This is a sheet pan dinner, a people pleaser, a lazy couch meal, and a game-day masterpiece! Small storage potatoes are the star, but a lot of the toppings could be veggies preserved over the summer—canned salsa, frozen corn, dried beans, pickled jalapenos, and more (I’ll share a full list of ideas below.)

The key to this dish is slicing the potatoes into ¼-⅓ inch rounds rather than cubes or chunks. This makes them semi-chip-like and a great platform for all of your toppings. Managing some picky eaters? Potato nachos are fully customizable, and you can even split the pan into quadrants to allow four people to put toppings on their own sections. 

When topping your roasted potato rounds, your toppings will go in one of two categories: baked on, or added after baking. Here are some of my favorite toppings split into those two categories: 

***Note, I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years, so I am not the best person to recommend ground beef, bacon bits, or pulled chicken – I definitely don’t remember what those things taste like. You do you! 

Baked on toppings for potato nachos: 

• Beans (I like to smash them up a little bit so they don’t roll off the potato rounds) 
• Cheese (The meltier, the better. Pepperjack, Monterey jack, cheddar, and asadero are all great options.) 
• Roasted or sauteed vegetables like sliced onions and peppers. 
• Fresh vegetables like baby spinach, sliced jalapenos, chopped tomato, sliced green onion, corn kernels. 

Toppings added to potato nachos after baking:

• Avocado (cubes, pureed, or in guacamole.) 
• Cilantro 
• Salsa or hot sauce 
• Pickles and relishes like pickled peppers, corn relish, and red pepper relish. 
• Olives
• Cabbage slaw
• Thinly sliced radish
• Sour cream or crema
• Lime juice 

How to make roasted potato nachos:

1. Slice and roast potatoes: Preheat your oven to 400°F. Slice 2-3 pounds of small creamy or waxy potatoes (not russets) into ¼-⅓ inch rounds and coat generously with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Spread the potatoes over two sheet pans and roast for 25-30 minutes until tender and starting to brown. Remove from the oven and consolidate all the potatoes on one pan (they will have shrunk significantly), covering as much of the pan as possible. 
2. Add baked on toppings: Sprinkle any toppings from the “baked-on” topping list over the potatoes and put them back in the oven for 10-15 minutes until any cheese is melted and everything is warmed through. 
3. Finish with additional toppings: When the sheet pan comes out of the oven, immediately sprinkle over any toppings from the “add after baking” list. Enjoy as soon as possible with additional dips like salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or hot sauce on the side.

Taylor Tinkham is an editorial illustrator, Hennepin County master gardener volunteer and food preservation consultant living in south Minneapolis.

@ttink.art
@ttinkham

Photo credit: Taylor Tinkham.