Ree Drummond's Potato Tip For Irish Nachos On St Patrick's Day

Crispy potato slices blanketed in a soft smattering of cheese, bacon, and all of your other favorite toppings — the thought of this indulgence alone is mouthwatering. This is a dish affectionally known as Irish Nachos, and the starchy treat is the perfect appetizer idea for your next St Patrick's Day party. If you're in the market for just the thing and want some tips on how to make this appetizer sing, perhaps no one knows better than culinary icon Ree Drummond. 

While there are a lot of ingredients that can go into this classic pub fare, Drummond swears by one simple tip in particular — use the proper potatoes. To get these fried potatoes to their signature thin and crispy makeup, Drummond recommends skipping out on thick, starchy varieties of this starch like russet and going for others with light, thin peels instead. Red or Yukon gold varieties are two of the best potatoes for the job, both being easy to slice thin while remaining waxy enough to hold their shape while being scooped up with toppings. 

Drummond swears by these versatile potatoes for more than one of her favorite potato dishes, so if you're convinced, consider giving her Irish Nachos recipe a try. Before you buy those ingredients though, let's talk about a few more helpful tips to make sure your nachos are some of the best.

While opting for the best variety of potatoes is key to some perfectly delicious Irish Nachos, there are a few other tips that are just as important to keep in mind. For one, let's talk cheese. Potatoes are the base of Irish Nachos, but the melted cheese that goes on top is the secondary ingredient that provides nice, complimentary flavors to crispy potatoes. When it comes to the type of cheese you should select for this dish, Drummond recommends a bold one to start with such as aged sharp cheddar. Sharp cheeses like this liven up this otherwise mild dish with tang, spice, and flavor. For that, Monterey Jack is another good option too. With its high moisture content and fat levels, it also melts really beautifully. 

These two ingredients make up the base of most Irish Nacho recipes, and from there the rest is up to you. Layer this hearty appetizer with freshly sliced jalapeños, a drizzle of ranch, spicy sausage, or chopped red peppers. (Or even corned beef for a plate of Reuben-topped Irish Nachos.) Like many other popular dishes, one of the best parts of Irish Nachos is how customizable it is, so don't shy away from getting creative with your additions.

If you're set on making a plate of these, let's dig into the history of the dish so you can talk about where they actually came from. While this decadent dish might be called by an Irish name, it's actually not of Irish origin. (Much like the popular potato-based dish of french fries, which actually comes from Belgium.) 

Irish nachos are the original idea of a pub owner from Texas named Randy Ford. Ford dreamed up this dish in 1980 when adding to the growing menu at J. Gilligan's Bar and Grill. Hoping to grow the business, Ford bought an old fryer from a local restaurant and started experimenting with different french fry recipes, all of which quickly became popular. In Ford's quest to create the best fry, he accidentally stumbled upon something even greater too–a brand-new kind of appetizer. One day the bar was so slammed with fry orders that they ran out of baskets to put them in, so Ford made his round cottage fries in a serving skillet instead. He then topped it with some Wisconsin cheddar cheese, tomatoes, jalapeños, and onions. From there he dubbed the dish Irish Nachos, and the rest is history.

While this dish might not be traditional in Irish cuisine, it sure is good and can be the perfect crowd-pleasing snack for a party. Give it a try with some of Drummond's trips in mind and let us know what you think.