This recipe is from Jill Yapo, our Director of Operations, and frequent Yapo’s Home Catering Iron Chef Night Champion!
Last night you made some juicy cheeseburgers! If you are like me, I use the entire pound of ground meat, so I usually have one or two burgers leftover. So today…what to do with those leftover burgers?? I guess you could just have burgers again, but why not get creative and reimagine those leftovers!? How about Cheeseburger Nachos!!
What ingredients do you have to work with? Burgers of course, but also the toppings – cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, etc., so why not grab some of your favorite tortilla chips and top them with that leftover burger chopped up into bite-sized chunks? I like to add more cheese. If I’m in a hurry, I pop that all in the microwave for about a minute. If I’m not in a hurry, I prefer to put the chips, burger, and cheese on a baking sheet and heat them in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes (or until the cheese is melty and the burger is warmed through).
While the burger, chips, and cheese are in the oven, let’s focus on those leftover toppings. Shred the lettuce, dice the onion, and chop the tomatoes and pickles. Once the burger, chips and cheese are heated up, top them with all of your favorite burger toppings. Other suggestions you could add would be bacon or avocado if that’s what you had on your burger the night before. You can even make your own special sauce with the burger condiments. Take a tablespoon of mayo, 2 teaspoons of ketchup, 1 teaspoon of mustard and 2 teaspoons of relish or chopped pickles and stir them together. Or, you can make things easier and just drizzle on some store-bought thousand island dressing (that’s what I did).
So, let’s say you don’t have tortilla chips in the house. I’ve been seeing “bowls” on a lot of take-out menus lately. How about substituting the tortilla chips with rice (cauliflower rice for low carb) or your favorite grain like quinoa or farro? You can even make your own baked low carb chips from low carb tortillas (recipe idea here). If the extra carbs aren’t speaking to you…how about bulking up the lettuce, add some more veggies and voila! Leftover cheeseburger salad!! You could even cut up the burger buns, drizzle them with a little olive oil and bake them in a 350-degree oven for 6-8 minutes and make croutons for that salad. There are no rules! Be creative, have fun, and enjoy!
If you want to make this recipe and go straight for the nachos, here’s an ingredient list that will make nachos for two:
Ingredients:
- 16 tortilla chips
- 1/2 lb. ground beef or turkey, sautéed til no longer pink
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or cheese of choice)
- 1.5 cups chopped lettuce (romaine, iceberg, spinach, or your fave)
- 1/2 medium tomato, chopped
- 2 small pickles, chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 2-3 slices cooked bacon (optional but encouraged)
- 1/2 cup chopped avocado (optional)
- drizzle of thousand island dressing
Build and enjoy!
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