My husband doesn’t expect a lot of me in the kitchen, bless his heart. He never really requests meals or has any problem when we end up doing something super simple like a sandwich or soup on a busy weekday night. His only request he’s had since day 1 of our marriage is that we always have ingredients for nachos. Ha! He’s a simple man and is happy as a clam as long as he has his basic fixins for nachos: tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream and salsa. Easy peasy lemony squeezy, right?? You’d think I’d be able to manage to do that, wouldn’t you think?? Well, it’s pretty sad how often I cannot manage to do this simple task. We’re always out of at least one of those ingredients and I never do seem to have those in those rare, but desperate times he’s on the hunt for his tried and true staple: nachos.

One of the main reasons is because I absolutely cannot stand when there is a half bag of uneaten, now turned stale, bag of tortilla chips. We have wasted too many a bag of tortilla chips because he has his one plate of nachos and sadly, the rest would get stale and eventually get thrown away. Well, that shall happen no more!!

Then came the day when I remembered my mom making one of my favorite meals growing up where it was a Tex-Mex kind of chicken casserole type meal where she used up her leftover bags of chips with this perfect, delicious meal. So I will share that recipe at the bottom. This is one of my favorite ways to use up those chips nowadays.

I also found a few more great uses for that sad, uneaten half bag of tortilla chips that seem to be laying around on any given day.

1. Make Chilaquiles

   
   

   Quite possibly the best use of your tortilla chips is a Mexican breakfast dish called chilaquiles. Made by soaking tortilla chips in sauce and loading them with toppings like avocado, sour cream and queso fresco, this traditional Mexican dish is about to become your new morning addiction. I am a Mexican food lover so I can’t wait to try this!

2. Use Crumbles for Toppings

Small, broken chips will inevitably line the bottom of the bag and make up a large portion of your leftover stock. Crumble them onto casseroles (such as my mom’s awesome recipe below) or macaroni and cheese for a crispy, flavorful topping.

1. Garnish Soups and Salads

   
   

Tortilla strips or chopped up pieces make perfect garnishes for soup and salad. Everyone's heard of tortilla soup, but you don’t need to stop at just Mexican flavors. Tortilla strips can add awesome crunch to everything from chicken noodle soup to a simple green salad.

1. Make a Tex-Mex Breakfast Scramble

Make a breakfast scramble with scrambled eggs and tortilla chips, plus anything else you’d want with this combo such as chiles, onions, cilantro, tomatoes, etc.

1. Crush ‘Em

Crush crispy tortillas into fine crumbs and use them in place of bread crumbs. You just turned chicken tenders up a few notches.

Do you have any other ways you like to use those leftover chips? Please let us know in the comments below :)

King Ranch Chicken

6-8 flour tortillas (or use tortilla chips—enough the line the bottom of the dish with a thick layer)

1 can mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 boiled, deboned chicken (or 4-5 chicken breasts)

1 cup hot chicken broth

1 can Rotel tomatoes

½ cup chopped onion

8 oz. grated cheese

Layer tortillas (or tortilla chips) in a 9”x13” baking dish. Pour hot broth over the tortillas and let stand for 5 minutes. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and spread over tortillas. Spread undiluted soup, which have been mixed, over chicken. Sprinkle with cheese and onion. Chop large pieces of tomatoes and pour on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbling. Serves 6.

Add Recipe to Cook'n