Tostadas are one of the best vessels for using up leftovers. (If you don’t know what Mexican tostadas are please read this.) They are fantastic with vegetarian and meaty toppings, the fun part about tostadas is experimenting with what you’re going to add on top.
Sometimes I like to go all out and make elaborate tostadas, like tinga, other times a simple smearing of Mexican sour cream and salsa or even just beans and crumbly cheese are the only topping I want on my tostada. But when I have small scraps of leftovers I know immediately how to use them. The tosadas you see here were made with leftover refried beans and leftover chicken. For the extra toppings and flavour I added shredded lettuce and cheese, slices of radishes, and a good drizzle of green salsa. The salsa (which was also leftover from a previous meal) is charred tomatillo and Serrano chile, and it too is super easy to prepare. The recipe is on my Spicy Food column here: Charred Tomatillo and Serrano Chili Salsa.
Okay, let me show you how easy it is to prepare these tostadas.
- store-bought tostadas
- 250 grams or half pound of cooked and shredded chicken*
- 175 grams or 6 oz refried beans (make your own)
- salsa verde (from this recipe)
- shredded lettuce
- shredded cheese
- sliced or chopped radishes
- Mexican sour cream (called crema)
- any other toppings desired
- or anything else.
- Once you have gathered all of the ingredients it's only a matter of assembling the tostada. You first (gently) spread a layer or the refried beans over the tostadas. Then sprinkle the chicken over the beans, then the lettuce, cheese, and radishes. Laslty and right before serving top with the salsa and sour cream, if using. It is important to have all of the ingredients ready to use. The reason is that the tostadas can become soggy and break if let to sit to long -- so serve straight away!
**Depending on how thick the beans are you may need to thin them down with a bit of water so they are easier to spread over the tostadas.
!For a vegetarian version replace the meat with your favourite vegetarian protein or simply omit it.
I hope you give these tostadas a try — or perhaps that they inspire you to create your own using whatever leftovers you have in your fridge. Either way enjoy and have a fantastic weekend!
Mouthwatering! Those tostadas look absolutely irresistible.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thank you Rosa!
Heyas! This is fabulous. Like the salsa recipe, as a chile-head! One of my fondest memories from grade school in So.Calif. in the 60’s was eating loaded tostadas for school lunch at least twice a week if not more. It was not a choice, you ate what they served. I love tostadas. Thanks! Woo hoo
Hi Gregory! Wow, I would have loved to swap out some of the horrible school cafeteria food for tostadas — lucky you. Thank you and enjoy:)
This puts the turkey sandwich and veggies I had for dinner to shame!
I’m sure you sandwich was delicious, thanks Sandra!
G’day Great photos as always to inspire!
Great recipe Nancy! Pinned and shared!
Cheers! Joanne
Thanks so much Joanne!
when i was pregnant this last time around i craved tostadas and nothing but tostadas! they got me through some rough times! we ate them simple, with canned beans and canned salsa, some crema and cilantro if we had it on hand. these look wonderful, with the chicken and the radishes!
Tostadas are THE BEST for leftover! I love these chicken tostadas! I usually don’t think of using radishes as a tostadas topping, so thanks for the idea.
This is right up my alley, simple AND delicious! And gorgeous to look at, too.