Ok I will microwave the whole lot. I will update how it worked out.

Update was horrid. Will use less tomatoes and cook on a cookie sheet in the oven next time. To maximize cheese to Tostitos surface area.
Also will put tomatoes as a dip and not to pile on the nachos. Also will drain the canned tomatoes. Also after I use the five cans leftover, I will switch to fresh cut tomatoes.

I use salsa straight out of the jar, store in frig for a couple of weeks. Diced canned tomatoes are 25% liquid, at least.

I make mine on a cookie sheet in the oven – works really well, good cheese distribution. I also either drain the tomatoes well, like with paper towels, or my preference is fresh, but I don’t always have them on hand.

If you want a super good dip there’s one called Dallas Dip. It’s basically nachos except you dip the chips into it. It’s made with Velveeta, hamburger and finely diced onions in addition to other ingredients. I also add black olives. OMG it’s good. I don’t make it often because it’s more work than I usually want to put in. It started out as a Superbowl Dip. Now I want some!

p.s. most of the recipes I found online aren’t it at all.

Don’t use canned tomatoes, too much liquid and no “snap” to the texture. Dicing two fresh tomatoes and then letting them drain while you prepare the rest would be sufficient and less. And no, don’t heat them. You want the coolness of the tomatoes to offset the heat of the nachos.

Don’t use bacon, it is too greasy and has too string a taste to mix with the rest of the ingredients. A half pound of ground beef, browned and with fat drained off but maybe seasoned with taco seasoning would mix in much better.

I use home canned salsa, cold.

My ideal nachos are:
Shredded natural cheese
Black olives
Taco meat
Lots of sour cream
Fresh chives
Gluten free chips

I like to keep it very simple.

I spread chips over a cookie sheet and top with lots of grated cheese. I don’t eat meat, so I sprinkle canned beans all around. I bake it under the broiler until the cheese is melted. When I use the broiler, I never leave the oven. I watch it the whole time. When the cheese melts, I turn off the oven and take it out.

I put lots of salsa from a jar all over them, and then I eat.

From The King of Queens:

Doug Heffernan : Every pile of nachos has one main chip that holds the whole thing together… the nucleus. You don’t take the nucleus, you work around it. You honor it.

Deacon Palmer : That’s Nachos 101, man.

I make mine similarly to @Hawaii_Jake except I put the refried beans under the grated cheese. And some canned jalepeno bits on top. I bake it on a cookies sheet in the oven at 350 until the cheese melts. I don’t usually serve it with sour cream or pico de gallo as sides but you could. The more cheese the better!

Now I really, really want nachos!

@janbb Me too! But since I have the ingredients, I’ll settle for Rotel dip.

^^ Can I come over?

^^ <schmackkk> Just finished, but I’ll gladly make more!

I’ve never added tomatoes to nachos.

My home-made nachos have pretty much always just been chips and cheese.

Microwaving tomatoes seems like a recipe for sadness, unless they’re cooked and/or thoroughly mixed into something else.

Ewwwwww, no.