Nachos w/ Red Lentils, Cauliflower, Carrots, & Tahini
These Lentils Nachos consist of cauliflower, carrots, yellow onion, ginger, tahini, honey, cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, allspice, cloves, and red lentils with white cheddar cheese, Greek yogurt, and hot sauce. Although you can easily mix and match your own leftovers or favorite nacho flavor profiles. I tend to turn everything lying around in my pantry and refrigerator into nachos and burritos. They're a great way to utilize anything and everything that you have on hand. It's the quintessential disparate ingredient recipe for a surprisingly cohesive dish.
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Oven
Ingredients
Instant Pot Dutch Oven Lentils
- 1 cauliflower chopped
- 3 carrots sliced
- 1/2 yellow onion diced
- 1 tbsp. ginger minced
- 3 tbsp. tahini
- 2 tbsp. honey
- 1½ c. red lentils
- dash cumin
- dash coriander
- dash smoked paprika
- dash allspice
- dash cloves
- dash salt
- dash pepper
Nachos
- 1/2 c. Instant Pot Dutch Oven lentils
- ~2 handfuls tortilla chips
- 1/2 c. white cheddar cheese
- dollop Greek yogurt (optional, or sour cream)
- dollop hot sauce (optional)
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients
- I used leftover Instant Pot Dutch Oven Lentils w/ Cauliflower & Tahini for this recipe. It takes about 4 hours to cook. I used an Instant Pot Dutch Oven; although you can also use a regular Dutch oven, crock pot, or a large rice cooker, in a pinch.
Cook Nachos
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Meanwhile, lay out tortilla chips across a baking sheet.Cover until you can't see the baking sheet any longer. They should be touching, but not overlapping too much. You really just want to be able to add toppings to every chip without it getting too much on the baking sheet!Exactly how much chips you use is largely a matter of personal preference as well. I've never sat there carefully measuring chips! Roughly two handfuls usually equates to about a serving. I tend to cook far more than I actually need, though. So, as always, adjust to personal preference!
- Spread toppings evenly across the tortilla chips.This acts largely like refried beans would in a typical nacho recipe. You can either spread across each of the chips or just drop little dollops across the chips.
- Sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese melts and the chips begin to toast.
Serve
- Once the nachos are done cooking, remove from the oven and top with Greek yogurt or sour cream and hot sauce of choice.
- Serve immediately. Once the nachos begin to cool down, the tortilla chips will absorb too much moisture and soften. Once this happens, there isn't a lot that you can do to crisp them up again!
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- For a more in-depth article on nachos, check out my article on The Fundamentals of Making Nachos. I make suggestions on settling the microwave vs. oven debate and give suggestions on serving size, topping order, and potential reheating tips and tricks.