Transform Leftover Burgers Into The Easiest Weeknight Nachos

As delicious and juicy as homemade burgers are right off the grill, they might not produce quite the same effect a day or two later. And even if they do hold up well in the fridge, it's easy to run out of buns before you finish all your patties. But if your leftover burgers are still good to eat and you don't want to throw them out just yet, there are plenty of tasty ways to repurpose them. One of the easiest, which hardly involves any cooking at all, is to turn them into weeknight nachos.

Essentially, all you'll have to do is crumble up your leftover patties, and you have a makeshift version of cooked ground beef. Especially if you seasoned your burgers well, you'll end up with tasty morsels of meat that can easily be sprinkled on your chips and toppings, with no extra prep required. Of course, you'll still have to assemble the rest of the nachos, but that typically just involves layering all the ingredients together and melting the cheese. And because the beef will be dispersed throughout the chips, instead of at the center of a burger, you likely won't notice that it's not at its juiciest.

Before you make your nachos, you'll want to chop up your leftover patties until the pieces are the size of cooked ground beef. You don't need to heat them up ahead of time, because they'll warm up in the oven when you stick your final creation in. Then once you layer tortilla chips on a baking sheet, sprinkle your chopped patties on top, followed by the rest of your toppings and cheese. If you originally made cheeseburgers, you have another opportunity to re-use your food. Feel free to separate the cheese from the meat as much as you can, shred it, and disperse it on top of your nachos as well. And if you have unused slices sitting in the fridge, those can go on too.

Other leftover toppings can be a little dicey, depending on how old they are and how they were originally used. If you have fresh lettuce, onions, peppers, mushrooms, chiles, or jalapeños that never made their way onto your burgers, those can be sliced or chopped and added to your nachos as well. However, you may want to saute certain veggies, like peppers or mushrooms, ahead of time — and if the toppings are stuck to the patties in the fridge, they may not make for tasty nacho ingredients. But otherwise, transforming burgers into nachos is a simple way to repurpose your leftovers into a tasty weeknight dinner.