Have you had the pleasure of partaking in a Nacho Bar party?
Grant wanted a Nacho Bar for his recent birthday party. I added baked potatoes to the mix and Paige made homemade hot pretzels as well. It worked great because it wasn’t a ton of extra effort and these foods (baked potatoes and nacho chips and hot pretzels) have a lot of cross over ingredients for their dipping and topping choices with the Nacho Cheese being the star. It was so fun to put together and all the middle-school kids seemed to love choosing how they wanted to build their meals.It all just worked.
For our build your own nacho/potato bar we included:
Hot Pretzels
Baked Potatoes
Tortilla Chips
Nacho Cheese (see notes below for recipe ideas)
-one mild version from the can put in a crockpot
-one spicier, semi-homemade version on the stove
Taco Meat
Tomatoes
Red Onion
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheese
Jalapeños (from the jar)
Salsa
Butter & Seasoning Salt (Lowry’s)
A few notes:
Nacho Cheese RECIPE: I learned a recipe from a family friend, Jojo Meyers, for homemade nacho cheese years ago. Basically take all the ingredients and put in the slow cooker and give it an hour or two to get warm- then mix and keep it warm. Yum! I’ve tweaked her recipes and played with it a little since then. I like a ratio of one part cream cheese to two parts shredded cheese (such as cheddar or mexican cheese mix) to one part meat (either a can of no-bean chili or 1 lb. of sausage). I’m not big on measuring- so I just toss things in. I often add some fake nacho cheese from a jar. Sometimes I even add salsa, a can of tomatoes & green chili’s like Rotel, canned green chilies and/or jalapeños right into the mix- depending what I have on hand or feel like that day. If you are nervous about how to make nacho cheese just grab a big can of the pre-made stuff at Costco or a party supply store- if you pop it into a slow cooker it will turn out great every time.
Also, my friend Lacey Meyers recently used a slow cooker plastic liner when she made her nacho cheese and it was brilliant. I will use these from now on- they help tremendously with the mess.
CHIPS & NACHO BOAT containers: Also, it helped to pre-portion the chips (I told them they could all come back for seconds) into little nacho boat containers! I only had a small freak out about having enough chips! 😕 We had plenty- but I am always nervous about portions. Ha ha. Hope you enjoy! Anything different you would add or take away?
Make it a FOOD BAR/BUFFET: I love making a big spread of food like this and laying it all out on our kitchen island and stove top. This way everyone can help themselves and come back for more as needed. Before I had an island in other houses I would spread it all out on a table or some kind of buffet/side-board furniture piece. Who doesn’t love a good food buffet? Fun was had by ALL!
