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Or simply, “The Best Thanksgiving Appetizer”.
Ever.
And that is not an exaggeration. Promise. These are the best.
Why are these the best?
Well, because there is tons of gooey melted brie cheese. Brie should always, always be added to nachos from now on. Guys, it is crazy good and they are nachos so they can be put together in very little time.
These are a real winner. Just sayin.
And please, please, please do not get scared off by the brussels sprouts.
Seriously, they get so caramelized and loaded with cheese that it is hard to tell they are there. And to be honest, if you really dislike them you can leave them off. But I did serve these to my brussels sprouts hating mom one afternoon and she went crazy for these. It’s the brie. I think it is kind of magical.
But there is not only just brie. No, there is actually three cheeses.
I know, three!! This excites me greatly. Oh, and speaking of cheese, have you guys entered my Wisconsin Cheese Basket Giveaway yet? You really need to do that. It ends Sunday and man oh man it’s a good giveaway. You get an entire holiday cheese basket shipped to your door.
Score!
I also made homemade cranberry molasses to drizzle over these guys and wow. The stuff is good and super easy to make. I could drizzle it on everything!
These nachos are the perfect thing to serve as a Thanksgiving (or Christmas!! Just look at those gorgeous red and green colors!) appetizer.
They are pretty, delicious and loaded with cranberries and brie. Which in my mind is a Thanksgiving staple. You just have to have brie and cranberries during the holidays. You just have too.
I have had the idea for these nachos in my head since mid October, but I held out so I could make them closer to the holidays. Finally the time has come to share them.
I am so incredibly excited!
First, you need to caramelize the butternut squash and brussels sprouts. It’s what makes them so delicious and so perfectly sweet and savory with the brie. It really just works.
Then you throw in some spices to balance the sweetness and add the cranberries in the last few minutes of cooking to liven them up a bit. Pretty simple stuff, but still so awesome.
Oh, and you only have to dirty one dish! Holy heck, yes!
After you get the veggies caramelized all you have to do is layer on the goodness and melt, melt, melt melt!
Oh, and there are loads of veggies in there, so these are totally healthy.
And I am totally in love.
Cranberry, Butternut and Brussels Sprout Brie Skillet Nachos
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into small cubes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 cup brussels sprouts, sliced thin (into shreds)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to your taste
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 8 ounces fontina cheese, shredded (may sub another white cheese, but fontina is so good!)
- 8 ounces brie, sliced
- 1 bag tortilla chips
- 4 ounces gorgonzola or blue cheese, crumbled (for topping)
Cranberry Mollasses/Syrup/Sauce Thing
- 1 cup pure cranberry juice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet (10-12 inches) over medium heat, add the olive oil. Now add the butternut squash, sprinkle with brown sugar and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently to avoid burning for 15 minutes or until the squash is fork tender. Now toss in the sliced brussels sprouts, garlic, thyme, chili powder, cayenne and crushed red pepper. Continue to cook another 10 minutes, stirring frequently until both the squash and brussels sprouts are beginning to caramelize all over. Once caramelized, remove from the heat and stir in the dried cranberries. Slide the mixture onto a plate.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In the same skillet you cooked the veggies in, add 1/3 of the chips to the bottom and then cover them with 1/3 the cheese (a little brie, a little fontina), then sprinkle with 1/3 of the veggie mixture. Repeat this 2 more times until all of the cheese and veggie mixture have been used.
- Place the skillet in the oven and bake for 7-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly! Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the gorgonzola cheese (or you can add this before with the rest of the cheese) and serve drizzled with the Cranberry Molasses (do this!). Devour!
- To make the cranberry molasses add the cranberry juice and brown sugar to a small sauce pot. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook 5-8 minutes or until the mixture is reduced and syrupy. Serve with the nachos. If the molasses gets too thick just add a little cranberry juice to thin it out.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
FYI, melted brie and tortilla chips is probably one of the best things ever. You’ll see.
This looks and sounds amazing. Do you think it would ok to carmelize the veggies and then refrigerate overnight? We travel 1 1/2 Hours for dinner. Would like to put together there and bake.
