Curried Nachos with Mango Salsa
Beautiful, delicious and fantastically unique – these curried nachos with mango salsa should become part of your world today.
I need you to stick with me for a second. I recognize that the term “nacho” generally refers to the more classic version of tortilla chips drenched in ooey gooey cheese (fake or real…we’ll never know) and sometimes accompanied by spicy ground beef and jalapenos.
But give this unique nacho recipe a try and I am nearly 99.9% sure you’ll be converted from fairground nacho food to gourmet nachos without looking back.
These dreamy and flavorful nachos are simple to prepare and the result is a suberb combination of hearty tortilla chips topped with a curried ground meat mixture and further glorified by a fresh mango salsa, simple cucumber yogurt dip and pockets of feta cheese.
Really. This works and works well.
I literally could not stop eating these light and refreshing nachos (my husband and boys couldn’t get enough either) and I readily second my friend Sarah’s opinion (she’s the BFF for life who sent me the recipe!) that the flavor combination is so good, it’s nearly impossible to stop snitching tastes…long after dinner is over no less.
Beautiful, delicious and fantastically unique – these nachos should become part of your world today. If you are against them for any reason, skip making them for yourself and just drop some by my house. I’ll take one for the team.
What to Serve With This
- Tri Color Pasta Salad or Confetti Rice and Bean Salad
- Cheesy Cauliflower Bake or steamed vegetable
- Mango Slices or other fresh, cut up fruit
One Year Ago: Chicken Pillows with Creamy Parmesan Sauce
Two Years Ago: Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy BBQ Pot Roast
Three Years Ago: Hoisin Chicken Rice Bowl
Curried Nachos with Mango Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and grated
- 1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided (3-4 limes)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 mangoes, peeled, pitted and diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 white onion, diced, divided
- ¼ lightly packed cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
- Olive oil cooking spray
- 8 ounces lean ground turkey or lamb
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ½ tablespoons curry powder
- 1-3 teaspoons Sriracha or hot sauce, optional
- 1 (7-ounce) bag baked tortilla chips
- 6 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 3 ounces low-fat feta cheese, crumbled
Instructions
- For the cucumber yogurt dip, using a clean kitchen towel or a double layer of cheesecloth, squeeze out and discard the excess liquid from the cucumber. In a medium bowl, combine the cucumber, yogurt, 2 tablespoons lime juice and mint. Season with salt and black pepper, then cover and refrigerate until needed (this step can be done up to 24 hours in advance).
- For the mango salsa, in a large bowl, combine mango, bell pepper, 1/4 cup of chopped onion, chopped cilantro and 2 tablespoons lime juice. Season with additional salt and black pepper and set aside or refrigerate up to 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Heat a large, nonstick skillet on medium heat and add the ground turkey, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and remaining chopped onion. Saute, stirring to break up the meat into bite-sized pieces, until the ground turkey is cooked through, about 10-12 minutes. Drain excess grease, if needed. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Remove from the heat and stir in Sriracha or hot sauce, if desired, remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice and additional salt and black pepper.
- Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Arrange chips in a single layer on baking sheet and top with mozzarella, followed by the curried meat mixture and feta cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted and chips are hot and crisp, about 12-14 minutes. Drain off any excess liquid from the mango salsa and sprinkle over the top of the nachos. Serve immediately with the cucumber yogurt dip on the side for dipping.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from my friend Sarah H., originally from MyFitnessPal.com (I think)
Made this tonight for family dinner. We really liked the whole meal. Used ground turkey and made all items called for in the recipe.
I made these for a “family night”. I did pretty much exactly the recipe, except I didn’t add the onion to the mango salsa (cause some fam members don’t like raw onion). I also had the cilantro on the side for the cilantro-hater (me). Not one person loved these. Nobody even liked the cucumber yogurt dip. I thought they were fine, but definitely preferred them without the dip. Won’t go to the trouble of making these again…
So yummy! We have some lamb that needed used and this was the perfect recipe for it. Thanks
love your receipes.
just fyi i am looking for a chocolate cake receipe that is an old one that uses heavy cream in it. it a chewy type of cake and very good if you happen to run across one. It was my moms and it got thrown away some how.
thanks kent
Hi Kent, if I come across a recipe like that, I will let you know!
Hi Mel,
Would ground beef be a good substitute for this? Thank you.
Sure, should work just fine especially if your preference leans toward ground beef.
I have just made these today and they are great! I used kidney beans in place of meat for a veggie option. Thanks!!
I have made a lot of recipes on this blog and I think this is my favourite! It’s so unique and so, so yummy!
Mel- I have to tell you I love your blog! Yours is the first blog I check every day for new ideas. This recipe is one of my husband’s favorites. It trumps all others for football games! Thanks for continuing to share!!
I’ve made this for Christmas party last year and it was really good- thanks for reminding me of this recipe, I shall try and make it for the family to enjoy! 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight but served as tacos in tortillas rather than as nachos. They were awesome! Served with queso fresco and I liked the extra kick that added. Super easy to prepare and so flavorful Thanks Mel!
