Someone please pinch me…
I just had the best quesadilla of my life. I’m always saying that right?! but it’s true! Yes, this quesadilla was that good.
Just imagine a soft tortilla topped with hearty beef, fresh pico de gallo, gooey cheese and then pan toasted to perfection. Did I mention that I drizzled lime like everywhere?! I don’t know why, but lime is amazing when drizzled on anything Mexican.
If your making these quesadillas for the family I suggest you double the recipe because you’ll run out fast. We each had 1 large tortilla, that’s 8 small slices of quesadilla. It’s seems like a lot but they are so tiny you’s going to pop one after the other without even realizing it. 
Let’s get cooking! There are 3 basic steps to preparing this dish:
To get started your going to need to prepare your pica de gallo and set it aside. Pico de gallo sounds fancy but it’s actually pretty simple. To make it your basically going to need 1 onion, 1 tomato, 1 jalapeno, salt & pepper, and cilantro & lime to dress it.
The 2nd component to this dish is the hearty beef. I sauteed some onions until they were golden and soft then I added diced garlic, beef, tomato paste and spices.
The 3rd step is all about assembling the quesadillas and toasting them until the tortilla is crispy and the cheese has melted.
Serve with more pico de gallo, warm salsa, sour cream, or guacamole. Enjoy and have a great weekend! 🙂
Pico De Gallo Ground Beef Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 small onion, diced
- 2 small cloves garlic, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 8 inch flour tortillas
- Oil or Butter, for toasting)
- 2 cups Mozzarella or Mexican cheese blend
- Pico de gallo
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
- About 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Prepare the Pico:In a medium bowl, combine tomato, onion, jalapeno pepper (to taste,) cilantro and Juice of 1/2 a lime. Season with salt and pepper. Stir until evenly distributed. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes or until ready to use.
Cooking the Beef:In a large skillet, cook onions over medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until golden and soft; add garlic and cook for only 1 minute. Add ground beef, cook until no longer pink. Drain any excess grease. Stir in tomato paste, oregano, cumin, chili powder, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes or until heated through. - Assembling Quesadillas:Heat another skillet to medium-low heat. Brush pan with butter or oil,Place large tortilla over pan. On one half on top of the tortilla, add a layer of ground beef and a layer of pico de gallo, sprinkle with cheese. With a spatula fold the half of the tortilla without the meat mixture over the half with the meat mixture and press down.Cook until the bottom has browned and the cheese has melted. Remove from the pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
- Step 3: Cut into wedges and serve with more pico, salsa, sour-cream, or guacamole.
- (Makes 4 Servings)
I thought the recipe was very simple butand quick to prepare. I enjoyed making quesadillas for the first time. I added some of the Pico de Gallo to the ground beef right before putting in the tortilla for the quesadilla. It adds tons of flavor.
I have made this a couple of times now and we really enjoy it. The pico de gallo is perfect in it.
One change was to substitute fresh parsley for the cilantro — due to my wife’s strong taste preference. We also tried it with salsa as a topper, but greatly prefer the pico.
Yum!!
Added my own guacamole. Didn’t have tomato powder but it still tasted good. Also substituted Beyond meat for ground beef. Family really liked the dish!
These look seriously fantastic!!
these look & sound amazing!
Sarah
Midwest Darling