Ultimate Fully Loaded Vegan Nachos with the most delicious vegan ground “beef” and nacho cheese! An easy and fun weeknight dinner or snack.
Nachos are perfect for those days that you just don’t know what to cook, and you want to eat something comforting and tasty. They can be thrown together quite fast, and if you keep around some simple pantry staples, you can always have a plate of vegan nachos ready when a craving strikes!
Nacho Bar
My kids love nachos for dinner! I like to keep all the ingredients separate, and then let everyone choose exactly what they want to top their nachos with.
We don’t always include all of these toppings, but the essentials are tortilla chips, nacho cheese and the taco “meat”. Some of our favorite toppings include:
- EASY vegan ground “beef” (recipe included below)
- Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce OR Nut Free Cheese Sauce, if needed
- Vegan Sour Cream
- Diced avocado or guacamole
- Diced tomatoes, or pico de gallo
- Sliced jalapeños, fresh or jarred
- Chopped cilantro (I can’t get enough cilantro on anything)
- Chopped green onions, or red onions
- Drained and rinsed black beans
- Salsa
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TVP ground “beef”
This stuff is amazing and so easy to make! TVP (textured vegetable protein) is a pantry staple I love having around, and I order it in bulk on Amazon. It’s cheap, high in protein and gluten free.
To turn dry TVP into ground “beef”, I simply add it to a pan with some water and soy sauce (tamari for gluten free) and cook until the water is absorbed. Next, add a little olive oil, a few spices and fry until crumbly and the mixture resembles ground beef. That’s it!
Vegan ground “beef” is also good in spaghetti sauce, in tacos or burritos. If you can’t have soy, or prefer a different option, you can make my Vegan Taco Meat out of cauliflower, mushrooms and walnuts instead. It’s really tasty, but definitely takes a bit more work.
Want more vegan Mexican inspired recipes?
- Vegetarian Cauliflower Fajitas
- Vegan Enchilada Casserole
- Cheesy Vegan Quesadillas
- Vegan Tacos with Tofu
- Jackfruit Carnitas
Ultimate Fully Loaded Vegan Nachos
Ingredients
- 1 16-oz bag tortilla chips
- 1 recipe Easy Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce
TVP ground "beef"
- 1 cup dried TVP (textured vegetable protein)
- 4 cups water
- 4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce *tamari for gluten free
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke, optional but good
- salt + pepper, to taste
Optional toppings, pick and choose what you like
- 1 recipe Vegan Sour Cream OR store bought
- 1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2-3 tomatoes, diced or pico de gallo
- fresh jalapeños, fresh or jarred
- chopped green onions
- Salsa
- diced avocado or guacamole
- chopped cilantro
- hot sauce
Instructions
- Make a batch of Easy Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce. Warm on the stovetop, then set aside. You should whisk it again until smooth, adding water as needed to thin right before you drizzle it on the chips.
Prepare the TVP ground "beef"
- Add dried TVP, water and soy sauce to a medium pot. Cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat until the water is absorbed.
- Now add olive oil, spices and salt to taste, frying over medium heat until it resembles ground beef. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Assemble the nachos
- Drain and rinse the black beans and prepare all the rest of the optional ingredients you wish to use.
- Arrange the tortilla chips on a large platter (or on individual plates if serving as a meal). Add toppings in this order, or any you prefer: Taco "meat", nacho cheese sauce, sprinkle of black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos, onions, salsa/hot sauce and then vegan sour cream and/or avocado/guacamole. Enjoy immediately!
Notes
- Nut Free Nachos: Instead of my cashew based cheese sauce, use Nut Free Cheese Sauce. Leave out the homemade sour cream, or use store bought vegan sour cream instead.
- You can substitute my Vegan Taco Meat made out of vegetables if you prefer instead of the TVP ground "beef".
- Nachos are best eaten immediately and do not save well. You can however, keep the toppings prepared separately in the refrigerator for a few days.
Nutrition
*This recipe was first posted in October 2018 and has been republished with new photos and the TVP ground beef is a new addition. Thank you!
I’m confused if the TVP is 1:1 with liquid. Why do you call for 4 cups of water? I feel like I made it wrong there’s so much liquid
Hi Sariah. It seems like a lot of liquid but if you boil the TVP and water/soy sauce on high it should all evaporate.
This recipe is BOMB. Agree with others, it took WAY longer to get the water to boil off the TVP but eventually I just scooped it out with a spoon and it finished right up. The cheese doesn’t taste as great re-heated the next day so I’d make a smaller portion of the cheese sauce. Thanks Nora for yet another great recipe♥
You’re welcome, Eleisha! So glad you loved the nachos 🙂
I wanted to make these but with tofu crumbles for the ‘meat’. Any suggestions?
That’s a great idea, Tina! I’d suggest seasoning and baking the tofu to help the texture become chewier and tender, just like real taco meat. The tofu from this recipe is perfect for nachos!
Yet again, 5 star recipe!!
I needed a quick dinner as it was very late at night, so i made this and it is AMAZING! i added some hot sauce for a little kick and it was delicious.
Thank you so much Nora for putting out these amazing recipes which are always a 5 star ?
Thank you, Charlotte, for your wonderful feedback! I’m so glad you love the nachos!
Oh My God this recipe is life! I can’t get enough and I highly recommend that you experience this hidden jewel for yourself just as I have ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I’m so glad you love the nachos! Thanks for using my recipe, and for sharing your review and feedback!
