The Lunch Lady, with a football player holding a whisk and a chop

The Lunch Lady

Chopped chicken nachos

Mulato-marinated chicken, crisp tortilla chips and a smooth green chile queso made with butternut squash. Build each plate just before eating, with optional hominy alongside.

Jump to recipe

By Jared Veldheer

Published

Servings
6 generous servings; about 4 cups queso
Total time
About 1 hour 40 minutes

Includes the chile soak and a 30-minute marinade, with overlapping work. Allow extra time for a longer marinade or the optional hominy and blue crunch. Chicken times are estimates; use a thermometer.

Chopped chicken nachos with queso, salsa, pickled onions and cilantro, beside hominy with a blue corn topping and green grapes.
In the school kitchen.

The cheese sauce made these nachos

I could have eaten the butternut squash purée straight from the blender before it ever made it into the cheese sauce. It was that good. Simmer the squash in milk until it falls apart, blend it with butter, and you've got the start of an amazing queso.

A few kids wanted their cheese on the side. I told them they wouldn't ask for their mac and cheese sauce on the side, and this was a cousin of the mac and cheese we made a couple weeks ago. They tried it. They loved it. Now they're asking when it's coming back.

We used Smart Chicken tenders, chopped them up and built the nachos down the serving line. Chips, chicken, queso, then whatever toppings they wanted. At home, put everything out and let everyone build a plate. Keep the cheese sauce smooth and warm, and the chips stay crisp until dinner hits the table.

Home recipe

Chopped chicken nachos

The Lunch Lady · Jared Veldheer

Servings
6 generous servings; about 4 cups queso
Prep time
About 25 minutes
Cook time
About 45 minutes, with the queso and chicken cooking in parallel
Total time
About 1 hour 40 minutes

Includes the chile soak and a 30-minute marinade, with overlapping work. Allow extra time for a longer marinade or the optional hominy and blue crunch. Chicken times are estimates; use a thermometer.

Equipment: Blender or immersion blender with a narrow blending cup, small saucepan, medium saucepan, one or two rimmed half sheet pans, whisk and instant-read thermometer

Make it with what you have

Choose your chicken

Use the same 2 3/4 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken and the same marinade for all three options. These estimates are for a regular 425°F oven. Thickness, pan crowding and your oven affect the time. Check the thickest pieces for 165°F, then rest 5 minutes before chopping and finishing with the reserved sauce.

All options are included when you print.

Chicken option: Tenders

  1. Remove any tough tendons and leave the tenders whole. Arrange with space between pieces.
  2. Start checking at 12 minutes; expect about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove pieces as they reach 165°F so the smaller ones do not overcook.

Ingredients

Check off ingredients as you go.

Mulato chicken

Green chile queso

Queso seasoning blend

Mix the blend in a small jar. Use only 1 1/4 teaspoons in this batch of queso and save the remainder for another batch.

To build the nachos

Optional side: Hominy

Optional topping: Blue crunch

Instructions

Make the mulato sauce

  1. Toast the dried chiles in a dry skillet for 15 to 20 seconds per side, just until fragrant and flexible. Do not let them blacken or smoke. Remove the stems and seeds, then soak the chiles in the hot broth for 20 minutes.
  2. Blend the chiles and their soaking broth with the garlic, honey, vinegar, measured lime juice, oil, nutritional yeast, cumin, onion powder and oregano until smooth.
  3. Before any sauce touches raw chicken, measure 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon into a small saucepan. Simmer this reserved finishing sauce gently for 5 minutes, adding a splash of water if it becomes too thick. Keep it separate.
  4. Stir the kosher salt into the remaining sauce. Let it cool, then coat the chicken and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Start the queso during this time.

Roast the chicken

  1. Heat a regular oven to 425°F. Let excess marinade drip off the chicken and arrange it in a single layer on a rimmed sheet pan. Use two pans if needed to leave space between pieces. Discard the marinade left in the bowl.
  2. For tenders, begin checking at 12 minutes and expect roughly 15 to 20 minutes. Cook until the thickest part reaches 165°F. If using two racks, switch the pans halfway through. For breasts or thighs, use the timing under Choose your chicken.
  3. Rest for 5 minutes, then chop into roughly 1/2-inch pieces. Toss with the reserved cooked finishing sauce, the cooked pan juices and a squeeze of lime. Taste before adding any more salt.

Make the green chile queso

  1. Mix the seasoning blend and measure out 1 1/4 teaspoons. Put the squash and its 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk in a small, snug saucepan. The milk should barely cover the squash; add a small splash only if needed. Simmer gently, partly covered, stirring and scraping the bottom, for about 20 to 30 minutes until the squash falls apart under a spoon.
  2. Blend the softened squash and its cooking milk with the butter until completely smooth. Use a narrow immersion-blender cup or a blender suited to small quantities; vent a countertop blender as directed by its manufacturer when blending hot food. Return the purée to the saucepan.
  3. Blend the drained green chiles smooth with a small splash taken from the measured 1 1/4 cups base milk. Add the remaining base milk to the squash purée, then stir in the blended chiles.
  4. Warm gently over medium-low heat. Whisk in the measured seasoning and cheddar powder until no dry pockets remain. Reduce the heat to low before adding the cheeses.
  5. Add the shredded cheddar in small handfuls, whisking until each addition melts. Follow with the American cheese in small additions. Keep the heat gentle and whisk until smooth. Do not boil.
  6. Add the warm finishing milk a little at a time only if needed, until the queso falls from a spoon in a smooth ribbon. Taste it on a tortilla chip before adding salt. Stir occasionally while you finish the chicken.

Build the plates

  1. Divide the chips among six plates. Add the warm chopped chicken and spoon over the queso, starting with about 1/2 cup per plate and offering the remainder at the table.
  2. Add your preferred toppings and eat right away. There is no second oven bake after assembly.

Optional side: Hominy

  1. If using the culinary avocado leaf, toast it in a dry skillet for about 30 seconds per side. Set aside. Skip the leaf if unavailable.
  2. Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Cook the onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, onion powder, granulated garlic, oregano and pepper; stir for about 30 seconds.
  3. Add the hominy, broth, chicken base and optional leaf. Cover and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, then uncover for a few minutes until the liquid coats the hominy. Add a splash of water if it dries out.
  4. Remove the leaf. Finish with lime juice and salt to taste. Serve six small portions alongside the nachos, with the optional crunch below.

Optional topping: Blue crunch

  1. Mix 1 3/4 teaspoons butterfly pea powder with the lime powder, sugar, ancho, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Toss the crunchy corn with the oil, then the seasoning mixture.
  2. Dust with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon butterfly pea powder. Sprinkle over the hominy right before eating so it keeps its crunch. Leave hard corn off plates for children under 4.

Recipe notes

  • For the smoothest queso, shred the cheddar from a block and use deli-style American cheese. Keep the heat low once the cheese goes in. If the sauce gets too thick, whisk in a little warm milk.
  • Mulato chiles give the chicken a deep roasted flavor. Heat varies by batch, so use mild green chiles and mild chili powder in the queso.
  • The reserved finishing sauce is taken out before raw chicken goes into the marinade. It is separate from the used marinade.
  • The hominy and blue crunch are optional. The main recipe makes enough chicken and queso for six generous plates of nachos.
← All recipesSaved recipes