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❤️ Why you’ll love it
- A playful dessert for barbecues, cookouts, and camping
- Very easy—no baking required and ready in minutes
- Use homemade tortillas or store-bought chips for quicker prep
These grilled dessert nachos are a fun, inventive way to satisfy your sweet tooth. Crisp tortilla chips are tossed with cinnamon sugar, then topped with melted chocolate, caramel, and crunchy nuts for an irresistible treat.
📖 Variations
Mix and match toppings just like with savory nachos to create different flavor combinations.
- Swap chocolate chips for chocolate sauce.
- Drizzle warmed peanut butter for extra richness.
- Add fresh strawberries for bright, juicy contrast.
- Use shredded coconut instead of pecans for a tropical twist.
- Scatter mini marshmallows, butterscotch chips, or candy pieces over the chips before grilling.
- Finish with fresh whipped cream for a creamy touch.
- No-fry option: Brush tortillas with melted butter and bake in a single layer at 350°F for 10–12 minutes until crisp.
🔪 Instructions
This overview covers the main steps. Full, detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.
- If making chips from scratch, fry flour tortillas until golden and crispy.
- Toss warm chips in cinnamon and sugar.
- Arrange the chips in an aluminum pan and add chocolate, caramel, and nuts.
- Heat on the grill until the chocolate melts to your liking, then serve immediately.
🥫 How to store leftovers
Serve these nachos right away while the chips are still crisp and the chocolate is melty. Leftovers with toppings will become soggy, so they aren’t ideal to store.
If you have leftover plain cinnamon-sugar tortilla chips, keep them in an airtight container for a few days to preserve crispness.
💭 Things to know
Expert tip: Toss the chips in cinnamon sugar while they’re still warm so the coating adheres better.
- Use a high-smoke-point oil for frying—peanut oil works well; choose vegetable or canola oil if avoiding nuts.
- Poke a few holes in the sides of the aluminum pan to improve airflow and help chips stay crisp while absorbing a light hint of grill smoke.
- Keep an eye on the grill—chocolate can melt quickly.
👩🍳 Dessert Nacho FAQs
Keep frying oil at the right temperature. If the oil is too cool, chips absorb excess oil and take longer to crisp.
No—use bittersweet, semi-sweet, milk, dark, or a mix based on what you enjoy.
Prepare components ahead—make the cinnamon-sugar chips and store them airtight, chop nuts, and ready sauces. Assemble and grill just before serving for best texture.
📚 Related recipes
- Brazillian cinnamon sugar grilled pineapple is a simple fruity dessert that pairs well with summer grilling.
- No-bake Rolo cookies are a quick sweet-and-salty treat that come together in minutes.
- Brownie trifle is another easy dessert loaded with chocolate, fudge, and toffee flavors.
- No-Bake Dr Pepper Icebox Pie
- Basic Cream Sauce Recipe
- Popeyes Blackened Chicken Tenders (Easy Copycat)
- What to Serve with Steak (13 Side Dishes)
📞 The last word
I love Tex-Mex and chocolate, so these grilled dessert nachos were an instant favorite for me—and I think you’ll love them too.
If you adjust the servings in the recipe card you can scale the ingredient amounts. Use “add to collection” to save the recipe to your private recipe box if available.
If you enjoy this recipe, please consider rating it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Grilled Dessert Nachos
Ingredients
For Flour Tortilla Nachos
- Oil for frying (peanut, vegetable, or canola)
- 8 flour tortillas
For Tortilla Chip Nachos
- 4 cups white corn tortilla chips
For Topping
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 cup caramel sauce
- 6 ounces chocolate chips (bittersweet, milk, dark, or a mix)
- 6 ounces grated white chocolate
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
For Flour Tortilla Nachos
- Cut each tortilla into 8 wedges.
- Fill a deep pan with oil to a depth of about 3 inches and heat to 375°F; use a thermometer to monitor the temperature.
- Fry tortilla wedges in batches until crisp and golden, turning occasionally and avoiding overcrowding.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Mix cinnamon and sugar in a paper bag, then shake warm tortilla wedges in the bag until coated. Place coated chips in a disposable aluminum pan.
For Tortilla Chip Nachos
- If using store-bought chips, toss them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and arrange in the aluminum pan.
For Topping
- Top the chips with chocolate chips and caramel sauce, then sprinkle with chopped pecans.
- Grate white chocolate over the top.
- Place the pan on a grill preheated to medium, close the lid, and heat until the chocolate is melted, checking every few minutes.
- Serve hot.
Nutrition Facts
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Carbohydrates: 105 g
|
Protein: 9 g
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. Verify with your own nutrition calculator for medical use. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested multiple times. Substituting ingredients or changing the technique may alter the results.
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✍🏻 A note from Marye…
I know some readers skip the backstory, so I put it at the bottom—read or skip as you like.
The grill is the icon of summer, and we cook everything from steaks to pizza over the flame. Grilling dessert keeps the kitchen cool and lets you enjoy outdoor flavors without turning on the oven.
These dessert nachos are quick and safe—no flambéing required. Crisp cinnamon-sugar chips combine with melted chocolate, caramel, and pecans for a gooey, crunchy treat. You can simplify by using store-bought tortilla chips for a sweet-and-salty finish.
I haven’t had to call the fire department once while making these.
First published Mar 17, 2014. Last updated June 9, 2023 for editorial improvements and additional details.