How to Make Guy Fieri’s Trash Can Nachos: Step-by-Step With Photos

• I made Guy Fieri’s over-the-top Trash Can Nachos in anticipation of Super Bowl Sunday.
• The final nacho pile was impressive, but Fieri’s tasty “Super Melty Cheese” queso stole the show. 
• Contrary to the name, you don’t need a trash can to make this recipe — a big pot is fine. 

Known for his bleach-blonde hair, silly persona, and his popular show “Diner, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” Guy Fieri is one of my go-to chefs when I’m looking for fun, flavorful recipes.

With the Super Bowl around the corner, I decided to try making his epic Trash Can Nachos. They’re essentially loaded nachos in tower form with a whole lot of extra cheesy goodness, which he refers to as “Super Melty Cheese” or simply “SMC.” 

Since this is my second adventure through Flavortown, I knew this seemingly straightforward recipe would have some flavor home runs mixed with interesting twists.

Here’s how making Guy Fieri’s larger-than-life nachos went. 

The nachos didn’t require too many ingredients, but I made some substitutions 

First, I gathered my ingredients, which ranged from pantry staples like cumin and garlic to items I didn’t have on hand, like pickled jalapeños and cotija cheese. 

The meat was easy to prepare 

I started by making the marinade for my carne asada, which is typically made with grilled and sliced beef. Fortunately, the marinade was easy to throw together.

I squeezed the juice of a lime into a bowl, then added four minced garlic cloves and a teaspoon of kosher salt. I put the steak and marinade in a plastic bag and refrigerated it for about 30 minutes.

While the meat was marinating, I began preparing my black beans

The recipe calls for soaking dried black beans overnight. That felt like an unnecessary step, so I used a can of unsalted, unflavored black beans instead.

I dumped the drained beans into a small pot, covered it with a couple of inches of water, brought it to a boil, then reduced it to a simmer. I added half of a minced sweet onion, a few cloves of minced garlic, kosher salt, and a teaspoon of oregano to the pot.

I couldn’t find the Mexican oregano the recipe asks for, so I substituted it with dried oregano. The recipe says to cook the beans for about an hour until tender, but I just let them simmer on high until the liquid evaporated.  

This simmering process took about an hour and a half, which gave me time to do everything else.

I didn’t have an outdoor grill, so I used a hot pan for the steak

While my beans were simmering, I started cooking my marinated meat. The recipe calls for a grill, but I didn’t have one. Instead, I used an oiled, super-hot stovetop skillet.

I grilled my meat until both sides were nicely charred, about five minutes on each side. I suggest turning on a fan and opening your windows if you’re doing this indoors, as my apartment and I smelled like a taqueria after cooking the meat.

After the steak was ready, I set it aside and let it rest.

While my meat rested and beans simmered, I started on my cheese sauce

The recipe calls for five cheeses: Oaxaca, Asadero, Monterey Jack, mild cheddar, and cotija.

I couldn’t find Asadero, but the “Mexican Blend” bags of shredded cheese I found at the store say they contain Asadero, Monterey Jack, queso blanco, and mild cheddar. I figured it would be fine to use this as a more affordable substitute. 

To start the “SMC,” I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and added a bit of flour to make a roux. I whisked them together for five minutes and then mixed in a cup each of whole milk and heavy cream. 

I brought this to a boil and then threw an 8-ounce bag of the shredded cheese and 2 ounces of the Oaxaca into the pot. 

As the cheese melted, I kept whisking it so it would not burn. I then added a generous few dashes of cayenne pepper and cumin, a handful of minced jalapeños, a pour of jalapeño juice, and two scoops of pico de gallo.

It smelled absolutely amazing, and the sauce started developing a gooey, thick texture.

Next, I chopped my meat and prepared my ingredients for layering

My ingredients for layering included carne asada, “SMC,” more shredded cheese, cotija, red onion, cilantro, black beans, pico de gallo, jalapeño, and chips. 

At this time, I also prepared some of my garnish, like sliced avocado and radish. 

I didn’t actually need a trash can or even an extremely large pot for this recipe

Based on the name of the recipe, I thought I would need a trash can (or enormous pot) to make these nachos.

The recipe says a 110-ounce can or metal bucket works well, though that seems to be a bit on the smaller side. I decided to use a medium-sized metal pot I had in my kitchen. 

I started layering all my ingredients one after the other, alternating with layers of chips. Once the pot was filled, I tried to invert it onto a flat plate.

I was worried the tower would just collapse, but it actually held together quite well.

The nachos didn’t perfectly keep their shape, but they still looked impressive 

I accidentally used chips as the first layer when I should have started with the “SMC,” which probably would have helped the nachos stay together better.

Still, I ended up pouring more of the tasty sauce over the top of my nachos later on, which made them messier anyway. I also added more garnishes, like cilantro, lime wedges, radish, avocado, extra jalapeños, and red onion.

It didn’t look like the prettiest dish in the world, but the toppings seemed evenly distributed throughout the chips. It certainly looked tasty. 

The nachos were delicious, and I’d make them again 

These nachos were, as Fieri would say, “bomb-dot-com.”

The carne asada was extremely flavorful and had an excellent zest to it, thanks to the lime and grilled garlic bits that I had scraped off of my pan. I loved the lime flavor and wished the recipe had called for more than just 8 ounces of meat. 

The “SMC” was my favorite part of the nachos. It was flavorful and packed with all the goodness of cheese and spices that really made this dish so addictive. The cumin was a wonderful touch, and I’ll be adding it to every queso I make from now on. 

The black beans were also extremely flavorful yet didn’t distract from the rest of the layers of flavor complexity.

Overall, I’ll definitely be making these again. I ate about a fourth of the Trash Can Nachos myself, so next time, I’d double all of the ingredients except for the chips when serving to a group.

This story was originally published on February 2, 2021, and most recently updated on February 7, 2025.