Quick and easy to make, these cheesy ground beef quesadillas are loaded with flavor and are super easy to make. Ground beef is cooked with red onions and a homemade taco seasoning, before being loaded into flour tortillas with cilantro, spring onions, and lime juice. It's the perfect game day Mexican appetizer!
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All credit for this recipe has to go to Mr Slow The Cook Down.
Quesadillas have been one of his signature dishes for years, and the man knows how to make them! I've been wanting to get this recipe up on the blog for so long, they are seriously one of my favorite things.
We enjoy these on the weekend, when we feel like we absolutely should treat ourselves. Serve them with guacamole, sour cream and corn salsa, and I am one happy bunny!
Super Bowl is also coming up, and these make for a great appetizer to serve up as they are super quick to cook!
Ingredients
- Taco Spice Mix: You can use store bought taco seasoning, or make your own with the recipe below.
- Ground Beef: Use lean ground beef for this recipe, and grass-fed if you can.
- Oil: For cooking. I used olive oil, but any high heat oil will work well.
- Red onion: Sliced and cooked with the beef for extra flavor and texture.
- Tortillas: Use flour tortillas rather than corn for this recipe, as they are more pliable and less likely to crack when you fold them.
- Cheese: I used a Tex Mex cheese blend, but you can use cheddar or other blend you like.
- Fresh cilantro, green onions and lime juice.
How to make beef and cheese quesadillas
Be sure to scroll down for the full recipe!
- Mix together the herbs and spices for the taco seasoning (photo 1).
- Cook the beef, red onion and seasoning together (photo 2).
- Drain the beef on kitchen paper to remove excess oil (photo3).
- Place a tortilla into the skillet and and toppings to half of it (photo 4).
- Fold the tortilla over and press down with a spatula (photo 5).
- Flip over and cook on the other side until golden brown (photo 6).
Recipe Variations
These ground beef quesadillas are pretty darn tasty as they are, but you can easily make them your own with different fillings.
- Use ground turkey, chicken or bison instead of beef.
- If you don't like the taste of cilantro, swap it for parsley.
- Cook the beef with other veggies. Mushrooms or red bell peppers both work great.
- Fresh corn is a great filling addition!
I like to cook the quesadillas by filling half of the tortilla with the filling and then folding them over. You can also place the filling across the whole of the tortilla and lay another tortilla on top, then cook on both sides. If you have a lot of mouths to feed, this is the quickest method for cooking them, but they are slightly trickier to flip over like this.
Frequently Asked Questions
The cheese, as well as being super tasty, acts like a glue in quesadillas, and helps to hold everything together. Use a good melting cheese, and use shredded to get an even coverage. A cheddar blend or Tex Mex blend is great, or other shredded cheeses like oaxaca, mozzarella or montery jack will all work great.
These ground beef quesadillas are best served out of the pan, so that everything is warm and gooey. You can make the ground beef up to 3 days ahead of time and keep it covered in the fridge.
The trick to super crispy quesadillas is to not use too much oil in the pan. You want to use enough so that the surface of the pan isn't dry, but not so much that the tortilla sucks up excess oil and turn soggy. You can use a cooking spray to coat the skillet if easier, otherwise, no more than half a teaspoon is needed.
Recipe Notes and Tips
- These ground beef quesadillas are fairly mild in spice. If you prefer yours on the hotter side, simply add in a little more cayenne to the spice mix.
- Don't have the pan on too high a heat or the tortillas will cook too quickly and the cheese won't have chance to melt.
- Don't overfill your quesadilla or it will spill out during cooking. Leave a gap around the edge of each tortilla to allow the filling to spread.
More Mexican Inspired Recipes
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Ground Beef Quesadillas
Ingredients
For the taco seasoning
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
To make the ground beef filling
- 1 tablespoon oil (more as needed)
- 14 ounces (400g) lean ground beef
- 1 red onion (sliced)
- seasoning mix from above
For the quesadillas
- 5 10 inch flour tortillas
- 9 ounces (2¼ cups / 250g) shredded cheese ( I used a Tex Mex blend)
- fresh cilantro (chopped)
- fresh lime juice
- 5 green onions (sliced)
Instructions
- Mix together the herbs and spices for the taco seasoning.
- Heat the oil in a skillet on a medium high heat, and add in the sliced red onion and ground beef.
- Once the beef has browned, stir in the seasoning mix and cook until the onions are soft.
- Remove the cooked beef from the pan and place on kitchen towel to drain excess fat.
- Wipe out the skillet and return to the heat. Add in a little oil, enough to cover the bottom of the pan.
- Place a tortilla into the skillet, place a couple of tablespoons of shredded cheese on half of the tortilla. Top with a 3 to four tablespoons of ground beef mix, top with cilantro, green onions, a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of grated cheese.
- Fold the tortilla in half, and press down with a spatula.
- Cook for a couple of minutes, then flip over the tortilla to brown the other side.
- Once browned on both sides, remove from the pan, and place on kitchen towel to remove excess oil.
- Repeat with the other tortillas, adding a little oil to the pan if needed.
- Cut each quesadilla in half and serve.
Notes
- These ground beef quesadillas are fairly mild in spice. If you prefer yours on the hotter side, simply add in a little more cayenne to the spice mix.
- Don't have the pan on too high a heat or the tortillas will cook too quickly and the cheese won't have chance to melt.
- Don't overfill your quesadilla or it will spill out during cooking. Leave a gap around the edge of each tortilla to allow the filling to spread.
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