What's better than some crunchy Tacos or traditional Mexican Quesadillas? These Taco Quesadillas are buzzing with exotic Mexican seasoning, yummy ground beef and stringy cheese. Whether you're a fan of Mexican cuisine or not, the combination of Taco's and Quesadillas together is undoubtedly one dinner recipe you won't skip here on this blog.
It's succulent, fresh, and appetizing for kids and adults alike. Although the best part truly is that it only takes about 30 minutes to prepare, that's why families love it. There's nothing that screams one big happy family dinner like these Taco Quesadillas.
What are Taco Quesadillas?
As you may already know, Taco Quesadillas are a combination of two popular Mexican dishes. Tacos comprise small tortillas (a type of thin bread) filled with rice, beans, occasionally some rice, vegetables especially tomatoes and lettuce, served with some good old salsa as a snack throughout the world. Quesadillas, however, are on the heavier side. The tortillas of quesadillas are usually made of corn or regular flour, folded in half and stuffed with meats, vegetables, and some cheese and cooked till the cheese is well melted. What we'll be cooking today is close to both these yummy recipes, so we'll be calling them Taco Quesadillas!
Why this recipe?
This recipe's got good protein, some nice soft bread, stretchy cheese and some flavourful Mexican seasoning. That's about everything to get your mouth salivating just from the very first glance. Is there anything else that you may need? Um, maybe some sour cream, salsa, or guacamole? Keep reading to find out our personal serving suggestions that we'll give in further in this blog. Here are more reasons:
- This is a 4 ingredient recipe.
- Super easy and quick to make.
- Perfect for lunch or dinner
- Kids and adults will love it.
What's in these Taco Quesadillas?
To make these yummy savoury delights, four ingredients are all you'll need.
- Ground beef: Just the one you have leftover or commonly cook with
- Taco seasoning: You can literally get this from any general store, or you can even make your own
- Flour tortillas: Again, you can get these at any general store
- Grated cheddar: Feel free to use your favourite cheese
How to make these Taco Quesadillas?
There will be a total of two main steps to make this recipe. In the first step, we'll cook the meat. And in the second step, we'll assemble the Taco Quesadillas.
To cook the meat:
Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and add the ground meat. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Now drain it and return to skillet.
Now stir in some water and taco seasoning, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring often.
To prepare one Quesadilla:
Before we begin, preheat a large skillet over medium heat and grease with oil.
On half of a tortilla, spread ¼ cup of cheese and ¼ cup of taco meat. Then add another layer of cheese on top of the beef and fold the tortilla over. Since we only spread the ingredients to about half the tortilla, it should be easy to fold.
Repeat this step with all the other tortillas.
Heat a large pan on medium heat, lightly spray with oil.
Cook the Quesadillas for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
Remove from the heat and allow them to cool.
Your cheesy, wholesomely stuffed Taco Quesadillas are ready to be served. Cut them into neat triangles and enjoy your hearty meal.
Top Tips!
- We know how exciting these Quesadillas are, but don't go overboard with stuffing your fillings. Stuff all the tortillas in the right proportions to avoid falling out and creating a mess while cooking.
- Don't use too much oil or butter on the skillet because it can make your tortillas go a little too soft and soggy. You want them to be nice and crispy instead.
- Trust the process, and don't get ahead of yourself by cooking the Taco Quesadilla on a high flame. Use a consistent medium flame for great results.
- If you're a cook who loves doing things from scratch, you should try making the tortillas all on your own. You'll enjoy the freshness, and oh, use a mixture of corn and regular flour for best results.
Recipe Variations
- We're using cheddar cheese in this recipe, but you can go ahead and use a combination of your favourite cheeses. Make this recipe your very own.
- You can also add some tomato paste to this stuffing, making the overall recipe much more luscious and richer.
- Use any tortillas for this recipe. You can go for corn tortillas, regular flour ones or just about any you get at your nearest supermarket. You can even make your very own fresh ones if you're feeling it.
