Looking for something fun to serve a crowd that takes just a few minutes to set up? A nacho bar is the perfect thing! I’ve served a DIY nacho bar for everything from a Halloween open house, to football watch parties, to birthdays. It’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser that even kids like. 

I’m always looking for easy ways to set out a meal that people can customize. We often host mixed groups with both adults and young kids, vegetarian and meat-eaters, gluten-free and gluten tolerant, and one meal we’ve found that works for absolutely everyone is a nacho bar. It has proven to be one of my most popular hosting themes which is great because it requires virtually no prep. 

Read on for my suggestions on keeping everything at the right temperature, how much of each ingredient to purchase, and a big list of topping ideas, but keep in mind that something like this can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.

Keep it simple or level-up

This is all about fun, so if you want to keep things simple, just grab everything ready-made. Your grocery store surely has a wide selection of fresh and jarred salsas, seasoned beans, dips, chips, and everything else you might need.

If you want to add more homemade elements, think about black bean and corn salsa, chicken carnitas, roasted tomato salsa, or some veggie options like the taco-spiced cauliflower from these cauliflower tacos. 

And no matter whether you go the store-bought or homemade route, or something in between, you can fill your nacho bar with as many toppings as you want. See below for just a few ideas to get you started. 

Toppings for a nacho bar

• Sour cream
• Guacamole
• Black olives
• Salsa and / or pico de gallo (get a mix from mild to spicy)
• Ground beef sauteed with taco spices or any taco meat
• Seasoned black beans, pinto beans, or refried beans
• Flavored sour cream-based dips (I love to put out a few party dips for some fun flavor options)
• Cheese dip / nacho cheese
• Shredded cheese
• Black bean and corn salsa
• Pickled jalapenos 
• Pickled onions
• Shredded lettuce
• Cilantro or green onions
• Chopped sweet peppers 
• Hot sauce

It’s also fun to set out a variety of chips with blue corn and yellow corn and maybe even corn chips in the mix too. 

How many chips and how much meat to buy for a nacho bar

For each adult, planning on the following measurements for your nacho bar will insure there is plenty for everyone. This assumes that a nacho bar is all that you are serving. If you are serving these as part of a large spread of food, you can easily reduce these by a third. 

Chips – 2 ounces / adult

Ground meat – 3 ounces (before cooking) / adult

Beans – 3 ounces / adult

If you’re serving both ground meat and beans, plan on 3 ounces of each per adult. However, if you’re only serving one or the other, aim for closer to 5 ounces of meat or beans for each adult.

How to serve nachos

The biggest challenge to serving a nacho bar is keeping all of the ingredients at the appropriate temperature. You’ll want to keep the meat, beans, and cheese warm while keeping the sour cream, guacamole, and any other creamy dips cold. 

If serving immediately: If everything will be eaten right away, just heat up the warm ingredients right before serving and pull the cold ingredients out of the fridge just before serving. They’ll be fine at room temperature for the time it takes to let everyone assemble their nachos.

If leaving out for 30 minutes or more: One of the perks of a nacho bar is that it’s a great meal to have sitting out during a game or open house. People can help themselves whenever they’re ready. I used this three compartment slow cooker which could easily be used to hold nacho toppings for up to 20 people. For cold ingredients, just put them in a wide, shallow serving bowl and fill the base of the bowl with ice. Or place the cold ingredients on top of ice packs (you can cover them with a dish towel. This should keep everything cold for a couple of hours. 

More Tex-Mex Favorites

Tex Mex Pita Pizzas

Tex Mex Burgers with Guacamole

Slow Cooker Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers

Instant Pot Tex Mex Chicken and Brown Rice Stew