Karl Koch's nacho recipe

Welcome to the wonderful world of culinary creativity, where rock and roll meets mouthwatering flavors! In this recipe, we'll be taking a classic snack favorite, nachos, and infusing it with the spirit of the iconic American rock band, Weezer. Just like Weezer's catchy tunes, these nachos are guaranteed to make your taste buds sing!

Karl Koch's nacho recipe
User:MoonBright's rendition of Karl Koch's original nacho recipe
Snack recipe by Karl Koch
Published	July 15, 2022 (original) May 19, 2023 (revised)
Prep time	About 20 minutes
Cost	About $45 (makes multiple trays)
Difficulty	Simple (original) Simple – Advanced (revised)

Prepare to embark on a flavor-filled journey as we combine crunchy tortilla chips, zesty cheese, and a medley of delectable toppings that pay homage to Weezer's legendary discography. Whether you're hosting a Weezer-themed party or simply seeking the knee-stocking flavor of your favorite treat, these Weezer nachos are sure to hit all the right notes.

So grab your apron, turn up the volume on your favorite Weezer album, and let's dive into this epic recipe that promises to be the perfect culinary harmony of cheesy goodness and rockin' flavors. Get ready to savor the taste of Weezer's musical legacy while indulging in a plateful of nacho nirvana!

Original recipe

This nacho recipe is formulated by Weezer webmaster, historian, and roadie Karl Koch. It was first publicly shared on the first episode of the Special Goodness podcast, The Special Podness.

Karl: I've been making nachos for many years, I've perfected the formula.

Pat: You need a chip, and some cheese.

Karl: Well, yes. But you have to be more specific than that, it turns out. But, that is the start.

Pat: Hot Costco chips, and Costco cheese.

Karl: No— you've already gone— now we're— we have to correct Pat again.

Ingredients needed

Note: Ingredients make multiple trays. Amount of each ingredient listed does not reflect amount needed for one serving.

Visual instructions (illustrated by thesecondreo)

• 1 bag TOSTITOS® Hint of Lime tortilla chips
• 1 bag TOSTITOS® Hint of Jalapeño tortilla chips (optional)
• 1 bag TOSTITOS® Multigrain SCOOPS!® tortilla chips
• Whole block pepper jack cheese
• Whole block hot habanero cheese
• Jar of banana peppers
• Jar of sliced jalapeño (optional)
• 1 bottle Cholula® Original Hot Sauce
• 1 bottle Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce
• 1 bottle Frank's RedHot® Original Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce
• 1 bottle Huy Fong® Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
• Jar of preferred salsa
• 1 copy Land Air Sea by the Special Goodness on red vinyl

Additional preparations include:

• 1 non-stick baking pan of preferred size
• 1 cheese grater
• 1 record player

Karl: Well you have to have, like, Tostitos, but you get the hint of lime, and if you can find them, you get hint of jalapeño. And, then, you get the scoops, but the multi-grain scoops. . . . And, cheese has to be a combination of pepper jack, and hot habanero cheddar, . . . then you throw in, like— y'know, banana peppers, and, like, maybe some jalapeño slices—

Pat: Dude. That's all too much. This is too much.

Karl: Then— then, you gotta have your sauces. You gotta have the Cholula, you gotta have, like, the Tapatío, you gotta have the, y'know, the RedHot sauce . . . And the Sriracha too.

Steps

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
2. Use grater to shred all cheese blocks onto a plate for later use. Mix cheese until both flavors are uniformly distributed in pile.
3. Pour chips onto bottom of baking pan, alternating the flavor of chip as they are poured, until the bottom of the pan is covered.
4. Sprinkle shredded cheese generously to cover layer of chips.
5. Top cheese with banana peppers, sliced jalapeños, and each type of hot sauce, to liking.
6. Repeat steps 3–5 until top of baking pan is reached (or until desired amount of nachos is reached). Ensure that ingredients are distributed closer to the perimeter of the pan wherever possible to allow for even baking. The final shape of the ingredients should roughly resemble a donut.

