How Babish Makes His Perfect Nachos: Every Choice, Every Step | Epicurious

When you make nachos, you have to make a lot of decisions. Chips, cheese, proteins, condiments—each element needs to work in harmony and find its natural place on the plate. Today on Epicurious Andrew Rea (AKA Babish) shouts out every decision he makes, step by step, when crafting his perfect tray of nachos.

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Director: Dan Siegel
On-Set Director: Cory Cavin
Producer: Jen Osaki
Director of Photography: Kevin Dynia
Editor: Kris Knight
Talent: Andrew Rea
Sr. Culinary Director: Kelly Janke
Culinary Producer: Jeannie Chen
Culinary Associate Producer: Andrea Steinberg
Associate Producer: Oadhan Lynch
Line Producer: Jen McGinity
Production Manager: Janine Dispensa
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Camera Operator: Lucas Young
Audio: Rebecca O’Neil
Production Assistant: Justine Ramirez
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araújo
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell

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when you make nachos you have to make a lot of decisions you have to decide on chips cheese proteins toppings condiments and where all this is going to go in your dish some ingredients can make every bite of your dish a little more perfect While others can leave you with a damp and Soggy mess I’m Andrew Ray AKA babish and today we’re going to see every decision I make to make the perfect tray of nachos the beauty of nachos is that there’s no definitive right or wrong way it’s entirely up to you these are going to be my choices but they will not be arbitrary it’s best to do it with intention and logic so let’s move with intention and start by choosing chips you might be surprised to learn that chips play a vital role in nachos in searching for the perfect nacho chip you want something that is structurally sound not very absorbent and isn’t too loud on its own doesn’t bring in its own flavor to the party I’m looking for a strong ship that has a distinct corn flavor these are corn chips which tastes like corn it’s corn chips nachos corn right away I’m going to say no on the Doritos we’re not making Tick Tock content here too much flavor too much going on I don’t need the chip to be stealing the show so Doritos get out of here these sort of multi-grain joints here these guys you know they’re okay no they don’t have very good rigidity they’re very fragile and they taste like multi-rain bread in making nachos what I’m looking for is something that is distinctly unhealthy and this is at least trying to be healthy so it doesn’t have a place on my nacho tray these are so chill chips it says how to pronounce it right there which is fun these I think are frankly the worst chips on the market they have no structural rigidity let me show you something this is salsa this is the so chilled chip Watch What Happens thank you I can do this all day there’s nothing that it’s going to be able to stand up to in a Nacho scenario please Tostitos Scoops kind of an odd choice because the whole point of this is for dipping nachos are like chips that have been dipped for you it would work in a Nacho situation but I’d be a little confused Tostitos original this is a handsome option but kind of a boring tasting chip I wouldn’t eat Tostitos by themselves they definitely work in a Nacho situation they’re not my ideal pick Tostitos lightly salted is the same thing but with less salt and salt tastes good so there’s less of it so there’s less tastes good so I yeah no it’s probably not the move these are Ola Nola chips I don’t know anything about them I do know that they taste good I love the original so much these guys are Hardy they have very good strength to them they’re oily they’re flavorful they’re everything I’m looking for in a nacho chip if you can’t find these really all you’re looking for is thick oily flavorful a little bit too big to fit in your mouth these are the things going to make up the perfect foundation for the house of nachos that you will then proceed to build these are the chips that I’m choosing for my nachos now let’s take a look at cheese cheese is not only a huge visual element of nachos it’s a textural element you want a really soft young cheese that’s gonna melt beautifully blanket your nachos and stretch pornographically every time you pull a chip to age to cheese too old the cheese it’s going to break it’s going to become oily and might even become gritty if it’s overheated in the oven it’s very easy to make a mistake when choosing cheese for your nachos and the first and most pronounced one you can make is this pre-shredded cheese so these guys are coated in anti-caking agents potato starch or cornstarch or some kind of starch you can see that they’re Dusty and that is to prevent them from sticking