These were quite yummy!
I’m glad you enjoyed the nachos! Thank you for sharing your review and comments!
We ate at a Vegan restaurant in Chattanooga TN called Cashew. On their nachos, they used jackfruit for the “beef”. Excellent. I’m going to use your recipe with the jackfruit. I’ll keep you posted! 🙂
I love this recipe–especially the nachos cheese sauce!! I use any leftover cheese on breakfast tofu scrambles, in your Baked Ziti recipe, for cheesy broccoli, or just as a cheese dip. But nachos are always the best 😉 So good. Thank you!!
It took an hour to boil off the water from the TVP not 10 mins cook time like it showed, tastes great though!
Oh weird it shouldn’t take that long, make sure your heat is up pretty high so it’s really boiling, and don’t cover the pan/pot. Glad you enjoyed it!
Is the TVP:water ratio accurate? I’m currently looking over a pot of what looks like boiling TVP soup…
Yes, it seems like a lot but if you cook it on high it will evaporate. Hope that helps!
Incredible recipe !!!! Just made these for dinner !! Super light and flavourful yet fulling and delicious 🙂 For the cheese sauce I blended boiled potato and carrot with mustard power, paprika, curry powder, garlic salt and turmeric, it tasted incredible and resembled cheese ! I also made vegan mince by blending canned red beans, chickpeas, condensed tomato soup and diced tomato and the aforementioned spices as well as some oregano and Lemmon pepper then I heated it up on the stove and added corn and and diced silverbeet!!!!! it also resembled mince and is super high in protein yet low in calories 🙂 This is defiantly a 5 star recipe !!
Hi Moni. I’m glad you love the recipe! Thank you for taking your time to share!
Dear Nora,
My husband and I became vegans on May 13, 2019. We have missed having loaded nachos. I found your recipe for the Ultimate Fully Loaded Nachos. Tonight we made the whole thing, including the vegan sour cream, salsa, vegan nacho cheese, and the whole platter. The only thing we changed was replacing lentils for the textured vegetable protein. Well, we now feel like it’s Thanksgiving Day! Each of us had a huge platter, and it was the BEST loaded nachos we ever had! Thank you very much for your wonderful recipes! We are thrilled with this. And will be trying more of your recipes! Looking forward to having leftovers tomorrow, although there’s not much left!
Hi Anita. I’m really glad you found the nacho recipe, and that you love it! Nachos are such a fun food! Thank you for taking your time to share your review, and for using my recipes! Happy cooking!
This has become a staple dinner in our house, thanks for the wonderful & easy recipe!
Hi Christiana. I’m glad your family is enjoying the nachos recipe! Thank you!
Great meal or appetizer for lots of people. I used your tofu taco “meat” recipe instead of the TVP. It was still so good! I also put vegan shredded cheese to make it extra cheesy. Will definitely make again
That’s great to hear!
This taco “meat” is absolutely incredible!! Thank you for this recipe! I have found 4 cups to be too much water, but thanks to your response to other comments know it’s ok to drain the water and continue with recipe once the TVP is soft!
Yes, that is fine to do! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I made the taco meat and used it in tacos and chili. WOW! Delicious! Reminded me a bit of fast-food taco meat. I followed the recipe as written, including the liquid smoke, and it is SO GOOD. Very eager to use it in spaghetti, too. This website is making a shift to veganism VERY easy! Thank you, Nora!
You’re so welcome!!
I made the TVP “meat” for a different taco recipe, and it is delicious! I did have to boil for quite a while though, so I suggest turning it up to high if anyone is having trouble with the water getting absorbed.
Thank you so much. I was craving nachos. I made this with your recipe for all vegetable taco meat. Amazing !!!
Your recipe calls for 4 cups of water to rehydrate the dried TVP. The back of the package says it’s basically 1:1 ratio to rehydrate. Is that a typo? I’ve been boiling mine for awhile and it’s not absorbing.
Nope, not a typo. I think the back of the package is for when you rehydrate by soaking. It doesn’t take too long if you are truly boiling the mixture, not just a low simmer. But it will probably work if you add less, or if the TVP is soft just drain the excess water and continue with the recipe.
Oh.my. Gosh. This TVP recipe is amazing and speaking from a 6 month old vegetarian, it tastes BETTER than ground beef. Waaaaay better! I’ve been making tvp and adding it to spaghetti sauce and chili but it hasn’t tasted very good, we just did it for the nutrition. Well, that has changed now! and the Nacho Cheese was surprisingly good. My son, who eats regular food, had seconds! Thank you so much for these recipes. Game changer in this household!
Thanks so much for the great comment!
My meat eating ? husband ate them. The best I’ve made so far as a fairly new vegan.
So glad they were good!
The taco meat was incredible! I can’t wait to use it in different Latin foods. The cheese was also delicious. Thank you Nora. Please bring us more Latin inspired dishes.
I’m so glad you liked the taco meat and cheese! I’ll work on creating more. 🙂
Sounds yummy. If I don’t want to use oil in the “meat” should I just leave it out or add additional liquid?
I would add a little additional water or broth so it doesn’t dry out, but that should be fine.
These nachos are amazing and the meat sub is delicious and super easy to make! You can also play around with different sauces. These will be a staple in our house, thanks for sharing!
I finally tried Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce and I must say I really liked it and added a can of diced tomatoes with chilies.Great over steamed carrots too
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing.
Love all the toppings on these Vegan Nachos!