Karl: . . . you kinda do, like, chips, layer of cheese, then you throw in, like— y'know, banana peppers, and, like, maybe some jalapeño slices . . . then, you gotta have your sauces. . . . and you just do, like, a layering. . . . so it's like, layers, so it's kinda like chips, stuff, chips, stuff, chips, stuff— but you can't have it too tight, cause in the oven, it will just be all slimy in the middle. You gotta have, like— kinda like— almost a donut shape. The donut shape is what does it, cause you give it some air in the middle.

Pat: Techniques.

7. Once pan is prepared and oven is pre-heated, place pan into oven.
8. Bake nachos until chips are visibly brown and singed on tips, then retrieve pan from oven.
9. Top nachos with preferred flavor(s) of salsa to liking.

Karl: Bake that shit until the chips start turning brown and black on the tips, and then you pull it out, and you're good. And then you add salsa.

10. Pull Land Air Sea vinyl out of sleeve, place carefully onto platter of record player, move needle onto record, and hit play.
11. Enjoy your delicious Weezer nachos!

Revised recipe

On May 19, 2023 in the Weezerpedia Discord server, Koch revealed numerous "special modifications" to the recipe that had been made since the Special Podness interview. The following revised recipe reflects the changes made.

Karl: LOL thats an amazing page. I forgot all about that, er, "interview". As for the recipe, its 95% there. Ive made some.... special modifications... (Han Solo voice) over the years. I will list them.

Ingredients needed

Note: Ingredients make multiple trays. Amount of each ingredient listed does not reflect amount needed for one serving.

• 1 bag TOSTITOS® Hint of Lime tortilla chips
• 1 bag TOSTITOS® Hint of Jalapeño tortilla chips (optional)
• 1 bag TOSTITOS® Multigrain SCOOPS!® tortilla chips
• Whole block pepper jack cheese
• Whole block hot habanero cheese
• Jar of banana pepper rings OR handful of fresh banana peppers
• Jar of sliced jalapeño OR handful or fresh jalapeño peppers (optional)
• 1 bottle Cholula® Chili Lime Hot Sauce
• 1 bottle Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce
• 1 bottle Huy Fong® Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
• 1 bottle Tabasco® Brand Original Red Pepper Sauce
• 1 bottle Tabasco® Brand Original Green Pepper Sauce
• 1 bottle Ortega® Taco Sauce
• Jar of preferred salsa
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 lemon
• 1 copy Free Flight Thru the Universe of Sound by Southern Fried Swing on CD-R

Additional preparations include:

• 1 non-stick baking pan of preferred size
• 1 cheese grater
• 1 Bundt cake pan (optional; advanced method only)
• 1 can non-stick cooking spray (optional; advanced method only)
• 2 oven mitts (optional; advanced method only)
• 1 CD player

Karl: . . . cut an avocado (ripe and creamy) up into cubes . . . cut 1 lemon in half . . . no franks hot sauce, only tabasco (oh and red and green tabasco too) . . . usually use more "green" (like chile lime Cholula, green tabasco) on the lower layers for some reason . . . J peppers i use jarred. but damn if you can fresh cut some, that sounds like a bonus . . . Ortega Medium Taco Sauce as one of the sauces to lightly drizzle on some of the layers.

Steps

Simple method

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
2. Use grater to shred all cheese blocks onto a plate for later use. Mix cheese until both flavors are uniformly distributed in pile.
3. Dice avocado.
4. Cut lemon in half, and dispose of any visible seeds.
5. If using fresh banana peppers or jalapeño, slice peppers.
6. Place TOSTITOS® Multigrain SCOOPS!® chips face-down onto baking pan to cover an approximately circular area, serving as the base of the nachos. Leave some space in the center of the circle open. The chip formation should look roughly like a donut.

Karl: OH - on the bottom layer, on the pan, its all scoops -- upside down like an army of turtles.

