Addison’s Italian Nachos

I first had these nachos in college when I visited my sweet friend, Kaitlyn, for the weekend in Columbia, MO. I made the trip from Oklahoma with another good friend of ours.

It was the best girls’ weekend. We never stopped talking and if I remember correctly, we wore sweats the whole weekend.

One night we went to one of Kaitlyn’s favorite restaurants, Addison’s, for dinner and ordered their Nachos Bianco to split.

Addison’s used pasta chips instead of tortilla chips and Asiago and mozzarella in place of Mexican cheeses. Then the nachos were topped with fresh tomatoes, green onion, and banana peppers, which added a fantastic tangy flavor.

In my first attempt at recreating these nachos, I tried making pasta chips by breaking up lasagna noodles, boiling them, then frying them.

The chips tasted good as nachos but the cooking process was too lengthy for these to be the quick, easy nachos I had in mind. So I opted to do some research to find a better method.

There seemed to be a pasta chip consensus on the internet – use wonton wrappers.

They were the perfect solution because they fry up really quickly. It took me about 10 minutes to fry these up in a large skillet.

After the chips are made, all you do is sprinkle on the cheese and either black beans, chicken, or Italian sausage and bake until the cheese is melted, around 5 minutes. Sprinkle on the veggies and then DIG IN. Best when shared with friends. :)

• Servings: 2-4
• Time: 20 min.
• Print

• 20 wonton wrappers, cut in half to make triangles (makes 40 chips which covers 1 sheet pan)
• roughly 1 c. canola oil
• salt for the pasta chips
• 1 heaping c. shredded good quality Asiago
• heaping 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella (plus an extra pinch for good measure ;))
• 1 roma tomato, diced
• 2-3 green onions, thinly sliced
• handful of sliced banana peppers
• black beans, cooked chicken or cooked Italian sausage

For the chips:

In a large skillet, heat the canola oil over medium heat for a few minutes. Once the oil is hot, add the halved wonton wrappers in batches. They fry very quickly. The chips are done when they turn opaque, bubble up, and turn slightly brown at the edges. Let drain on paper towels and sprinkle with a little salt.

For the nachos:

Heat oven to 350º. Spread out the chips on a baking sheet, sprinkle on the cheese and either black beans, chicken or sausage. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes or so. Sprinkle on the tomatoes, green onion, and banana peppers. Serve immediately.