Hey Deb! Yes, I think that will work great! Let me know if you have other questions. Hope this is a hit! 🙂
Wow this sounds YUMMY!! Want to take to work for others to try.Any suggestions on how to keep chips from being soggy? Or can I put all ingrediants in a crock pot once melted, and leave chips out for others to scoop cheese.etc…on?
HI! I love the idea of adding the toppings to the crockpot and then adding the chips just before serving. That will be great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
I made this for a Christmas gathering with family. I used a crock pot for everything but the chips. The only comment I would make is that the “blue cheese” is pretty strong and maybe don’t use as much. But than again I don’t like blue cheese!. I also did not have any luck with making the syrup with the cranberry. It was too thin. I will experiment with this again.
I hope you enjoy this more the next time you make it! Thanks Anne!
First off, I LOVE this recipe I have made it twice. Second, I did tacos instead of nachos because I didn’t have chips but had corn tortillas.
Also I still haven’t been able to find pure cranberry juice, any suggestions?
Hey Katy! So happy you love this recipe! You can use pomegranate juice or maybe another fruit juice? that is so weird you can’t find cranberry juice. So sorry! Let me know if you have other questions. Thank you!
These have become my new favourite!
Can I ask you where you got the spoon you were using in the pictures with the syrup for the nachos? Or if you know the manufacturer? I have bought pieces of the same utensils and can’t find them any more…..
Some details would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Suzanne
HI Suzanne! I bought those a long time ago and if I remember correctly, they are from Crate and Barrel, but I do not see them on their site anymore. Let me know if you have questions! Sorry I could not help more.
We had these this past Christmas, and everyone immediately decided they’re a new tradition! Also, I asked my husband to make these for Valentine’s Day dinner – we have a newborn, so there was no getting out. But, no matter – it was delicious!
SO happy you love them! Thanks you and Happy Valentines Day! 🙂
I made these to serve before Thanksgiving dinner during the football and IT. WAS. AMAZING. Cannot say enough good things about this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing it. Everyone was raving and it was my first Thanksgiving I’ve cooked/hosted 🙂
I have made these at least 4 times now, the only change I made was using fresh cranberries when they are in season and they are perfect every time! You are a genius for coming up with these and everyone I know thanks you for it! I must have sent at least 10 people to your site to make these for themselves. As for me, I am making this dish for lunch for those of us cooking on Thanksgiving.
That is so awesome!! Thank you so much for sending all your friends my way. I am thrilled you love this recipe. Have a great Thanksgiving!
Holy Amazeballs was this good! Definitely do the gooey glaze/sauce, it’s fantastic! Only thing I added was some blackberry jalapeño pulled pork I had made earlier, a very nice addition if you aren’t trying to do just veg. Great recipe, thanks!
I am so excited you loved these nachos! Thank you!
i made this over the weekend for a friends dinner party and KILLED it. this was SO good, and gave me a chance to use my 60+ year old cast iron skillet. everyone raved about how good it was, i may have even insulted the host over all the comments.
My friend and I made these to enjoy while watching the Oscars. We substituted sweet potatoes for butternut squash–the flavors were amazing and SO CHEESY. Thank you!
Oh so happy you guys loved them!! Thanks!
We made these last week, and my husband and I devoured pretty much the entire thing. Thank you so much for an amazing recipe. I never would have thought to mix all of these flavors together, but this dish was perfect! Can’t wait to make it again!
We just made it again, but this time put the whole mess on pizza dough instead of nachos. Delicious!
YUM!! That sounds awesome! Thanks so much, Jessica! 🙂
Happy New Year!
Mmmmm, now this sounds like the bomb!! A cheesy delicious bomb! 😉
Thanks Jocelyn! 🙂
That looks amazing! What an excellent thanksgiving apetizer!
Thank you!
These are making my mouth water 🙂
Thanks Julie!
I made these last night. Wow!! It was my dinner. They are delicious!!
YAY! So glad you loved these! Thanks Sharon!
Never mind appetizer, I would choose these as my main course over turkey any day! These look amazing, Tieghan!
No that is a compliment!! Thanks Meghan!