How To Reheat Nachos So You're Not Left With A Soggy Mess

There has been a lot of talk about reheating nachos lately; as is customary on social media, it mostly relates to pop stars. If Tate McRae is reheating Britney Spears' nachos, for instance, that means McRae is trying to consciously imitate Spears. Meanwhile, if Lady Gaga is reheating her own nachos, that means she's circling back to a previous era, returning to the ambitious, conceptual pop of her early career. (We don't know how it started, either — there's a reason we're here writing our fun little articles about food and not digging trenches in the pop star stan wars.)

But what about your own nachos? What if you have a dish of leftover nachos — which have an interesting history, by the way — all topped in zesty beef, melty cheese, and creamy guacamole, sitting in your fridge waiting to be reheated? Well, credit where it's due to Lady Gaga, because reheating fast food like nachos is a lot harder than it looks. 

Even fresh nachos can fall prey to overwhelming sogginess from all those toppings; if the microwave can make your leftover pizza a drippy mess, just imagine what it can do to your nachos. But so long as you use the right tools (which is to say, not the microwave) and take care to remove cold ingredients first, you can reheat your nachos without causing a mess.

The first thing you'll want to do when you're ready to reheat your nachos is to scrape off any cold ingredients or toppings. If it wasn't hot when you were first eating them, it shouldn't be hot when you reheat them. That means ingredients like guacamole (maybe even the world's oldest guacamole recipe), sour cream, pico de gallo, or lettuce should all be taken off and set aside. You can always put them back on when the nachos are hot again. 

Although you can use a number of appliances to heat up your nachos, including an air fryer, a toaster oven, or a broiler, the oven is easily the best choice. It allows you to gradually heat them up without getting the tortilla chips unpleasantly soggy, and unlike the toaster oven, it can accommodate larger portions. (No matter how convenient it might seem at first glance, do not use the microwave to reheat nachos, lest you end up at the outskirts of Sog City.)

Preheat the oven to a low temperature — around 225 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit — then spread out your nachos evenly on a baking sheet before covering them with tin foil. Nachos can burn pretty quickly, so the extra protection is important. From there, depending on how well-done you want your nachos, you can reheat them for a few minutes or until they're done to your liking — just let them cool a little before eating.