Pork Rind Nachos

Fully-loaded pork rind nachos take traditional nachos and make them keto and low carb with a simple swap. A layer of pork rinds, taco spiced ground beef, plenty of cheese, guac, and your other favorite low carb Mexican toppings. This recipe makes a super quick, easy, and delicious dinner, or the perfect keto appetizer!

🌮 What Makes This Recipe So Good

• Pork rind nachos make incorporating your favorite Mexican dish into your keto lifestyle even easier, with even more satisfying results. We’ve tried similar takes, cutting up low carb tortillas into triangles and baking or air frying them until they’re crispy. Unfortunately, they’re never quite crispy enough to truly fulfill those vessel needs. Same thing with keto cheese chips – they crisp up, sure, but not quite the way you need them to for something like this. Pork rinds, though? Pork rinds are up to the challenge, y’all. Like oversized, extra-crispy scoops that are also wonderfully airy with an added savory flavor.
• Making pork rind nachos seriously couldn’t be easier. Just like traditional nachos, you’ll want to start with the protein and build from there. We used seasoned ground beef this time, but you can also make nachos with shredded Mexican chicken, seasoned ground turkey, or shredded pork carnitas instead. Dress it up with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
• This is a great dish for larger groups, but you can also easily scale it back to serve just 1-2 people. As written, it makes approximately 2-4 meal-sized servings, depending on your preferred portions. If you serve it as a keto appetizer, it can feed 6-8 people comfortably. Of course, doubling the recipe would yield more servings with little-to-no real change in the amount of time, effort, or ingredients you’d need.

👩🏼‍🍳 Chef’s Tips

• You definitely want to be sure you’re using pork rinds for these nachos and not cracklins or chicharrones. They’re similar, but not the same. Pork rinds are airy and puffy, with as much fat and moisture removed during the process as possible. Cracklins and chicharrones are also crispy but at the same time chewier and more dense, made by leaving small amounts of fat on the pork skin before frying it. Because of that, they don’t get that puffy texture that pork rinds do.
• If you’re anticipating leftovers or making keto nachos as a meal prep for the week, do not refrigerate the pork rinds. In fact, depending on how you’ll reheat and consume the nachos later, you may want to refrigerate the ground beef separately from the cheese, and store the other toppings separately, too. If you refrigerate the pork rinds, though, they’ll end up chewy and soggy. Keep the pork rinds separate and only broil enough of the dish as a whole for the exact number of servings you need.
• If you’re using pico de gallo, jalapeños, or any other toppings that contain a lot of liquid, make sure you drain them very well before adding them to the nachos. The pork rinds will get pretty soggy pretty quickly if you add too much liquid, and that completely throws off the texture of the dish.

🥓 Delicious Low Carb + Keto Recipes We Love

• Fajita Salad with Steak (Whole30, Low Carb, Keto)
• Chick-Fil-A Style Keto Chicken Nuggets (With Keto Chick-Fil-A Sauce)
• 2-Ingredient Keto Magic Shell (Sugar-Free Chocolate Shell)
• Best Chimichurri Recipe Ever (from Texas de Brazil)
• Keto Smothered Pork Chops
• Cajun Chicken Salad with Cajun Ranch Dressing
• Keto Lemon Bars
• Marry Me Chicken
• Instant Pot Mississippi Pot Roast
• Keto Gumbo

Recipe By: Cheryl Malik

Pork Rind Nachos

Prep 15 minutes minutes

Cook 20 minutes minutes

Total 35 minutes minutes

Crunchy, savory pork rinds stand in for tortilla chips in this keto nacho recipe. Topped with taco meat, lots of cheese, creamy guac, and any of your other favorites for a quick and easy Mexican-inspired dinner or app.

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4 servings

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Equipment

• Large skillet
• Large wooden spoon
• small baking sheet

Ingredients

For the Taco Meat

• ▢ ½ pound lean ground beef
• ▢ ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cumin
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ ¼ cup water

For the Nachos

• ▢ 1 2.5-ounce bag pork rinds divided, see Notes
• ▢ 8 ounces shredded fresh pepperjack cheese or shredded fresh monterey cheese, divided

Suggested Toppings (All Optional)

• ▢ guacamole
• ▢ sliced jalapeños fresh or pickled, drained well
• ▢ pico de gallo drained well
• ▢ chopped fresh cilantro
• ▢ sour cream or crema

Instructions

For the Taco Meat

• Place ½ pound lean ground beef in large skillet and place skillet on stovetop over medium-high heat. Cook ground beef, stirring frequently and breaking up beef into crumbles, until ground beef is completely browned.
• Once ground beef is browned, add ½ teaspoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon cumin, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to skillet. Pour in ¼ cup water and stir to incorporate water, spices, and ground beef.
• Simmer mixture 3 to 5 minutes or until liquid fully evaporates and/or is absorbed into meat.

For the Keto Nachos

• Preheat broiler on high. If needed, reposition oven racks so that sheet pan can sit approximately 6 to 8 inches beneath heating element.
• Spread half of 1 2.5-ounce bag pork rinds across baking sheet. Sprinkle half of shredded cheese evenly across top of pork rinds, then top cheese layer with half of prepared taco meat.
• Layer remaining pork rinds on top of taco meat, then top pork rinds with evenly-distributed layers of remaining shredded cheese and remaining taco meat.
• Place baking sheet under preheated broiler and broil nachos just until shredded cheese melts. Be careful not to broil nachos too long or pork rinds can burn or lose their crisp texture.
• Once shredded cheese is melted, remove baking sheet from oven. Top nachos with desired toppings and serve immediately.

• Pork Rinds: I love to use jalapeño-flavored pork rinds for this recipe, but any flavor and any brand will work. Make sure whatever pork rinds you use are totally keto-friendly, without any sneaky carbs or hidden non-keto ingredients. And be sure to use large, puffy pork rinds, not cracklins or chicharrones.
• Shredded Cheese: Always shred your own cheese straight from a fresh block! Prepackaged shredded cheeses contain starches and fillers to prevent clumping. Those agents add unnecessary carbs and also keep the cheese from melting quite like it should, sometimes making the melted cheese gritty or grainy.
• Pico de Gallo: If you’re following a strict keto lifestyle, go very light on the pico, if you use it at all. Tomatoes and onions add up really quickly when you’re counting carbs!

Nutrition Info

Approximate Information for One Serving

Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 401calProtein: 34gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 104mgSodium: 798mgPotassium: 215mgFiber: 0.2gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 201IUVitamin C: 0.03mgCalcium: 410mgIron: 2mg

Nutrition Disclaimers

Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.

Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.

To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

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