- Although we love our ground beef, you can substitute it with any choice of protein that you may have at home.
- You can swap out the meat for some crunchy vegetables for a vegetarian option. We love Quesadillas made with zucchini's, onion, bell pepper, cabbage, and mushrooms.
- If you're feeding a big family, you can even plop these Quesadillas in the oven. This will avoid you having to stand over the griddle and flip one tortilla at a time.
Serving Suggestions
We bet you're not going to be able to wait for these to even get off the pan to devour them, but just in case you are, here are some serving suggestions.
Whip up some guacamole, salsa or plain old sour cream to serve with these Taco Quesadillas. It's how these finger-licking tortillas are traditionally served. And lucky for you, check out our 4 ingredients guacamole recipe.
This recipe will make your dinner meals your family's favourite meal of the day.
Recipe FAQ's
It may come as a surprise, but you can very quickly make your very own at home. Just mix some chilli powder, ground cumin, crushed red pepper, and salt in equal quantities. Then add some garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano and black pepper (this should be lesser in amount than the primary ingredients). If there's an ingredient you may not have available at home, you can go ahead and skip; you'll still land quite close to the flavour we're going for.
Fish, shrimp or lobsters don't go so well with all the cheese involved in making these Quesadillas. In fact, their flavours don't combine that well with the cheese and stuffing we're making here. You can go for other proteins like duck or chicken, which will substitute much better in place of the ground beef. Happy cooking!
We love the interest you're taking in our recipe, and we couldn't be happier. The answer to your question, however, is cheese. The cheese in this stuffing will be the ingredient that acts as the glue to hold all the veggies (if you added them) and meat together. This is why, if you pay close attention to the recipe, you'll see that we layered the tortilla with cheese before and after we added the meat. The cheese creates an excellent seal to pack the tortilla and avoid the beef from falling out.
More Recipes
Taco Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 500 g ground beef
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
- ½ cup water
- 6 flour tortillas
- 3 cups cheddar cheese , shredded
Instructions
To cook the meat:
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add the ground meat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain it and return to skillet.
- Stir in water and taco seasoning, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring often.
To prepare one quesadilla:
- Preheat a large skillet over medium heat and grease with oil.
- On half of a tortilla, spread ¼ cup of cheese ¼ cup of the taco meat.
- Then add another layer of cheese on top of the meat fold the tortilla over.
- Repeat with all other tortillas.
- Heat a large pan on medium-high heat, lightly spray with oil.
- Cook the quesadillas for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool, then cut into triangles and serve.
Notes
- We know how exciting these Quesadillas are, but don't go overboard with stuffing your fillings. Stuff all the tortillas in the right proportions to avoid falling out and creating a mess while cooking.
- Don't use too much oil or butter on the skillet because it can make your tortillas go a little too soft and soggy. You want them to be nice and crispy instead.
- Trust the process, and don't get ahead of yourself by cooking the Taco Quesadilla on a high flame. Use a consistent medium flame for great results.
- If you're a cook who loves doing things from scratch, you should try making the tortillas all on your own. You'll enjoy the freshness, and oh, use a mixture of corn and regular flour for best results
Recipe Variations
- We're using cheddar cheese in this recipe, but you can go ahead and use a combination of your favourite cheeses. Make this recipe your very own.
- You can also add some tomato paste to this stuffing, making the overall recipe much more luscious and richer.
- You can use any tortillas for this recipe. You can go for corn tortillas, regular flour ones or just about any you get at your nearest supermarket. You can even make your very own fresh ones if you're feeling it.
- Although we love our ground beef, you can substitute it with any choice of protein that you may have at home.
- You can swap out the meat for some crunchy vegetables for a vegetarian option. We love Quesadillas made with zucchini's, onion, bell pepper, cabbage, and mushrooms.
- If you're feeding a big family, you can even plop these quesadillas in the oven. This will avoid you having to stand over the griddle and flip one tortilla at a time.
Nutrition
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