together in the bag you don’t want to buy a bag of shredded cheese and it turn into a lump at the bottom this has the unfortunate disadvantage of ruining both the look and the texture of the cheese on your notches we have here some cheese that we shredded ourselves versus cheese that was pre-shredded we threw it in the oven and look what happened a lot of the shreds have kept their shape it’s not a good look on nachos that and I’m going to press a paper towel onto each of these cheeses you can see the amount of oil that has leached out of the pre-shredded cheese worst cheese experience for a nacho style environment what what prankster put gruyere on this table it’s insane not only because it has really really strong funky aged flavor but also because just that it’s aged so for the actual cheese that’s going on my nachos I’m going with these three guys first up Oaxaca the closest thing that you’re going to get to mozzarella on the table here it’s extremely stretchy it’s an excellent melter very inoffensive in flavor but it’s going to bring a lot of great texture a lot of great stringy porny meltiness next up we’ve got Pepper Jack this is probably my favorite cheese on the planet I could snack I could eat this whole bar making eye contact with you the entire time not blinking not breathing I could do it fantastic melter it’s a young cheese it’s one of the best melting cheeses on the market last but not least we have queso de Papa this is a longhorn style cheddar I guess Longhorn only refers to its Mezzaluna shape all it really is is a very mild young cheddar mild and young like me not really beers turning gray not So Much Anymore spicy old that’s me this is the opposite mild young better analogy we also have mild cheddar cheese here this is effectively the same thing it would work just as effectively you’d never know the difference so these are the cheeses that I’m picking I’m grating them myself so I have control over the shred size and what kinds of cheeses are going in there if you do larger shreds they’re gonna maintain their separateness so that you can evenly coat your nachos with shreds this is so much better than the pre-shredded cheese by weight it’s more expensive and you’re getting worser products so grate your own cheese for God’s sake so now I’m doing the pepper jack and the addition of little bits of chili and red pepper in there brings just enough heat where it’s not going to numb out your in-laws who can’t handle spicy food I never know what to do with cheese toward the end just like do I grate my fingers do I go all the way there we go last up the Oaxaca and this is going to be a little bit harder to shred what you can do is throw this guy in the freezer for about 15 minutes to make it easier to grate it’s like trying to grate a snake that’s enough I’m just adding this for stretch factors not so much for flavor so these are the cheeses that are going on my nachos get the rest of the stuff out of here so now let’s talk protein [Applause] protein is a great way to add flavor and texture and protein to your nachos and it really is what takes it more from a snack to a full meal don’t necessarily need it but if you’re going to call them Deluxe nachos on the menu it better have protein on it because I’m not paying extra let’s talk pork pork is an excellent option for nachos but it’s pretty labor intensive because you can’t just chop this up and throw it on your nachos this is a slow and low cut ideally you want to make like Carnitas out of this maybe if you made a little bit too much Carnitas for taco night last night it’s an excellent use for it next up we have chorizo this is my personal favorite a little bit spicy is a ton of flavor very easy to prepare for the nachos you just have to fry it up we have chicken breast which is a wholly inappropriate option for nachos chicken breast is extremely lean it dries out super quickly has little to no flavor of its own I want something that’s really bringing a personality to the party so I’m not going to go chicken breast we have shrimp which I am first off not a shrimp and cheese kind of person not my bag that and shrimp when overcooked becomes stringy and chewy and bouncy and gross and you have to cook it first you can’t just throw raw shrimp on your nachos you’re out of your mind and then you have to throw the whole thing in the oven so you’re going to overcook your shrimp it doesn’t make sense to me I’m not a big fan I’m going chorizo because it’s quick it’s easy and it’s going to bring a whole lot of flavor to the party let’s make some chorizo you want to get raw chorizo appetizing now I’m going straight into a cold pan because this stuff is so greasy and fatty it’s you don’t need to oil the pan you can of course break things up with a wooden spoon like this but this is a bit more efficient way to effectively turn this into ground