7. Sprinkle shredded cheese generously to cover layer of chips.
8. Place (at most) 8–10 banana and jalapeño pepper slices on top of cheese.
9. Blot layer with salsa and add Cholula® Chili Lime and Tabasco® Brand Original Green Pepper hot sauce.
10. Top base with 1–2 more layers following the same pattern and shape, but:
    • Use all flavors of chips and disregard chip orientation
    • Use different combinations of sauce on each layer, ensuring green pepper flavors remain towards the lowest layers

Karl: yeah, each layer in this order: chips, cheese blend, banana pepper and jalapeno slices (not a ton, like 8-10 pieces max per layer), then sauce/salsa (i mix up the combos per layer. usually use more "green" (like chile lime Cholula, green tabasco) on the lower layers for some reason.

11. Top final layer with additional Huy Fong® Sriracha and Tabasco® Brand Original Red Pepper sauce.
12. Once pan is prepared and oven is pre-heated, place pan into oven.
13. Bake nachos until chips are visibly brown and singed on tips (allow to bake for longer than feels necessary). Then, retrieve pan from oven.
14. Top nachos with preferred flavor(s) of salsa to liking.
15. Sprinkle diced avocado onto nacho spread.
16. Before serving, squeeze lemon juice onto nachos.

Karl: . . . keep it light and airy - cant emphasize enough, you need the heat to penetrate the inside to avoid undecooked sludge. . . . go a little longer than you thinkyou should. the chips should be getting pretty burnt on the tips. . . . cut an avocado (ripe and creamy) up into cubes and spread on the top after cooking. . . . cut 1 lemon in half and squeeze the juice (not the seeds though) over the top a the very end, before serving.

17. Pull Free Flight Thru the Universe of Sound CD-R out of sleeve, place bodaciously into CD player, and hit play.
18. Enjoy your simple, revised Weezer nachos!

Advanced method

Note: Many steps in this method are identical to the simple method and, as such, are not reproduced in this section.

A Bundt cake pan, flipped open-side-up.

1. Pre-heat one oven to 350°F. If another oven is accessible, pre-heat it to 350°F as well. If only one oven can be used, the heat will be increased later in the recipe.
2. Complete steps 2–9 of the simple method. Ensure shape of base layer is similar to perimeter of Bundt cake pan.
3. Take Bundt cake pan and flip it to open upwards. Spray inside with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Complete step 10 of the simple method INSIDE of the Bundt cake pan, but, after covering the bottom of the pan with chips, reverse the layering order (i.e., sauce/salsa first, then peppers, then cheese, then chips) as the cake pan will be later be flipped onto the base pan.

Karl: . . . use a baking pan for the base layer only, use a BUNDT CAKE PAN, (upside down), to layer the "doughnut". . . . find a coating so the cheese doesnt stick to the bundt pan - easy off doesnt cling to the walls! . . . you have to put chips first so its not 100% mess at the bottom (which will become the top)

(Visual context; as provided by Karl)

5. Once oven is pre-heated and both pans are prepared, place only Bundt cake pan into oven.
6. Wait a short amount of time, and then:
   • If using two ovens, place the original pan with the base layer into the second oven.
   • Otherwise, place the original pan into the oven with the Bundt cake pan, and turn the heat onto 425°F.
7. Bake nachos until chips are visibly brown and singed on tips (allow to bake for longer than feels necessary). Then, retrieve both pans from oven(s).

Karl: . . . put that one in first, takes longer to cook than the flat sheet will. (put flat sheet in a little later, in fact use a separate oven for it if possible so it doesnt steal the heat from the bundt, or just crank to 400+ if you got one oven.

8. Using two oven mitts, very carefully flip Bundt cake pan contents onto base layer of nachos.
9. Complete steps 14–17 of the simple method.

Karl: . . . then take out bundt cake pan, and carefully FLIP IT ONTO THE FLAT PAN, dumping out the hopefully somewhat congealed mass of nacho doughnut ring. (then add the salsas, hot sauce, siracha, avocado cubes, and lemon). . . . its especially tricky because the bundt cake thing is super hot out of the oven so you need 2 oven mitts to hold and flip, but you dont want it to go flying out.

11. Enjoy your advanced, revised Weezer nachos!

DEATHS DIRECTLY CAUSED BY THE PRODUCTION OR CONSUMPTION OF KARL KOCH'S NACHO RECIPE:	3

See also

• Karlophone's "Firey Turnip Krantulons" cereal
• The Special Podness
• Karl Koch