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Short-Order Kitchen

Cheeseburger Quesadillas

By Wes Ellis1 min read
Quesadillas stuffed with seasoned ground meat and herbs on a marble board, with salsa and a creamy dip.
Recipe card
Servings
4
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
15 to 20 minutes
Method
Skillet
Heat
Medium heat
Difficulty
Easy
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 13 of the thread Bowls, salads and wraps

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • About 1 lb of lean ground beef makes four quesadillas.
  • Cheese over the whole tortilla, filling on half, then fold.
  • 2 to 3 minutes per side over medium heat.
  • The special sauce is mayo, ketchup, relish and mustard.
THE RECIPE · CHEESEBURGER QUESADILLAS

Ingredients

Quesadillas

Special sauce

You'll need

  • Large skillet
  • Spatula
  • Small bowl

Directions

Get ready

  1. Brown the beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through. Drain it very well and set it aside.
  2. Stir the mayo, ketchup, relish and mustard together in a small bowl.

Cook

  1. Wipe out the skillet, add a little spray or butter, and heat it over medium.
  2. Lay a tortilla in the pan. Sprinkle a thin layer of cheese over the whole thing, then pile a quarter of the beef and some pickles on one half.
  3. Fold the empty half over the filling and press down gently with the spatula.
  4. Cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, until golden and crisp and the cheese has melted.
  5. Repeat with the rest. Let each one rest a minute, then cut into wedges and serve with the sauce.
Notes Best fresh, but leftovers keep a day or two in the fridge. Reheat in a dry skillet, the oven or the air fryer; the microwave makes them soft. Roughly 450 calories and 30 g protein each, give or take.

wesellis.com/blog/cheeseburger-quesadillas/

The cheeseburger has been turned into just about everything: salads, casseroles, sloppy joes. The quesadilla version might be the most sensible of the lot. Beef, cheese and pickles inside a tortilla that's crisp on both sides, and a dipping sauce that tastes like the one on a drive-thru burger.

Cheese is the glue

Spread cheese over the whole tortilla, not just the half with the beef. When you fold it, the cheese on the empty side melts down onto the filling and glues the whole thing shut. Beef on half, fold, press. That's the order.

Heads up

Drain the beef properly. Grease left in the meat soaks into the tortilla and keeps it from crisping.

Medium, not high

It's tempting to crank the heat and get it done, but the tortilla will scorch before the cheese inside melts. Medium heat and a couple of minutes a side gets you golden outside and gooey inside. Give it a minute on the cutting board before you slice so the filling doesn't slide out.

If you like this, the Big Mac Sloppy Joes and the Crunchwrap Burger are running the same kind of experiment. For something lighter with the same flavors, the Cheeseburger Salad drops the tortilla altogether.

LINKED FROM4 notes

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