meat there we go all right this stuff is fully cooked broken up and draining on paper towels it’s nacho ready let’s get the rest of this stuff out of here now let’s talk about vegetables [Music] so like most nacho elements we’re looking for flavor and texture here I am a fan of virtually everything on the stable except for this stuff I am one of those people who is genetically averse to Cilantro that being said I recognize how most people think cilantro tastes delicious and how it is an essential part of garnish in nacho Cuisine so we are including it in spite of my genetic deficiency onion Red Onion in particular I think is an excellent addition to nachos it looks great tastes great adds a little crunch fresh jalapenos are awesome for heat and for color and for jalapeno-ness but I prefer pickle jalapenos because these guys bring a little bit of that Briny sour bite to them so it brings a flavor entirely different from anything else on this table a lot of people love putting olives on their nachos that eludes me personally but I think we’re gonna treat our nachos not unlike a pizza one half with olives the other half with jalapenos or something like that so people get a little bit of choice in the matter they get a say raw bell peppers a little bit we want to cry some wet so I’m not going to do raw bell pepper personally another nacho topping that you’ll see pretty often is radishes very nice earthy flavor maybe we’ll do half with radishes on it who knows it’s our pizza I mean nachos so red onion you don’t need much of it not super fine dice I want to know that I’m eating an onion I don’t want it to be ambiguous radishes just going to want to slice Into Thin little rounds I don’t have very professional knife skills you could use a mandolin if you really don’t value the tips of your fingers drain pickled jalapenes you don’t want to add SOG to your chips so I’m making sure that I’m getting as much liquid out of here as possible I might even Pat them dry on paper towels if I really want to be fast hideous I think these guys are going to bring a good mix of crunch flavor personality to my nachos this is what I’m going with next up condiments these are things that would go on a bite not on the nachos themselves certainly not in the oven I don’t think any of these things you would want to get hot one of the more essential condiments with nachos I think is guacamole you’re definitely going to want to make your own guacamole because avocado almost immediately oxidizes when you cut into it even the slimquote fresh stuff in the fridge section has absorbic acid to make sure that it doesn’t turn brown it uses lime juice concentrate fresh lime juice it is so much better than bottled lime juice if you don’t believe me squeeze a fresh lime into your mouth and maybe don’t do that but just just trust me and it’s not hard to make your own guacamole it takes five minutes you want to make sure that you’ve got nice ripe avocados when you press your finger into the outside it should yield a little bit if you’re really desperate and you need ripe avocados right now you can actually put them in a low oven like a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven for like 20 minutes that does make their flesh soft I want to add Red Onion bring flavor color and crunch I’m going garlic Crusher the more you break down garlic the more garlic flavor you’re going to get out of it so this is a way to really bust up your garlic need lime juice for flavor and also the acid helps preserve the color of the guac half teaspoon of cumin in there and a pinch of salt freshly ground pepper and mash them up with a fork until you reach your desired consistency some people like a chunkier guac some people like it to be smooth this 90s Jazz a little bit of fresh jalapeno for spice and of course some of the devil’s lettuce and yeah see that still has a little bit of avocado texture in it still got some chunks in there you know which one would you rather have I’ll wait next thing we got to do is a fresh salsa or pico de gallo once again going to be worlds better than anything you get at the store I have some nice ripe tomatoes on the vine I’m going for a pretty chunky Pico going with white onion because it is mellower than the red onions obviously you want a lower ratio of onion to the Tomato uh you could chop the garlic but I’m just going to press it again it’s almost the same thing as guacamole but with tomatoes instead of avocados think about that let’s go one lime in the sky a little bit of salt a pepper last thing I’m going to add is a little bit of heat and this time in the form of hot sauce it’s not spicy it just adds a little personality it’s a very quick simple and easy pico de gallo pretty as you please fresh as a daisy all right so something else we’re taking a look at is Crema a cultured sour cream that is a little