Healthy Sweet Potato Nachos

If you love nachos you won’t miss out with these easy & healthy sweet potato nachos that you can make 2 different ways. One way is a pile of homemade sweet potato chips topped with all your favorite nacho toppings. And the other is as individual chips topped with nacho ingredients for easy handling. Both ways make for a healthy and delicious paleo snack or appetizer for football season.

You might also like these low carb chicken nachos recipe!

Way back when I used to follow a Paleo lifestyle which was very healthy but over the years I’ve migrated to a more lower carb way of eating. This is an old post that I just rediscovered and made again and boy was it good! These Paleo sweet potato nachos were a nice change from salty tortilla chips with traditional nachos. And they make a healthy snack or even dinner for us.

Normally I’m not a huge sweet potato fan however I do like them as potato chips and they are easy to make at home. They really work to hold all those yummy nacho toppings like the taco meat, avocados and fresh veggies to create healthy comfort food.

I also made some thicker chips in the microwave and used them as individual nachos which would be great as a healthy appetizer or balanced meal. But they don’t have the crunch of the chips which was my preferred way to eat this dish.

Recipe ingredients and substitutions.

The simple ingredients I used for this recipe were sweet potatoes, salsa, ground beef, olive oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, oregano, salt and black pepper.

Ground Beef
I used 85% lean ground beef but you can use any kind of ground meat you want. For a leaner meat you can try ground turkey or ground chicken. With all the spices and the additional of salsa it will add a lot of flavor to the taco meat.

Sweet Potatoes
This is the base of the nacho and a good substitute for tortilla chips. I used fresh sweet potatoes and made my own chips but you could also buy sweet potato chips as a short cut.

Salsa
Today making these I used my husbands homemade salsa recipe but you can use any kind of jarred salsa you want. I normally would use a medium, chunky salsa I buy at Aldi.

Seasonings for Taco Meat
I used basic spices you probably have in your pantry. If you want you can use your own taco mix or even use the packet though they usually have additives and other less healthy ingredients. It’s up to you.

Nacho Toppings
I used my favorite nacho toppings which were diced tomatoes, avocados and green onions.

Strict Paleo followers do not eat dairy usually but some people do. If so you can choose to add some cheese or sour cream. Other wise you can use guacamole, salsa, chopped green onions, chopped tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, black olives, fresh or pickled jalapeños, fresh cilantro and/or chopped avocado. Lots of choices here!

Also black beans are not part of a Paleo lifestyle but are often found on nachos. If you want to use black beans or any beans I suggest you heat them up in the microwave or you can add them to the ground meat when adding the salsa.

If you wanted to use refried beans I would use them mostly on the individual potato rounds.

How to make healthy sweet potato nachos.

As I mentioned above there are two ways you can eat these. This is how you make the homemade potato chips in the oven and the rest of the nacho recipe.

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400°F. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set aside.

Step 2: Slice the sweet potato into very thin slices. I use a mandoline because it makes uniform thin slices that I can’t do well by hand. But if you can do this by hand go for it. Lay them out in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.

Step 3: Brush the olive oil onto each slice and season with salt and black pepper. Then turn them over and do the other side as well. Make sure not to overlap the slices. You may have to use 2 baking trays.

Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until they are browned on the edges and crispy. You can flip them over half way through. Make sure to watch that they don’t burn!

Note you could also bake them at 250°F oven for 2 hours flipping half way. It all depends on your oven and how crispy you like them.

Also if you want to make these in the air fryer, brush oil and season chips then spread in a single layer in the air fryer basket. Bake at 350°F for about 6-9 minutes checking that they don’t burn. The downfall to making these in the air fryer is that you can’t make many chips at one time. You would have to make batches.

Step 4: Meanwhile get out a large skillet and heat to medium heat. Add the ground beef and start to brown. Mix the spices together in a small bowl then sprinkle over the ground meat. Mix well and when the meat is almost completely browned add the salsa. Cook for 1-2 minutes more and take off the heat.

Step 5: When the chips are done, place them on a big plate or a platter then top with the taco meat mixture. From there you can put on your favorite toppings. Below is how I like to eat mine.

I used minimal ingredients – just chopped avocado, tomatoes and green onions. I didn’t want to use cheese because because I wanted to keep these lighter. Also originally cheese was not used much in Paleo recipes. But if you are not concerned with that go ahead add a good cheddar cheese, Mexican cheese blend or your cheese of choice.

And that is all there is to it. Sometimes I have extra taco meat and I save it to make taco salads or sometimes I make taco soup with it.

Store leftovers in an airtight container. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe cared.

To make individual taco topped sweet potato nachos.

1. Make your taco meat as you do above by browning the meat with the spices and then the salsa until cooked through.
2. Cut the sweet potato into ⅛-1/4 inch rounds or thick slices and place on a microwave safe dish or parchment paper. Cook for 2 minutes in the microwave until they are soft but sturdy.
3. Assemble the individual nachos: When the sweet potato rounds are done, arrange on a plate and top with ground meat mixture and toppings of your choice. I used a bit of avocado, tomato and green onion.

So this is the end of the tale of two nachos. One a big pile of goodies, the other a more edible bite of nacho yumminess. You pick the one that better suits you. They both have the taco meat in common and all the toppings, it’s just the base that’s different.

An easy and quicker way using store bought products.

You can make these much quicker in a few ways. I’m not saying this is the healthiest option, but sometimes you just don’t have the time to make everything from scratch yet you still want to stick to your particular way of eating (Paleo in this case).

You can use store bought products to cut some time on this recipe. Try to buy the best quality of products you can. Trader Joe’s and Aldi’s have some decent packaged products you can use, such as taco seasoning, salsas, guacamoles and chips. So if if you are in a hurry, this is how you can make these Paleo nachos quickly:

1. Brown the meat and use a packaged taco mix. Trader Joes makes a nice one.
2. Add prepared salsa to the meat. (Most jar salsa is pretty healthy)
3. Buy sweet potato chips and scatter on a plate.
4. Top the chips with the prepared taco meat.
5. Add your toppings: prepared guacamole, chopped green onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped avocados, black olives, pickled jalapeños. Try some shredded cheese or sour cream if you do dairy.

All you have to do is brown the meat and assemble the nachos with this quick version. As I mentioned above I like to make extra meat to use in taco salads and even taco soup.

I really enjoyed these healthy sweet potato nachos and I’m glad I rediscovered them. I personally prefer them in a big pile like traditional nachos as compared to the individual pieces. I like to pick at them especially on game day. They are also great for a fun weeknight dinner.

But the microwave option might be better if you are serving this as an appetizer for a party. I hope you like these as much as we did.