Prepare Loaded Vegan Nachos

Just because you follow a plant-based diet doesn't mean you can't have some junk-food once in awhile. Likewise just because you're craving some junk-food doesn't mean you have to fill your stomach with trash. These festive, flavorful nachos will push all the right buttons when you want nothing more than to stuff your face with a plateful of nachos loaded with creamy cheese sauce, savory spicy meat and a colorful array of toppings.

For the vegan meat, you can use your favorite meat analog, whether that be some homemade vegan meat, or a commercially available textured pea protein. The key here is to thoroughly caramelize your onions and garlic as this is where the meat gets its flavor from.

For the chips, I used some standard fried organic corn chips, but if you're counting calories you can certainly use baked ones instead. For the toppings you can either use a store bought dairy-free cheese sauce, pico de gallo and guacamole, or if you're like me and want to make everything from scratch, you can get the recipes for my vegan nacho cheese sauce, pico de gallo and guacamole at the respective links.

Because vegan cheese sauces tend to have a higher water content than their dairy-based counterparts, it's important to eat this as soon as it's put together, otherwise your chips will end up soggy.