What To Do With Leftover Tortilla Chips

Among all the nachos and dips the country was digging into this weekend, stocking up on enough tortilla chips was a necessity. In case you bought a few too many, don't throw away the excess. Tortilla chips are just as great at breakfast as they are at dinnertime, so put them to good use.

Here are six great ways to make the most of your leftover chips:

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.

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 or macaroni and cheese for a crispy, flavorful topping.

③ 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 needn't stop at Mexican flavors. Tortilla strips can add awesome crunch to everything from chicken noodle soup to a simple green salad.

④ Make Migas
Migas is a Tex-Mex breakfast of scrambled eggs and tortilla chips, plus anything else you'd want to eat with this combo. Think chiles, onions, cilantro and tomatoes. It just might be one of the most underrated hangover cures.

⑤ 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.

⑥ Make Your Own Compost Cookie
Momofuku's Compost Cookie made putting potato chips into cookies famous. Why not try your own decadent cookie featuring bits of tortilla chips? Sounds like a fail-safe plan to us.