This is my MOST favorite recipe on this blog! I always make Naan to go with it and leave out the dipping sauce. My kids love it! The hubby and I are so in love with it we are having it on Valentines Day for our diet cheat day…not that it will be too much of cheat because it can be decently healthy when made right! I do like to use Pita chips instead, because it gives it more of a Greek vibe….Thank you for this amazing recipe!
I ate way too many of these tonight. The mango salsa was to die for! I’ll be using some of that on my grilled mojo chicken for sure. I was out of mint and feta and the finished product was still great. Only 1 of my 2 girls would eat it tho. It was a bit spicy for my 6 year old. My 2 year old seems to take after me on the heat tolerance. She liked it.
This looks fantastic. Thank you!
OH BABY!! These were delish! Made these tonight, and the family loved it! You were right, couldn’t stop eating these. In fact, I was sad when they were gone! HaHa
Thanks again for another great recipe!
I was going to say that I made this tonight. In truth, I copied down your recipe and then modified it, but I still really liked it.
My modifications: dried mint (because I didn’t have fresh), hot Italian chicken sausage instead of the ground turkey (it was way cheaper), colby and cheddar cheese (instead of mozarella because I needed to use it up) and some pepper jack on top (because some of my kids turn their noses up at feta- what is wrong with them??), oh and green onions instead of regular white.
Thanks for the leaping off point!
What a cool take on nachos! Oh, there’s another cool twist on them that someone made for me called Kansas City BBQ Nachos that is really good–I have a feeling this would be family friendly! http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/kansas-city-bbq-nachos/53029bff-710d-4807-a37b-ad7555294425?WT.dcsvid=MjA5NjMyMjA0OQS2&rvrin=A4BD8B6A-0A83-DC11-920E-00110A5B41E6&WT.mc_id=Newsletter_BC_05_17_2012_Control&nicreatID2=Newsletter_BC_05_17_2012_Control#
This looks fantastic! Also looks really versatile…. We just ate at a pizza place (Z Pizza) that had a great curry chicken pizza. I would use this recipe on pizza or maybe even in a pita with the yogurt sauce. Thanks!!
I am going to give this a go!! I think Thursday nite. I bought my first ever curry today ~ Spice Islands. I have never made nor had curry before. My husband likes it but I am just a chicken. My highschool daughter has gotten to be good friends with 2 Indian boys and she has had curry at their houses and liked it. I think this recipe will be a good start for me. I love every other ingredient on the list so why not?? I will let you know how it goes, fingers crossed. I won’t be inviting the boys over for dinner on my first try though. Their non-english speaking grandmas cook at their houses and I just couldn’t compare to that!
The word curry “is actually a blanket term adopted by British colonists to describe a vast range of Indian flavors and dishes, actually refers to a saucy meat and vegetable meal, often tomato or coconut-based.” Curry powder is not used in traditional Indian cooking. It is actually a spice bland created by Westerners to taste like the flavors of Indian curry dishes … and since there is a vast range of flavors in Indian curry dishes, you can find quite a variety of flavors in commercial curry powders. If you find one you like, it’s a great shortcut for cooking Indian dishes. I hope you enjoyed this dish and went on to try many other fabulous Indian curry dishes! (Curry is also a word for some Thai dishes, but Thai curries are altogether different from Indian curries.)
This looks awesome! I don’t really like the normal nachos that everyone seems to love, but these look amazing! You don’t have to convince me at all! Now, to find all the ingredients, hmmm . . .
I was just referred to your blog by a co-worker and I am so happy they did. These nachos are super creative and look delicious! Bravo 🙂
The way you speak about, you make it really hard not to try this! I have the mango but will have to use chicken. I think it will be a good substitution. Now, I can´t wait to make it!
Hi Kim! I agree that curry powders can really differ based on brand. I’ve kind of gotten hooked on the Spice Islands brand (both the regular curry powder and the Hot Madras curry powder). I love the flavor but that’s just my preference. Do you have a brand you prefer?
These are incredible! I like how you make these so healthy and fresh. Love the cucumber yogurt dip and fresh mango salsa!
I make nachos for theme parties and have made Italian nachos, Greek nachos, etc., so I don’t find these strange at all and think they sound amazing! These are sort of a fusion of flavors from Greece and India -yum! I think you could also use toasted pita triangles in place of the baked tortilla chips, too (bake your own or buy Stacy’s pita chips). Mel- do you use a specific brand of curry powder? I find they are so different, and that can make all the difference in a dish! Thanks!
Mexican, and mango salsa originated in Mexico, but all of the ingredients in this mango salsa are very common in Indian cooking. While Greece does have tzaziki (cucumber and yogurt sauce) India has raita (cucumber & yogurt “salad”), which is very similar. So the cucumber yogurt dip here is actually very Indian.