Jerk Chicken Nachos: Spicy, Cheesy, Perfectly Cooked
I’m writing this to you from the middle of July, and I can tell you that there are few things (besides ice cream) that I want to eat more these days than spicy grilled chicken. I’ve done the burger and hotdog cookouts, the Father’s Day ribs, and the Memorial Day brisket. It’s hot, the world is sweaty, and I just want to throw some chicken on the grill and have it come back to me tasty, juicy, and spicy enough to feel it in the rest of my face. Enter jerk chicken nachos.
Yes, I made some jerk chicken nachos. It was the right move. Spicy, fragrant, tender chicken chunks dancing with homemade nacho cheese, sour cream, sliced chilies, and fresh salsa made for one heckuva lunch, and even made me forget about the heat—all my senses became devoted to nachos!
Here, we’ll give you the rundown on a delicious, easy jerk marinade as well as the thermal reasoning behind the dish so you can make amazing nachos like these at home. Get your blender, grill, and Thermapen® ONE out, it’s time to party.
Jerk Chicken: flavor and temperatures
Jerk seasoning
I don’t claim to call this recipe for jerk marinade authentic, 3 but I will insist that it is delicious. To be considered jerk marinade, you basically need allspice and scotch bonnet (can we please generalize that to habanero?) peppers. I supplement that with fresh thyme, nutmeg, and mace. You can adjust the spice level how you want by adding more or less habanero pepper to it. 4
The body of the marinade is mostly onion and green onion, imbuing the chicken with incredible savoriness. All you do is blend everything together in a blender and then coat the chicken with it. This would also be amazing on pork or even a good piece of steaky fish.
Grilled chicken temps
Unless you really have to, don’t grill chicken breasts. Thighs are infinitely better! Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are cheaper and more tolerant of temperature variation in cooking. Whereas breasts have about a 5°F (3°C) of doneness that is both safe and high quality, thighs—with their higher collagen content—have a window of deliciousness that is not only all safe but also 25°F (14°C) wide!
Grilling chicken thighs like these, coated in a thick marinade, is excellent over direct heat. Put the marinated meat on, and turn it every couple of minutes so that you have time to char the little bits on it. Check the internal temperature of it with your Thermapen ONE as the chicken starts to look done. For thigh meat, you need a lowest internal temp of 175°F (79°C). Once you don’t see anything lower than that on your thermometer, you can pull your chicken from the heat. (Why are we looking for nothing lower? Because food is only as cooked as its least cooked part. The surface may be 175°F, but the center might only be 150°F. Once we see nothing lower than our pull temp, the food is done.)
Chicken thighs need that extra thermal boost to unwind their collagen and become tender. No one wants rubbery chicken on their nachos any more than they want dry chicken on them! Let the chicken cook up to—or past—175°F (79°C) and it will develop a much better texture.
On nachos …
Nachos started out as a simple dish of chips, cheese, and pickled jalapeños, but I think we can all agree that we actually like loaded nachos more. Give me sour cream, give me pico, give me cilantro and green onion and chicken and maybe beans and and and and…
But no matter what you put on them, you can do better than a can of “queso” for your topping. We’ve talked about it before, but making your own nacho cheese is surprisingly easy. You just need to start with unshredded cheese. It’s all a game of proteins and starches from there. (You can read more about it at Serious Eats.) Here, again, we’ve added a few ingredients to make the cheese, well, nacho-ier. And you could add even more jalapeño to it and not be amiss.
Sometimes, I just need some spice, and if that spice is jerk chicken and it comes to me on a chip loaded with sharp, luscious nacho cheese, all the better. If you feel the same, then you need to give these jerk chicken nachos a try. (By all means, tone down the spice if what you need is deeply flavorful chicken without the heat!) And with Thermapen ONE on your side, you know that your spicy chicken won’t be dry cubes that get in the way of your enjoyment, but tender, juicy morsels that you can’t wait to scoop up with your next chip. This is the ultimate shareable food, and it is so, so fun to make and to eat. Happy cooking, indeed!
Jerk Chicken Nachos Recipe
Description
Jerk Chicken Nachos, with nacho cheese recipe adapted from Serious Eats.
Ingredients
For the jerk chicken:
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp fresh thyme (tender stems are fine)
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 C yellow onion, diced
- 1 C green onion, chopped
- 2 habanero peppers, stemmed
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground mace
- 2 tsp ground allspice
For the cheese sauce:
- 1 lb sharp cheddar cheese—NOT grated! You will grate it, but don’t buy pre-grated.
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/8 tsp ground cumin
- 2 12-oz cans evaporated milk
- 4 tsp hot sauce
- 1 jalapeño pepper, diced
~2 Bags tortilla chips, whatever toppings you like for your nachos. (This is a large recipe, you can half everything if needed.)
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients for the marinade in the jar of a blender and blend until it makes a fairly homogenous paste.
- Coat the chicken thighs in the marinade in a non-reactive bowl and allow to soak while you preheat your grill and prepare your preferred nacho toppings.
- Preheat your grill, and set it up for direct-heat cooking. This is a recipe where charcoal really is best, but if you only have gas it’s better than not making it at all!
- Cook the chicken on the grill, turning as needed. You want some charring on the marinade-y, sticky-outy bits.
- Monitor the temperature with your Thermapen ONE, and remove each piece after it crosses the 175°F (79°C) mark.
- Keep the chicken in a bowl, covered, while you prepare the cheese sauce. This rest won’t hurt a thing!
- Grate the cheese and toss it with the cornstarch and cumin in a large saucepan.
- Add 2 cups of the evaporated milk and the hot sauce start cooking it over medium-low heat, whisking until melted, bubbly, and thickened.
- Add diced jalapeño.
- If the cheese is too thick, thin it with more of the evaporated milk. It will thicken and set up more as it sits.
- Cut the chicken into 1/2″ cubes.
- Layer your chips, cheese, and other nacho ingredients, generously topping with chicken.
- Serve your nachos and watch them disappear!
Notes
I really do recommend making the nacho cheese after you’ve grilled the chicken. Keep the chicken covered in a bowl and it will still be hot and juicy when it comes time to top the nachos. The cheese comes together in only a few minutes. Prep your other toppings while the chicken marinates.
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If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you’re not surprised at that.↩
Two peppers gives it enough spice to be quite spicy if I were eating the chicken as a main dish, but not all that spicy in nacho form.↩
If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you’re not surprised at that.↩
Two peppers gives it enough spice to be quite spicy if I were eating the chicken as a main dish, but not all that spicy in nacho form.↩
Looks really good—how many people would you say this serves?
I’d say 8–10 people pretty easily.
How big of cans of evap milk?
12 oz. I made the correction in the recipe as well.
I made the full batch of marinade with two habanero peppers and froze half. First half was a single pack of 5 thighs. I marinated for a couple of hours.
I really liked the heat level on the chicken, but I felt it was missing something. Second half of marinade I added allspice (missing from ingredient list?) and some mango. A storm came in so I ended up with a 24 hour marinate. Definitely more heat in the chicken!
I had never tried the evaporated milk trick for a cheese sauce. It worked well and I have added the approach to my cooking arsenal. This recipe makes plenty of cheese sauce (no complaints).
David,
I can’t believe I left out the allspice! it’s literally essential to jerk marinade. I’ve added it (2 tsp) to the recipe, thanks for catching it.