will always take it if offered.

I have fundamental misgivings about American policing, but I think we need some sort of system of punishment to handle people who put olives on nachos.

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quasiconundrum

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I'm tempted to say it's just smothered in sour cream and guacamole, just to spite all the baby mouths in this thread! (I kid, I kid!)

But my serious answer is melted cheese, ground beef (shredded chicken would be better, but I wouldn't expect it), lettuce, salsa. I wouldn't expect sour cream or guac to come by default, but they should at least be an option.

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Kyary

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If a replacement level restaurant has nachos, it's probably gonna have: some kinda beans (black, probably), some kind of vaguely pico-like salsa, green peppers, too much sour cream, ground beef, and partially melted shredded cheese from a bag. For some reason, it will also have black olives (ugh)

Some places will do "pulled pork nachos" which is the same, but with a bunch of wet pork on top.

In either case it's gonna be a big mountain of stuff and the center will be just chips with no toppings.

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billmcneal

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I prefer the liquid cheese over shredded cheese

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norm9

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Sour cream is my favorite tasteless condiment. Its best use is as a lubricant to help the rough chips go down your gullet.

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Xdeser2

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#26  Edited By Xdeser2

If we're talking bog standard here - ground beef, cheese (obviously), some green pepper, and either sour cream or salsa.

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MonstrousVermin

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If they show up without a mountain of cilantro mixed in, I am never ordering them again. I'm looking for diced tomatoes, lime juice, diced jalapenos (jarred or fresh), spiced meat, and anything else is secondary.

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MonstrousVermin

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@monstrousvermin: Oh. Either sour cream or melted cheese are required for ingredient cohesion.

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petesix0

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Cheese and salsa verde in a ~3:1 ratio. Charred corn has a place, especially if there's a sauce with chipotle or lime on offer.

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MightyDuck

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Hmmm, cheese, jalapeños, and if I'm feeling special, throw on some ground beef.

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monkeyking1969

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Tortilla chips topped with beans, melted cheese(s), sour cream, and guacamole. On the side: Tomatoes (Pico de gallo, Salsa), chopped onions, other veggies. Choice of spicy meat: chicken, pork, or beef.

I think the basics are chips, beans, cheese, vegg, and meat.

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Hunkadunkodon

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My preferred nacho plate is, honestly, chips and cheese. Jalapenos, beef, and sour cream if you wanna get fancy.

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monkeyking1969

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I think what si tripping some people up is tehir view on if nachos is a shared meal or a shared snack.

I few them as a shared MEAL even if it just an appetizer. So, I want beans and meat on it, not just chips cheese and a sprinkle of jalapeños and cilantro. If people said, "Hey, just making a snack...chips, cheese, and Pico de gallo "; I could be okay with that.

But, that is not even a appetizer, that's a tiny snack over beers.

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petesix0

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Hm. To me it was an intermezzo - my soup is gone and the tacos are en route.

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BoccKob

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Whenever you order a modular dish at a restaurant, the waiter should hand you a checklist of options to put in it.

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LavenderGooms

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Melted cheese is all I need.

Ground beef is fine, beans are fine. Jalapenos i'd prefer not but whatever i'll deal.

If it comes with olives and sour cream I will remove them down to the molecular level.