Whether it be an upcoming game day or a fun family weekend at home, these Brisket Nachos spin the classic cast iron skillet nacho dish! Our son said “this is what you expect at a food truck at the brewery!” If that doesn’t say it all, I’m not sure what does!
These smoked Brisket Nachos were part of the series of recipes that I created from the huge brisket that we made a couple weekends ago. We all run into these issues with the larger cuts of meat like brisket or pork shoulder. So much meat, so delicious…but now what do I do with all the leftovers besides just freeze it?
This time I decided I would make a few recipes using the leftovers! Spoiler alert: they were all incredible!
🍽️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- They are better than you can get at a food truck!
- Easily customizable to fit your tastes.
- Everyone loves them!
- The bbq nachos only take 20 minutes to make.
- Every bite has the perfect amount of beef brisket and cheese for the perfect appetizer or full meal.
🍺 Ingredients
You’ll just need a handful of ingredients, and it’s seriously one of the best things you’ll ever taste.
Smoked Brisket | Smoked and shredded brisket takes regular nachos to the next level. You may never want traditional nachos again!
Beer | Any variety of beer that you like will work for this recipe. Just make sure it’s something you like on its own to get the best flavor.
Mexican Cheese | Traditional flavored cheese is fine, but we prefer Mexican cheese because it goes so well with the other flavors.
Tools and Equipment
Grill | You are going to use the skillet to cook these over your grill. Use any grill you have. Coleman, Char-Broil, Weber, Big Green Egg or Traeger.
Cast Iron Skillet | You are going to love layering nachos on a cast iron skillet on the grill. When you serve these up, it feels like you are at your favorite tex mex restaurant, just need the margarita.
Measuring Cups | This is pretty optional as a lot of the onions and brisket can be eyeballed but when you want exact, pull out the cups.
Measuring Spoons | Measuring up the spices are needed.
🥘 Instructions
You made your yummy brisket using the Dry Rub Brisket or the Brisket Foil Method or your family’s own favorite brisket recipe and have lots of leftovers, so it’s time to make Brisket Nachos!
Step One: Shred two cups of brisket.
Step Two: Sauté an onion in a little bit of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat until golden brown. This usually takes 5-8 minutes. Add in the shredded brisket to combine and warm up.
Step Three: Combine the seasoning with the brisket and onion mixture. Stir in the beer to combine. Just smell how good this is!
Step Four: Remove the brisket mixture from the skillet and add it to a bowl. Add in ½ of the cheese and stir until the cheese is melted.
Step Five: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray the cast iron skillet with non-stick spray and make a layer of corn chips that covers the bottom of the skillet. Layer ½ of the meat mixture and then add some cheese. Layer some more chips, meat mixture and cheese. Your skillet should be pretty full after two rounds.
Note: It’s difficult to estimate how many chips you should use as it is dependent on the size of the skillet, how much meat and cheese you add and the size and shape of the chips. I used about ¾ of a bag here.
Step Six: Place the skillet in the oven and heat the nachos at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese melts and turns golden brown. Remove from the oven and top with chives, green onions, jalapeños and any other toppings you like! ENJOY!
🍴 Substitutions
This is a great one to tackle! I want to make sure that you all can see there are a lot of ways to address variations in this recipe.
- Make these on a sheet pan like I made the Pulled Pork Nachos. Not everyone has a cast iron skillet, so you can simply throw these on the sheet pan and cook for 8-10 minutes or until toasty brown.
- Make a batch of the Brisket Chili to use in place of the leftover brisket.
- Instead of regular cheese, use the Smoked Brisket Queso on top!
- Make the same idea into Brisket Tostadas! It will make Taco Tuesday really fun by using similar ingredients. Add these to a flat hard shell and add toppings as you like. You can put them on a sheet pan and heat up the ingredients or just heat up the brisket and apply ingredients to the shell and eat as is. That is up to you.
- For a healthier option, stack the brisket nacho ingredients on a bed of greens. Those chips aren’t helping any of us, we know that. So skip them and add shredded brisket to the bed of lettuce, toppings and a dressing of choice…think Chipotle Lime or Tex Mex Sour Cream Dressing.
- If you want to still make the Brisket Nachos but want to mix it up even more, go for the alternative chips that have whole grains in them instead of the empty calories of a traditional tortilla chip.
- You can substitute broth in place of the beer.
📌 Storage
These are ok for leftovers…I do think they are much better served immediately, though. I would hate to have someone come back to me and say “the chips weren’t crispy” and such.
The chips turn soft when served as leftovers, but they won’t be soggy. Microwaving it is fine and it works…we do it because I hate to throw out food. Ideally, make just enough for your family and minimize leftovers.
Serving Suggestions
You will love serving up this finger food for a nail biting game day, Saturday night after a day full of soccer games or as a last minute “I don’t want to cook” night. First thing, pull out the Corona with lime. You have to serve it up with that or homemade margaritas.
Homemade Guacamole in the Blender
Smoked Brisket and Beer Queso Dip
Recipe FAQs
Yep! You sure can. You can swap the beer for vegetable, chicken, or beef broth. The flavor will be slightly different, but still tasty.
Sure! I prefer the flavor of Mexican cheese, but you can use Monetary Jack or Cheddar Cheese instead.
Go wild with the toppings and add all your favorites. Here are a few ideas we enjoy:
Olives
Chives
Jalapenos
Tomatoes
Guacamole
Sour Cream
When using cheese from the bag that is already shredded (like most of us do) the cheese will harden back up quickly because there are additives in the bag to make the cheese not stick.
The fresh “you grated it yourself” cheese is the best. If you want the cheese to really be gooey for a long time, you can use a jarred cheese as it’s runny and doesn’t harden up.
Related Recipes
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Smoked Brisket Nachos
Equipment
- Grill
- Cast Iron Skillet
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
Ingredients
- 2 cups Smoked Brisket shredded
- 1/2 cup Onion diced
- 1/2 cup Beer
- 1/2 tsp Cumin
- 1 clove Garlic minced
- 1 tbsp Chili Powder
- 1/4 tsp Dried Oregano
- 1 tsp Olive Oil
- 8 oz Mexican Cheese shredded
- bag Tortilla Chips larger ones work best
Instructions
- In a cast iron skillet, add olive oil and heat 3-5 minutes
- Add chopped onions and cook for about 5 minutes until they become soft and start to brown
- Add in shredded brisket, seasonings, garlic and beer. Stir until well combined.
- Take brisket mixture out of cast iron skillet and add to a bowl. Add about 1/3 of the cheese to this bowl and combine until it melts in with the rest of the mixture.
- Heat oven to 400 degrees
- Spray the bottom of the cast iron skillet. Layer chips on bottom of skillet. Add half of the brisket to the chips, sprinkle with half of the remaining cheese.
- Layer on another layer of chips, add the remaining brisket mixture and top with cheese.
- Cook at 400 for about 10-12 minutes, or under cheese fully melted
- Top with your favorite toppings and serve immediately
Notes
Nutrition
