What’s the most exciting thing to happen during the month of March? Well, minus all the hype around college basketball. St. Patrick’s Day of course. I grew up in an Iowa small town founded by the Irish, so it’s a pretty big deal back home. A week full of activities and community events leading up to a weekend-long street party. Around March 1st, people start chattering about the exciting holiday and since festivities are this weekend, I’ve got a recipe to help celebrate. When I think of the Irish, I think of potatoes. When I think of St. Patrick’s Day, I think of pubs. So, what do you get when you combine the two? Irish Nachos – aka, Idaho nachos, or simply sliced potatoes smothered in toppings.
Most potato nacho appetizers have fries or something fried as the base, but in my homemade recipe, I opted for baked. Healthier (not that we’re concerned about that with nachos) and simpler. These Irish Nachos are seriously simple. The hardest part – slicing. I have a mandoline slicer which makes the process easier, but you can also slice with a good knife by hand. Just be careful either way! My finger may have grazed the mandoline while slicing and let’s just say, I’ll be a heck of a lot more cautious next time.
Back to the food…
…my personal pet peeve when it comes to nachos is the bare chips (or fries) on the bottom. So when I started this recipe, I decided to add toppings in layers. And besides pretty much always wishing for more cheese, it worked like a charm. Cheese, two meats, sour cream & green onion make T and I pretty happy in the toppings department, but it’s easily modified. This was an experimental recipe for me, but they turned out pretty great. The full recipe is below & in my typical cooking style, measurements and ingredients can absolutely be switched up to your liking.
Irish Nachos
Ingredients
- 4 medium russett potatoes
- 1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 pkg bacon bits
- 1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- garlic salt
- green onion
- sour cream
Instructions
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Slice potatoes thin - mandoline slicer works best, but you can also do it by hand
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Drizzled slices with olive oil to coat & sprinkle on salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Be generous, depending on thickness of slices
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Place slices on cooking sheet & bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until slices are cooked through. Flip them halfway through baking.
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Once potatoes are done, transfer to smaller baking dish, layering potatoes, chicken, cheese and bacon bits. Repeat until potatoes are gone.
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Place dish back in the oven for 5-7 min, or until cheese is melted.
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Top with sour cream & green onions (and any other topping choice) and serve!
xoxo. a