thinner so it’s drizzleable and it’s Tangier out of the jar is fantastic but it’s not very easy for everybody to find so to make a rough at-home approximation we can just take regular old sour cream plop and both thin it and tangifier with lime juice we just want to get this to the consistency where it is like pourable like drizzleable man all these lemons makes me want a margarita and that there we go see that’s about as close as you can get to real Crema without using real Crema at least I don’t like beans I’m not a beans guy when I make chili I make chili con carne without beans that being said most people do like beans on their nachos I don’t see the value to putting them directly on the nachos they’re not very flavorful they’re bringing some protein some Fiber to the mix but they’re not like really tasty so why not go all the way and use refried beans these guys have been cooked and then re-cooked in pork fat so go refried beans if you ask me all right so I have my various condiments I think that’s all I need here let’s get this stuff out of here well dear viewer do you know what time it is it’s nacho time I’m gonna build my nachos on a sheet tray you want to maximize surface area and minimize depth they’re This Tall they’re not going to get heated through all the way and if they do the outside is going to get burnt and the more surface area the better that means more chips are going to get more stuff on them I do my nachos in two layers first a Bedrock of chips hit only with cheese nothing else I’m gonna combine all the cheeses in a bowl so that they are evenly distributed together not too heavy a layer on this first layer if you overload the cheese you’re going to get soggy chips we also want to make sure that we have enough cheese for the top layer our picture perfect chips on top of that this is perhaps being a little too precious we’re recording this if you’re doing this in your house just dump it on there even though it’s just chips and cheese this already looks festive just wait till we get all the stuff on it I like to do cheese then toppings both because it looks better and because it insulates our chips from getting too soggy and make sure that as few chips as possible lay naked on your sheet tray don’t want that it’s a family show no naked chips the only toppings we’re putting on the nachos right now are ones that we want heated up I’m gonna start with the chorizo nice and toasty and this might be the most flavorful sausage known to man that looks pretty good some of my vegetables get a little bit heat so I’ll throw some red onion down this isn’t in the oven for an appreciable amount of time to really cook anything but like onions like heat we’re going to do half with jalapenos and I appear to be shingling them in a pattern I didn’t mean to when I started but now here we are and then the other half we’ll do olives look at all the flavors textures and colors we’ve layered like nobody could look you in the eye and tell you that these aren’t fully loaded nachos if they did you would legally be in the rights to place them under citizens arrest the rest of this stuff we don’t want to put it in the oven so we’ve got our nachos built let’s get these in the oven give me one minute foreign these guys just got out of the oven now it’s time to garnish add some radishes to the olive side of the situation they’re gonna add a little bit of crunch a little bit of earthy goodness a drizzle on some Crema just Devil May care style don’t want to make soggy chips just once bring a little bit of this Tangy stuff to the party I’m gonna pile of these various dips in the corners so that way they’re not intruding they’re not getting overheated they’re just ready to go some Pico which I’m going to do my best to drain like we obviously are going to get a little bit of liquid with the Pico I’m going to do what I can to mitigate that and how about two refried bean stations we’ll do one on this side and one up front for garnish some picked cilantro beagle leaves that I can pick off and that is my tray of fully loaded nachos [Music] my Ultimate Nachos I love the pickled jalapenos and I do like the olives because they bring that nice little Briny sourness and that’s a really nice contrast against all the richness and cheese and all that stuff chips are still nice and crisp holding their shape thank you guac is well seasoned creamy it’s fantastic it’s my it’s my favorite plate of nachos and as you can see look at that these chips are not yielding to all the toppings that they are burdened with carrying my ideal nachos are loaded and layered just like these but they’re just that they’re my ideal nachos your ideal nachos might look wholly different whatever decisions you make are fine they are yours just make sure that you make them with intention that’s how you’re going to end up with final product [Music]