No More Soggy Seconds—What the Hell Does “Reheating Nachos” Mean?

If you’ve been online in the past few months, you’ve probably seen someone accused of “reheating nachos.” What started as an offhand reality TV moment has evolved into a full-fledged internet metaphor for recycled ideas—whether it’s a musician revisiting an old sound, a brand rehashing a past campaign, or a celebrity trying to relive former glory. The phrase has spread across stan Twitter, TikTok, and beyond, but as with all viral slang, its meteoric rise begs the question: how the hell did we get here?

Origin

One moment on a reality show is all it took for the internet to adopt “reheating nachos." The phrase’s origin story is legend at this point: Natalie Nunn, a reality TV firecracker, accidentally birthed a meme in late 2023. Caught on camera eyeing another girl’s food, she launched a thousand jokes about “stealing nachos”.

The internet took that idea – wanting what someone else has – and ran. Eventually, we got “reheat nachos” to describe trying to grab someone else’s glory or redo your own past success and failing. It’s giving copycat with extra steps. Stan Twitter, TikTok, and fandom circles ran with it, and soon the metaphor jumped everywhere.

Timeline

Late 2023 – Origins on Reality TV

• The phrase's backstory starts with a late-2023 episode of Baddies West. During one scene, cast member Natalie Nunn was visibly eyeing co-star Stunna Girl's nachos with a bit too much interest.
• Viewers seized the moment, coining "wanted nachos" as a stand-in for envy. Stan accounts on Twitter soon embraced it, joking that "X wants Y's nachos" whenever a star seemed to crave another's success or following.

2024 – From Envy to Leftover Nachos

• As the meme spread through 2024, it morphed from simply "wanting" someone else's nachos into calling out stale ideas.
• Fans started referring to "leftover nachos" to describe recycled content, implying an artist was reusing an established formula instead of innovating. By mid-year, the term "reheating nachos" surfaced.

January 2025 – Doja Cat and a Meme Goes Viral

• In early January 2025, a viral social media post jokingly requested Doja Cat "reheat those nachos" for her next album, essentially asking her to revisit the sound that made her earlier hits successful. The tweet racked up tens of thousands of likes, instantly elevating "reheating nachos" from niche slang to a mainstream meme.

• Within days, stan communities piled on with nacho metaphors, accusing every artist with a similar new single or throwback vibe of "reheating someone else's nachos."
• The meme jumped to TikTok and Instagram, where influencers and content creators joined in with parody skits, reaction videos, and commentary.

February 2025 – Lady Gaga's Abracadabra & Mainstream Moment

• By February, "reheating nachos" reached its pop culture zenith when Lady Gaga released a surprise single titled "Abracadabra." Its electro-pop style quickly drew comparisons to her older hits, prompting fans to use the nacho metaphor in full force.
• Some joked Gaga was "reheating her own nachos," while others praised the track for doing just that—fans appreciated that old Gaga was back.

• Corporate accounts and high-profile individuals began referencing "reheating nachos" in social media posts, confirming the phrase had gone fully mainstream.

From Meme to Mainstream—Peak Nacho?

As often happens with internet slang, the phrase's sudden ubiquity signaled it might already be nearing peak usage. Marketing campaigns and morning talk shows picked it up, risking overexposure.

Despite that, "reheating nachos" remains a prime example of stan culture's creativity in repurposing everyday concepts—turning a random TV clip into a broad commentary on recycled trends. While it may eventually go stale, for the moment it stands as the go-to roast for any artist or franchise accused of repeating past glories.

(We're guilty of this, too, but let us plug our nachos for a sec...)

Where Do We Go From Here?

“Reheating nachos” began where most viral slang does — in the creative kitchens of Black Twitter — before leaking into the mainstream. Like every internet trend, its lifespan follows a brutal script: niche communities mint it, brands microwave it into oblivion, and by the time Kleenex starts quoting it? Consider it soggy.

Kind of feels like we’re getting to that point. Let’s see how long it lasts.