I lived in Austin for five years, and I consider Smoky Hill Salsa from Austin Spice Company to be the best I've tasted, and I've tasted a lot :). I still stock my cupboards through their online store (live in Seattle now, salmon / hazelnut salsa just doesn't cut it).

Smoky Hill Salsa, and Smoky Hill Salsa Verde (I'm not a big fan of the Chile Ancho or Green Chile varieties):

Maybe it's just me, but I think using fresh salsa as opposed to a jar of salsa makes a much larger difference than using fresh beans. I guess ideally I would use fresh beans and fresh salsa :)

Also, I highly recommend adding some/all of the following when making nachos:
* sliced black olives
* diced yellow pepper
* fresh cut jalepenos
* habenero peppers (if you like them spicy)
* lettuce
* fresh diced tomato (depending on how chunky your salsa is)

Nachos are also great if you add some meat, such as slices of chicken breast or steak. Or left over taco meat always makes great nachos!

Salsa from a can??? No way, salsa is just too easy to make.

Besides, a healthy dollop of home made mango-chipotle salsa is just the thing to take your nachos to the next level.

Hi Jay - thanks for the recommendation, it looks good!

Hi Jeff - great suggestions, thank you, though I must disagree with you regarding the beans/salsa discussion (read on...).

Hi Pate - Salsas come in all kinds - fresh tomato salsa, cooked tomato salsa, tomatillo salsa, mango salsa, etc. The fresh tomato salsa we make fresh during the summer when we have access to delicious fresh tomatoes and chiles. The rest of the year we don't have access to decent fresh tomatoes or chiles, so we use salsa made from canned cooked tomatoes and canned cooked chiles. (You can also cook the tomatoes and the chiles from scratch, but have the same problem in the winter time in terms of access to good fresh tomatoes and chiles.) You can either make salsa from scratch using canned cooked tomatoes or you can buy salsa that has already been prepared and canned in a jar using cooked ingredients. Quite frankly, I don't find much a a difference between making salsa from scratch using canned tomatoes and canned cooked chiles and some of the excellent prepared salsas that you can get these days. In fact, I like the brand I linked to in this recipe, Green Mountain, just as much as what I made from scratch almost every day growing up (my job in our family was chief salsa maker). That said, like I mentioned, one can use any salsa with nachos. I just prefer the cooked tomato type with this particular dish.

I currently live in NorthWest NC, in the town that Andy Griffith based Mayberry. We have a large Mexican population and one very good Mexican restaurant. Here, I've had the best Nachos I have ever had in my life and I've had them in the California, Arizona and Texas.

It's definitely not 'classic' Tex Mex Nachos (purists beware) but I have to share my favorite:

It is their shrimp nachos... They use a really creamy blend of Mexican cheeses -it's almost milky in color but a really strong flavor! Fresh shrimp swiming in spicy cheese on a mountain of hot homemade tortilla chips... with grilled veggies, jalepenos, a huge side of guacamole and a gollup of something they call rancheros salsa. soo yummy!

So, if they sell Mexican cheese in your area, look for the kind that says "melting" cheese on the package -the texture and flavor is nice and yummy!

Ironically, now in Mexico nachos always come with processed cheese sauce, and we think nachos with melted cheese is soo "american" and un-authentic haha. We're a weird bunch I know. Personally, I like the sauce (I guess I'm used to it), and I've found the Que Bueno brand to be quite good. I imagine this is to the horror of nacho purists...
FORGIVE ME =)
Love the site!

Thank you for posting this recipe. We are true mexican spicy food fans here in our family.
Amazingly, I've never made my own refried beans. I will definitely try nachos this way...because you make everything sound so delicious! :)

Hi Elise,
My favorite widely distributed salsa is Mrs. Renfroe's. You can get them at Shaw's or Kroger. If you like spicy hot, I highly recommend the habanero salsa. The salsa verde is also quite good.

I will have to try Mrs. Renfroe's salsa, I tried their diced jalapenos and I thought they tasted too grassy. Maybe I just got a weird batch?

I actually make my nachos the way you do (although I do use canned beans, I make salsa every year and freeze it). However, I truly do not like thick tortilla chips (the thinner and lighter the better, but I compromise for nachos since really light ones won't stand up to the weight of the rest of the ingredients), so I buy thinner chips and spread the beans on by hand with a knife. Takes a little while, but it's worth the time for me.

Elise~ Thanks so much - or should I say, Muchas gracias! - for the shout-out [link]. Nachos are a fave in our house, especially with organic blue corn chips.

When I make nachos, I buy Taco shells and split them in half. I like them because they're bigger and thick enough to hold a lot of toppings. I've also found that canned pinto beans (Sun Vista with Jalapenos is my favorite) drained a bit (leave some juice in) and spun in the food processor makes for a much more flavorful and better textured bean than canned refried beans. Try it sometime!

Hi,
My wife and I love nachos.....but the corn chips were so loaded with fats, when we decided to go on "the regime" to lose 15+ kilos it seemed things like this would need to go... but.... we decided to try Lebanese Bread instead..I guess you could use any unleavened flatbread for this, just crisp in the oven then pile on whatever you like. We have trouble getting most of the tex-mex options down here in a small town 300km sth of Sydney Aust., but enthusiasm makes up for much in this life !!
We're having them tonight (again) actually, it's a Friday night ritual !

For salsa, fresh tomato, red onion, chili, maybe a little bell pepper, garlic, lime juice, loads of coriander (cilantro) olive oil and a touch of sea salt...chop, mix, enjoy on the side or on top !! This way, it is a salad, the cooked varieties are fine in their place, this adds a fresh clean aspect.