Cheese, seasoned meat, jalapeños, tomatoes, olives, cilantro, and green onions. All the makings of a fine plate of nachos. But this recipe combines them all into a quick and easy Nacho Dip.
Ok, I am going to be completely honest here. Nachos are my go-to comfort food. But sometimes I just want a quick nacho fix without all of the preparation and the waiting that goes into making traditional, baked nachos.
What’s In Nacho Dip?
Enter my Nacho Dip. It has all of the ingredients that my world-famous nachos have in the form of a creamy, cheesy dip. I like to use ground beef seasoned with cumin and chili powder, but you can substitute ground turkey or chicken if you prefer.
The Pepper Jack cheese and the pickled jalapeños add a nice bit of spice to the dip. The amount of jalapeño can be adjusted to suit your preference for spiciness, just don’t eliminate them completely. I think that they are the secret ingredient that makes this dip so delicious.
How To Reheat Dip
If by some strange twist of fate, you have any leftovers, the dip can be reheated on the stove top or in the microwave. If you opt for microwave reheating, use 30-second intervals, stirring in between. I find that adding a tablespoon or two of milk when I reheat helps to achieve a really nice consistency.
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Nacho Dip
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Cheese, seasoned meat, jalapeños, tomatoes, olives, cilantro, and green onions. All the makings of a fine plate of nachos. But this recipe combines them all into a quick and easy Nacho Dip.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- ½ lb. ground beef (or substitute turkey or chicken)
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 and ½ cups shredded Mexican Blend cheese
- 1 and ½ cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese
- ½ cup canned diced tomatoes, drained
- ½ cup sliced black olives
- ½ cup chopped pickled jalapeños (adjust amount according to your level of spicy preference)
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 Tbsp. sliced green onions
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ground beef, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Cook breaking the meat apart with a spoon, until it’s crumbled and browned, about 6 – 7 minutes. Drain and transfer meat mixture to a plate.
- Return saucepan to medium heat and add cream cheese, sour cream, Mexican Blend cheese, and Pepper Jack cheese. Stir until melted. Stir in the tomatoes, black olives and jalapeños until combined.
- Stir in the beef mixture and cilantro and heat through, about 2 – 3 minutes. Top with green onions.
- Serve immediately with tortilla chips.
SCV says
Can this recipe be converted into a crock pot recipe? I think it would be so I can keep it warm at a gathering. TIA :)
Christine Pittman says
Since you need to cook the ground beef in a saucepan or skillet to brown it first anyhow, it makes sense to me to follow the recipe as written and melt the cheese in there as well. Then you can transfer the hot dip to a slow cooker and set it on Warm to keep it warm for the gathering.
If you really wanted to, you could instead cook the ground been in a skillet, and then transfer it to a slow cooker along with the other ingredients. Then you would set it the slow cooker to LOW and stir it every 30 minutes until everything has melted together. Then set it to Warm to keep it warm.
Note that for either method, I would probably not include the cilantro and green onion during the heating process, but would either sprinkled them on the top once the slow cooker is on Warm, or serve them on the side. Enjoy!